- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 September 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 7 October 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what due diligence was carried out before appointments were made to the Council of Economic Advisers.
Answer
Appropriate due diligence was applied when members were appointed to the Council of Economic Advisers.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 September 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 7 October 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive which of its officials are authorised to make official statements to the media on its behalf and what record is kept of such statements.
Answer
Scottish Government official statements are issued by officials in the Communications Directorate, usually in the form of news releases but also in response to individual media enquiries, or in answer to questions put at the daily briefings for parliamentary journalists. All news releases to national media are published on the Scottish Government website. A note of each Scottish Government briefing to parliamentary journalists is published on the website.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 September 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 6 October 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive on how many occasions in the next 12 months it is proposed to undertake highway maintenance on the M8.
Answer
The trunk road operating companies who maintain the M8 have been asked by Transport Scotland to prepare 21 provisional maintenance schemes for the M8 in the next year. The final programme will be drawn from these and the actual number will depend on the availability of funding and spending priorities. Routine and cyclic maintenance will also be undertaken at regular intervals during this period.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 September 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Adam Ingram on 3 October 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider the provision of nursery places for two-year-olds on the basis of parental requests.
Answer
The early years framework, which is being developed jointly with COSLA, will be published later this year. It will set the long term direction of policy and consider the range of services needed to support young children and their families and help end cycles of poverty, disadvantage and ill-health.
A key focus of this work is implementing existing pre-school commitments and examining targeted additional services for vulnerable 0-3s. Over 2000 two-year-olds are currently in pre-school nursery places
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 19 September 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Linda Fabiani on 3 October 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what overseas visits have been undertaken by each minister since May 2007; what class of travel was used in each case, and what the total cost was of each trip, including the costs of officials accompanying each minister.
Answer
The information requested cannot be obtained at proportionate cost.
However, I will as part of a routine exercise be releasing shortly information on each ministerial visit overseas undertaken from 1 April 2007 to 31 March 2008. The information will include the dates of each visit, the minister, the reason for travelling, the number of officials accompanying the minister and the overall cost to the minister.
Information on ministerial visits overseas undertaken during the financial year 2008-09 will be published on the Scottish Government website in due course, this information will include the dates of each visit, the minister, the reason for travelling, the number of officials accompanying the minister and the overall cost to the minister.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 September 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 3 October 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration it has given to whether the proposed ban on alcohol sales to 18 to 21-year-olds is compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights.
Answer
The Scottish Government has given this full consideration and is content that the proposal to raise the legal age for off-sales purchases of alcohol to 21 is compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 September 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 2 October 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what arrangements are in place for assessing the performance of its senior officials; whether any have failed such assessment in the last financial year, and what action has been taken.
Answer
The performance of all senior civil servants (SCS) is planned, managed and assessed using a common, service-wide framework which has been provided by the Cabinet Office.
The performance management process for the SCS includes individual reviews in the course of the year to ensure that objectives remain relevant and that they are being delivered. There is a formal performance assessment at the end of the reporting year. The performance management arrangements are not operated on a pass or fail basis. The emphasis is on continued individual development and all SCS are expected to have a personal development plan which should be reviewed every six months. This allows for on-going development of all staff.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 September 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 2 October 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive which of its officials are responsible for liaison and oversight of the Scottish Futures Trust.
Answer
Work by Scottish Government officials to support the establishment of the Scottish Futures Trust is overseen by the Director of Finance, Alyson Stafford, and by the Director General of Finance and Corporate Services, Stella Manzie. A number of individual officials are involved in the day to day development and liaison work, as specific needs arise.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 September 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 2 October 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what the policy is regarding the class of travel by air for different flight durations for Scottish ministers and accompanying officials.
Answer
When travelling on official business, Scottish Government ministers and civil servants are required to consider if a journey is necessary in every instance. They are also required to travel in the most cost“effective and time efficient method available at the time of travelling. This includes taking advantage of the Government Air Fare Programme which offers discounted fares to government departments and accounts for 90% of the air travel undertaken by ministers and civil servants.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 September 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 2 October 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive which appointments made by ministers since May 2007 have not been subject to the Commissioner for Public Appointments in Scotland’s code of practice and what the reasons were in each case.
Answer
Information on unregulated appointments is not held centrally.
The number of appointments that have been made without adherence to the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments in Scotland Code since May 2007 is thought to be small.
