Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S3W-39601

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 11 February 2011
Current Status: Awaiting answer

To ask the Scottish Executive how the Infrastructure Investment Group ensured that the Scottish Government’s infrastructure investment programme provided appropriate investment to enable sustainable economic growth in 2010.

Question reference: S3W-39069

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 January 2011
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 9 February 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-38496 by Michael Russell on 20 January 2011, whether it will provide a response that addresses the specific issues raised in the question.

Question reference: S3W-39071

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 January 2011
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 7 February 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish on its website (a) detailed job descriptions of each member of the Infrastructure Investment Group, (b) details of what each member has done in relation to their role on the group, (c) the number of hours that each member spends on infrastructure investment business in each month and (d) an update every three months of what each has done in relation to their role.

My responses to the four separate points are as follows:

(a) Civil Servants agree with their managers objectives at the start of every reporting year (which runs 1 April to 31 March) as part of the annual performance management arrangements. Their objectives are personal data and would therefore not be publicly disclosed on the Scottish Government''s website under Data Protection provisions.

(b) As part of the programme of work in response to recommendations from Audit Scotland and the Public Audit Committee, the Scottish Government conducted a thorough review of governance of the Scottish Government''s capital programme. The main conclusion from this review is that we should establish an Infrastructure Investment Board (IIB) to take on an executive role in infrastructure governance. Further details of the IIB''s remit and membership can be found at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/Finance/18232/IIB.

Specifically, the IIB will:

provide strategic scrutiny of high-value major infrastructure projects at an early stage;

use robust management information to review the governance and delivery of the capital programme, including the Infrastructure Investment Plan (IIP), and, where appropriate, specific major projects;

provide advice to Ministers about capital investment priorities to inform decision-making; and

review portfolio-level governance and decision-making structures for capital projects to ensure these are fit for purpose.

In view of the establishment of the IIB, it was decided at the end of last year that the core information and best practice sharing activities between directors and key agencies currently performed by IIG should be merged with other official level groups. This in no way denigrates the worthwhileness of the IIG, but is simply a continuation in the ongoing process to improve financial governance of the capital budget sought by Audit Scotland and the Public Audit Committee.

The last meeting of the IIG took place on the 24 August 2010, with the first IIB being held on 1 November 2010.

(c) As indicated in my answer to question S3W-37255 on 26 November 2010, meetings of the IIG generally occurred only quarterly, with agenda items varying per meeting. This meant that individual contributions towards the group, both prior to and following meetings would have fluctuated depending on the agenda, what projects they were involved in and whether they were presenting a paper.

In terms of infrastructure investment work more generally, this also differs throughout the organisation, and also per month. The amount of time spent on such activities is very much dependent on what infrastructure investment projects individual divisions are leading or providing advice on, and as you will appreciate from the list of agenda items previously supplied to you, this can fluctuate over time. It should also be noted that work on infrastructure investment would be delegated within the areas senior staff are responsible for, and that simply providing senior staff hours does not provide information on the value of the work that the directorate or division has collectively provided.

(d) IIG has been disbanded and as such there is no further call on its members in relation to their work within the IIG. Information regarding the activities of IIB will be routinely published on the Scottish Government''s website.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

Question reference: S3W-39072

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 January 2011
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 4 February 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Minister for Public Health and Sport will commission research into the impact of negative role models in football on young people who play football.

The Scottish Government recognises the very positive role football clubs and players have in their communities across Scotland in helping to inspire young people to participate in not just football but all sports. That is why we are investing in a range of initiatives and we are developing those to ensure we are maximising our investments in football and sport.

You may find the following piece of research, commissioned by sportscotland, of interest Sporting Success, Role Models and Participation: A Policy Related Review. This was published in 2009 and can be found at:

http://www.sportscotland.org.uk/ChannelNavigation/Resources/TopicNavigation/Collections/Research/Sporting+success+role+models+and+participation.htm.

Question reference: S3W-39070

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 January 2011
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 4 February 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-37254 by John Swinney on 22 November 2010, whether it will publish in its staff directory the specific functions of each director and deputy director on the Infrastructure Investment Group.

Question reference: S3W-39158

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 January 2011
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 4 February 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider permanently reducing the ceiling for (a) starting salaries and (b) performance payments for senior civil servants.

The Scottish Government follows Cabinet Office guidance on setting starting salaries. In the majority of cases, these are set at or near the minimum of the pay range. On some occasions, a higher starting salary is offered, where this is required to attract a particular skill set.

Senior Civil Servants (SCS) pay and performance management operates within a framework set by the Cabinet Office. The framework includes payment ceilings. In 2010, the Scottish Government reduced the ceiling on SCS Performance payments to 50% of the levels awarded the previous year. In 2011, a decision was taken to award no performance payments to the SCS.

Question reference: S3W-38991

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 January 2011
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 31 January 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people under 25 convicted of dangerous driving in the Lothian and Borders Police force area in each of the last five years have (a) received a lifetime ban, (b) had their car confiscated, (c) had their car seized and (d) had their licence removed.

The available information on persons disqualified from driving for dangerous driving in 2005-06 to 2009-10, in the Lothian and Borders police force area, is given in the following table.

There were no disqualifications for life during this period. Information on the numbers of cars confiscated or seized is not held centrally.

Persons Under 25 with a Charge Proved for Dangerous Driving¹in the Lothian and Borders Police Force Area who were Disqualified, from 2005-06 to 2009-10

	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10
Total Convicted	64	79	64	61	54
Of Which Disqualified	61	74	53	59	52
Percentage Disqualified	95.3	93.7	82.8	96.7	96.3

Note: 1. Where main offence.

Question reference: S3W-38990

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 January 2011
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 31 January 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people under 25 were convicted of causing death or serious injury through dangerous driving in the Lothian and Borders Police force area in 2010 and how many (a) received a lifetime ban, (b) had their car confiscated, (c) had their car seized and (d) had their licence removed.

Question reference: S3W-38992

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 January 2011
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 31 January 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many instances of dangerous driving by people under 25 were recorded in the Lothian and Borders Police force area in 2010.

Question reference: S3W-38730

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 January 2011
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 28 January 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what estimates it has made regarding the amounts that might be realised from the sale of public assets in each year to 2015.

The 2011-12 draft budget contains estimated health capital receipts of £10 million. Additional receipts would add to capital spending within individual portfolios. Detailed decisions as to the scale and timing of future disposals are a matter for the next spending review.

No central estimate of the amounts that might be realised from the disposal of estates assets is maintained across the Scottish public sector as property management is decentralised to the body holding the assets. However, the recommendations of the Asset Management Review, published in January 2008, set out the principles of the Scottish Government strategy on estates asset management, reinforcing the Scottish Public Finance Manual guidelines which require assets to be disposed of as soon as they are declared surplus.