- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Monday, 03 March 2008
-
Current Status:
Answered by Bruce Crawford on 25 March 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown of MSPs who act as government advisers to the First Minister or other members of the cabinet.
Answer
No MSPs act as Government Advisers to the First Minister or other members of the Cabinet.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Monday, 03 March 2008
-
Current Status:
Answered by Bruce Crawford on 25 March 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown of MSPs who serve as parliamentary private secretaries to cabinet secretaries and ministers.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not have a system of Parliamentary Private Secretaries.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 January 2008
-
Current Status:
Answered by Bruce Crawford on 20 March 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive which signatories of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty have replied to the letter from the First Minister and what the response has been in each case.
Answer
We have received responses from the following states:
Austria
Belarus
Cameroon
Cuba
Egypt
Germany
Grenada
Guyana
Indonesia
Ireland
Lesotho
Mexico
Norway
Philippines
Romania
Senegal
Slovak Republic
Sweden
United Arab Emirates
The Vatican
Ukraine
Venezuela.
In the spirit of open government we have written to these states informing them that we intend to publish their responses and asking whether they have any objections.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 March 2008
-
Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 18 March 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many laptops have been lost or stolen from its agencies since May 2007.
Answer
Two laptops have been lost or stolen since May 2007 from agencies which use the Scottish Government IT services and which acquire such equipment through the government.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 March 2008
-
Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 18 March 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many laptops have been lost or stolen from its departments since May 2007.
Answer
Four laptops have been lost or stolen from the Scottish Government since May 2007. Three contained no government data and the other contained no sensitive data.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 March 2008
-
Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 13 March 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what disciplinary action it would take against any person or department responsible for losing its data.
Answer
In such instances an investigative process would take place with any disciplinary action dependant upon the outcome of the investigation.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 March 2008
-
Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 13 March 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-9289 by Stewart Stevenson on 21 February 2008, what the reasons are for the continuing delay to the completion of the West Edinburgh Planning Framework.
Answer
Further to my answer to question S3W-9289 regarding preparation of the West Edinburgh Planning Framework, issues regarding transport components have been particularly complex. However, officials are now in agreement as to a way forward and the document will proceed to finalisation as soon as possible.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 March 2008
-
Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 13 March 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive which of its departments have lost laptops since May 2007.
Answer
Four laptops have been lost or stolen from the Scottish Government since May 2007 (one from a directorate in the Finance and Sustainable Growth portfolio, one from Change and Corporate Services and two new and unused laptops that were being delivered to Change and Corporate Services).
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 March 2008
-
Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 13 March 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what procedures are in place for tracing and retrieving lost data from the computers of its departments or agencies.
Answer
The Scottish Government (SG) IT division has technical utility software which can be used to recover deleted data in certain circumstances. There are also commercial companies who specialise in the recovery of data.
SG networked PCs are configured to store data on network drives and not on the PC itself so that in the event of failure or loss, data is not lost but is still available on the network. Data on the network is backed up (copies taken and stored in a secure location) on a nightly basis.
In the case of laptops, our mode of operation is designed to ensure that as much data as possible is held on the office network storage as well as on the laptop. That ensures that the data is still accessible even if the laptop is lost or stolen. In the event of loss, the only data which would be unavailable would be any that had been created exclusively on the laptop and there would therefore be minimum loss. Staff are encouraged to synchronise their laptops regularly with the office network to ensure that such material is copied on to the network storage for safe keeping.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 March 2008
-
Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 13 March 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any information held in laptops lost or stolen from its departments or agencies since May 2007 posed a threat to public safety or national security.
Answer
We are not aware of any laptops lost or stolen since May 2007 containing any information which might pose a threat to public safety or national security.
