- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 27 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how many civil servants have transferred between Edinburgh and London in each year since 1999 and which Whitehall departments have been involved.
Answer
The number ofScottish Government Core Civil Servants permanently transferred to and fromother UK Government Departments is contained in the following table. Informationon which UK Government Departments are involved in each case is not held on ourstaffing database. Some of these transfers will have involved locations outsideEdinburgh and London. The Whitehall Departments most frequently involved in such transfersare HM Treasury, Department for Transport, Home Office, Ministry of Justice,Cabinet Office, Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR), Department ofWork and Pensions and the Central Office of Information.
| Year | Transferred from UK Government Departments | Transferred to UK Government Departments |
| 1999 | 59 | 14 |
| 2000 | 22 | 14 |
| 2001 | 45 | 11 |
| 2002 | 43 | 24 |
| 2003 | 34 | 23 |
| 2004 | 25 | 13 |
| 2005 | 30 | 13 |
| 2006 | 30 | 18 |
| 2007 | 30 | 25 |
| Total | 318 | 155 |
The ScottishGovernment does not hold or have access to such information for other departmentsin Scotland.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 02 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 20 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will provide a substantive answer to question S3W-4325 which received a holding reply on 4 October 2007.
Answer
A substantive answerto S3W-4325 was provided on 20 November 2007. All answers towritten parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the searchfacility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 14 September 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 20 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what consultative committees, groups, councils and other bodies have been set up by ministers since 16 May 2007 and what the estimated cost is of running them.
Answer
The following groups have been set up by the Scottish Government since 16 May 2007. For the avoidance of doubt,these are not formally constituted organisations. Most of the groups are short-lifein nature and have been set up to provide external expertise and advice to supportthe government in the delivery of its commitments. I have included running costswhere applicable for this financial year.
| Name | Estimated Cost |
| Council of Economic Advisers | £30,000 |
| Dementia Forum 2007 | none (note 5) |
| Food Forum | £5,000 |
| Get Ready for Work (Working Group) | none (note 5) |
| Glasgow 2014 Strategic Group | none (note 5) |
| Housing Supply Statistics Group | none (note 5) |
| Housing Supply Task Force | £4,000 |
| Independent Review of Free Personal and Nursing Care (Sutherland Review) | £50,000 |
| Ministerial Task Force on Health Inequalities | none (note 5) |
| National Fostering and Kinship and Care Strategy ad hoc Working Group | (note 1) |
| National Working Group on Young Runaways | £3,500 |
| NHS Car Parking Review Group | none (note 5) |
| NHS Independent Scrutiny Panels (note 4) | £150,000 |
| EU Structural Funds Programme Monitoring Committees (PMCs) | £3,800 – (note 2) |
| Scottish Fisheries Council | £25,000 |
| Research Advisory Group following the Scottish Report of National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Homicide by People with Mental Illness | none (note 5) |
| Scottish Broadcasting Commission | £500,000 - (note 3) |
| Scottish Futures Trust Working Group | (note 1) |
| Scottish Prisons Commission | (note 1) |
| Seasonal Flu Review Steering Group | none (note 5) |
| The Curriculum for Excellence: Engagement Governing Group | none (note 5) |
| The Expert Panel on Low Carbon Buildings | £10,000 |
| The Forth Road Bridge Bill Reference Group | none (note 5) |
| The Tay Road Bridge Bill Reference Group | none (note 5) |
| Total | £781, 300 |
Notes:
1. This body is undertakingits work within existing budgets.
2. As required byEU regulations, the Scottish Government has established new PMCs to monitor deliveryof the 2007-13 ESF programmes.
3. This is a provisionalallocation. Discussions are on-going about costs and ministers expect the actualcost to be less than the provisional allocation.
4. The Cabinet Secretaryfor Health and Wellbeing has established two Independent Scrutiny Panels to considerproposals for future NHS services in Clyde and the revisedproposals for accident and emergency services in Ayrshire and Lanarkshire.
5. Other than modestincidental expenses.
- 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 Jim Mather on 19 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what meetings it has held with the STUC since May 2007 and which ministers were involved in each case.
Answer
Since May 1999, ScottishExecutive ministers have been involved in the following bilateral meetings withthe STUC:
| Minister | Date |
| The First Minister | 1 August 2007 |
| Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism | 17 September 2007 |
| Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing | 19 September 2007 |
| Minister for Europe, External Affairs and Culture | 20 September 2007 |
| Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth | 25 September 2007 |
| Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning | 26 September 2007 |
| Cabinet Secretary for Justice | 7 November 2007 |
As well as these bilateralmeetings, ministers have also hosted a number of otherdiscussions in which the STUC has been a participant:
| Minister | Subject | Date |
| Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism | Meeting with Energy Stakeholders | 25 June 2007 |
| Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism | Economic Development | 27 June 2007 |
| Minister for the Enterprise, Energy and Tourism | Enterprise Networks Reform | 17 August 2007 |
| Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning | Higher and Further Education roundtables | 6 June 2007 23 October 2007 |
| Minister for Communities and Sport | Equalities | 20 August 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 Jim Mather on 19 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of electricity has been generated from (a) coal, (b) nuclear power, (c) renewables, (d) gas and (e) other means in each month since May 2007.
Answer
Data on electricitygeneration in Scotland is collected by the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR). Monthly data is not available. The latestdata available is for 2005 and is shown in the following table, expressed in bothGigaWatt hours (GWh) and percentage terms. It should be noted that Scotland generatesmore electricity than it consumes and around 20% of electricity generated withinScotland is exported to the rest of the UK.
| Electricity Generation by Fuel Source (GWh) | 2005 | % of Total |
| Coal | 12,160 | 24.8 |
| Oil | 2,720 | 5.6 |
| Gas | 8,294 | 16.9 |
| Nuclear | 18,681 | 38.2 |
| Hydro pumped storage | 643 | 1.3 |
| Hydro natural flow | 4,612 | 9.4 |
| Other renewables | 1,876 | 3.9 |
| Total | 48,986 | 100 |
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 October 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 19 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to change the title of First Minister.
Answer
The First Ministerhas no such plans at present.
- 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 John Swinney on 19 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what the costs of travel by official car were for each minister from May to October 2007.
Answer
Costs incurred bycabinet secretaries/ministers for journeys arranged through the Government Car Services(GCS) are not available in the format requested. Overall running costs for GCS forthe period May 2007 through to September 2007, were £388,417. The calculation ofOctober’s costs will not be finalised until later in November.
GCS provides/arrangestransport for a wide range of customers, including Scottish cabinet secretaries/ministers,ministers of UK government departments when in Scotland, some senior officials at the Scottish Government, visitingdignitaries, and where necessary the transportation of official documents.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 02 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 19 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of its staff are registered disabled; how this relates to its targets for employing disabled staff, and what action it is taking to increase the number of disabled people it employs.
Answer
Targets for employingdisabled staff in the Scottish Government vary according to pay band. The targetsare currently set for April 2008, and the following table shows progress acrossthe bands at October 2007.
| | Overall | Known | Target |
| Senior Civil Service | 5.0% | 5.7% | 4.0% |
| Band C | 2.2% | 2.8% | 3.0% |
| Band B | 3.8% | 5.1% | 5.4% |
| Band A | 5.9% | 9.4% | 8.8% |
| All staff | 4.2% | 5.9% | - |
The provision of suchinformation is voluntary. Therefore, the overall figure is calculated for all staff,while the known figure is calculated for those who have provided an answer to ourmonitoring questions regarding disability.
The Scottish Governmentis committed to increasing the diversity of staff within the organisation, and recognisingand valuing what everyone has to offer. This includes a commitment to improvingits policies and practices on disability and to fulfilling our duties under ourDisability Equality Scheme. We also participate in the Jobcentre Plus “Positiveabout Disabled People” scheme. Under this scheme, all candidates who consider themselvesto be disabled in terms of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, and who meetthe essential minimum criteria for the post, will be guaranteed an interview.
- 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 Stewart Maxwell on 16 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what sporting events have been attended by the Minister for Communities and Sport since May 2007.
Answer
I have attended thefollowing sporting events since May 2007:
| Date | Event |
| 26 May | Scottish Cup Final (Football) |
| 3 June | International Rugby Board 7’s Tournament |
| 3 June | Scottish Rowing and Scottish Schools Rowing Championships (Strathclyde Country Park) |
| 12 June | World Mixed Badminton Championships |
| 16 June | Norwich Union Grand Prix Athletics Event (Scotstoun) |
| 22 July | British Open (Golf) |
| 4 August | Women’s Open (Golf) |
| 25 August | Scotland v South Africa (Rugby International) |
| 3 September | Mountain Bike Trials and World Championships (Fort William) |
| 8 September | Scotland V Lithuania (Football International) |
| 18 September | Scotland V Romania (Rugby International) |
| 19 September | Rangers FC V Stuggart FC (Football Champions League) |
| 23 September | Scotland V New Zealand (Rugby International) |
| 13 October | Scotland V Ukraine (Football International) |
- 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 Maureen Watt on 15 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what advice has been given to local authorities regarding proposed school closures and the policy of reducing class sizes to 18 in primary 1 to primary 3.
Answer
We re-issuedguidance to local authorities on proposals for changes to the school estate on 11 October 2007. A copy is available in the Scottish Parliament InformationCentre (Bib. number 43920). The guidance makes clear our expectation that, inconsidering such proposals, authorities should take account of all relevant factors,aspects and policies.
