- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 10 December 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive which public bodies have an upper age limit for people appointed to serve on them and what that limit is in each case.
Answer
There is no upperage limit for members who serve on regulated public bodies. Public appointmentsto regulated bodies are made under the code of practice issued by the Commissionerfor Public Appointments in Scotland. All appointments are governed by the overridingprinciple of selection based on merit.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 10 December 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how many of its employees offered to take St Andrew’s Day as one of their public holidays.
Answer
One hundred andseventy-four staff within core Scottish Government.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 22 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 6 December 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what remuneration and expenses have been paid so far to each member of the (a) Council of Economic Advisors, (b) Scottish Broadcasting Commission and (c) Prisons Commission
Answer
Appointments to theCouncil of Economic Advisors and the Scottish Prisons Commission are not remuneratedand no expenses have been paid so far to members of either group.
Remuneration to thechair of the Scottish Broadcasting Council currently stands at £6,192. No expenseshave been paid to date.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 22 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 6 December 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how many of its employees are paid at a level whereby they are entitled to claim benefits and what percentage of its employees this represents.
Answer
The value of the payranges which apply in the Scottish Government core directorates and the percentageof the total Scottish Government staff in each pay range are as follows:
| Pay Range | Minimum (£) | Maximum (£) | % of Staff |
| A2 | 12,300 | 14,716 | 6.5% |
| A3 | 14,000 | 16,614 | 14.4% |
| A4 | 14,350 | 19,226 | 3.9% |
| B1 | 17,000 | 23,712 | 16.5% |
| B2 | 21,292 | 28,520 | 21.1% |
| B3 | 26,650 | 37,854 | 13.9% |
| BF | 21,292 | 30,676 | 1.2% |
| C1 | 36,203 | 49,559 | 13.1% |
| C2 | 40,441 | 60,065 | 4.3% |
| C3 | 44,165 | 62,824 | 1.0% |
| SCS1 | 56,100 | 78,540 | 2.8% |
| SCS1A | 65,280 | 87,720 | 0.5% |
| SCS2 | 81,600 | | 0.6% |
| SCS3 | 99,960 | | 0.1% |
The Scottish Governmentdoes not hold information about whether its staff are eligible for benefits (includingany that are related to income) – that depends on individual circumstances and isa matter for the Department for Work and Pensions or Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 6 December 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive which organisations are employed by each of its sections or departments for sending documents and other material both internally and externally.
Answer
The ScottishGovernment mail is serviced by Royal Mail and the courier services of twocompanies, FedEx and DX.
Internal mail ishandled by the in-house distribution teams and an in-house van service.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 6 December 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to ensure that there is no discrimination against people because of their age in recruitment and appointments within the public service.
Answer
Discrimination onthe grounds of age is now unlawful in employment and vocational training. It isthe responsibility of all employers, both public and private sector, to ensurethat they comply with the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006.
The ScottishGovernment is committed to increasing the diversity of staff within thedevolved public service, and recognising what everyone has to offer. AllScottish public bodies are required to operate equal opportunities policies. the Scottish Government civil service has gone beyond the requirements of thelegislation and opted for a “no retirement age” policy, confirming itscommitment to extending working life and empowering people to make their ownchoices on working, as well as to equality and diversity.
As part of theimplementation of All Our Futures: Planning for a Scotland with an AgeingPopulation, the Scottish Government is commissioning a campaign to combatageism and promote more positive images of older people.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Bruce Crawford on 6 December 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive to how many parliamentary questions it has given a holding answer prior to the substantive answer since May 2007 and what percentage of questions this represents.
Answer
This informationcould only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Allanswers including holding answers to written parliamentary questions areavailable on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can befound at:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Bruce Crawford on 4 December 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all the heads of government to whom the First Minister wrote regarding observer status for the Executive at the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty meetings; how many replies have been received and from whom, and what the content has been of any such replies.
Answer
The First Minister did not write to the heads of government of stateparties to the Non-Proliferation Treaty but to their London and Scotland based representations. Copies of all theletters issued have been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre. Thereare no plans to publish any responses received as this might prejudice free andfrank discussion between governments.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 22 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Bruce Crawford on 4 December 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will provide a substantive answer to question S3W-5917, which received a holding answer on 15 November 2007.
Answer
An answer to questionS3W-5917 was provided on 4 December 2007.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 29 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the responsibilities for agricultural compensation payments in Scotland of the (a) European Commission, (b) UK Government and (c) Scottish Executive.
Answer
The Scottish Governmenthas sole responsibility for disease compensation payments made under tuberculosisand brucella legislation and for compensation due for warble fly.
UK Government hasagreed to pay compensation due in respect of other notifiable animal diseases, includingfoot-and-mouth disease. The Scotland Act 1998 (Concurrent Functions) Order 1999enables those payments.
European Union fundingis available to support these costs and this would be paid directly to Treasury.With regard to plant health, there is no provision in European Union regulationsfor compensation. Should the Scottish Government decide to compensate for statutoryaction to protect plant health then it would be required to fund this.
