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-38865

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 January 2011
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 28 January 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people previously convicted of dangerous driving had their licence renewed in 2010.

Question reference: S3W-38864

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 January 2011
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 28 January 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive, how many people under 25 have been convicted of causing death or serious injury through dangerous driving in each of the last five years and how many 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 causing death through dangerous driving in 2005-06 to 2009-10 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 Causing Death through Dangerous Driving¹, from 2005-06 to 2009-10

	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10
Total	9	8	13	7	10
Of which disqualified	7	6	13	6	9
Percentage disqualified	77.7	75.0	100.0	85.7	90.0

Note: 1. Where main offence.

The following is the original answer (published on 28 January 2011); see below.

The available information on persons disqualified from driving for causing death through dangerous driving in 2005-06 to 2009-10 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 Causing Death Through Dangerous Driving¹, from 2005-06 to 2009-10

	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10
Total	10	12	13	8	12
Of Which Disqualified	8	10	13	7	11
Percentage Disqualified	80.0	83.3	100.0	87.5	91.7

Note: 1. Where main offence.

Question reference: S3W-38863

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 January 2011
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 28 January 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people under 25 convicted of dangerous driving 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 is given in the following table.

There was one person aged under 25 disqualified for life in 2008-09. Information on the numbers of cars confiscated or seized is not held centrally.

Persons Under 25 with a Charge Proved for Dangerous Driving¹ who were Disqualified, from 2005-06 to 2009-10

	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10
Total convicted	430	548	558	455	383
Of which disqualified	404	474	461	432	352
Percentage disqualified	94.0	86.5	82.6	94.9	91.9

Note: 1. Where main offence.

The following is the original answer (published on 28 January 2011); see below.

The available information on persons disqualified from driving for dangerous driving in 2005-06 to 2009-10 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 Driving¹ who were Disqualified, from 2005-06 to 2009-10

	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10
Total Convicted	430	548	558	455	383
Of Which Disqualified	404	474	461	431	352
Percentage Disqualified	94.0	86.5	82.6	94.7	91.9

Note: 1. Where main offence.

Question reference: S3W-38862

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 January 2011
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 28 January 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many instances of dangerous driving by people under 25 have been recorded in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S3W-38477

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 20 December 2010
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 27 January 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what its estimate is of the impact of the rise in the cost of a (a) first class stamp to 46p and (b) second class stamp to 36p on the budget of (i) the Scottish Government, (ii) each Scottish Government directorate and (iii) the NHS in 2010-11.

The estimated impact of the rise in the cost of a (a) first class stamp to 46p and (b) second class stamp to 36p on the budget of the Scottish Government is (a) £45 and (b) £14. This equates to an overall increase of 16% per annum in that part of the postal budget (which will impact on all Scottish Government directorates).

The overall Scottish Government postal spend figure was £466,848 in 2009-10 annum (excluding courier services). Of that figure, stamped mail accounted for £319. The increase of stamped mail against the overall Scottish Government postal spend figure represents an increase of 0.001%.

The Scottish Executive is unable to provide the estimated impact on (ii) each Scottish Government directorate and (iii) the NHS in 2010-11. The NHS does not hold this information centrally and the Scottish Government''s Royal Mail postal services'' reporting does not go to directorate level.

Question reference: S3W-38476

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 20 December 2010
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 27 January 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how much of its mail was despatched by (a) the Royal Mail and (b) other carriers in the last year and at what cost per carrier.

In the financial year 2009-10, the Scottish Government sent the following mail volumes and incurred costs with the following carriers

Carrier	Mail Volume (items)	Cost (£)
Royal Mail	376,076	466,848
Hays	2,873	3,285
ParcelForce	50	606
FedEx	1,566	49,514
DHL	6,162	220,047

Question reference: S3W-39156

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 January 2011
Current Status: Awaiting answer

To ask the Scottish Executive how many of its (a) director generals, (b) directors and (c) deputy directors have received non-consolidated performance payments and what the total amount was in each of the last four years.

Question reference: S3W-39005

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 January 2011
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 27 January 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-38473 by Fiona Hyslop on 24 January 2011, whether it will provide the cost of the activity when it is correlated.

Question reference: S3W-39157

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 January 2011
Current Status: Awaiting answer

To ask the Scottish Executive how many senior civil servants received non-consolidated performance payments and a pay increase in the same year and what the total amount was in each of the last four years.

Question reference: S3W-38665

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 January 2011
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 26 January 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has received from Martin Hunt, the managing director of Tartan Silk, regarding compensation from The Gathering 2009 and what response it has given Mr Hunt.

The Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change represented the Scottish Government at a meeting on 25 November 2010 attended by Martin Hunt at which Mr Hunt represented 11 of the creditors for The Gathering 2009 Ltd.

At that meeting, and in a subsequent letter of 26 November 2010 to the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change, Mr Hunt argued that because representatives of VisitScotland and EventScotland chaired a steering group relating to The Gathering event, those representatives were acting as shadow directors of the company, and that the Scottish Government therefore had an obligation to the creditors.

Following careful consideration of the points made by Mr Hunt in the meeting and in his subsequent letter, I responded to Mr Hunt on 17 January 2011. In responding I set out a number of points of context, namely that The Gathering event was not conceived or commissioned by government or any of its partners, and accordingly, the company was not set up by government or any of its partners; and that the Steering Group established and chaired by EventScotland had a role to represent and reflect the interests of the various public sector funders and to monitor overall delivery, but that it did not have any decision-making responsibility in relation to the commercial activities of the company. My response stated that on this basis, the Scottish Government did not accept Mr Hunt''s central point that officials from EventScotland and VisitScotland were acting as shadow directors in relation to The Gathering 2009 Ltd by virtue of their involvement in the Steering Group.

The response to Mr Hunt also reiterated that the Government is sympathetic to the plight of the small businesses affected by the liquidation of The Gathering 2009 Ltd and pointed out that this was one of the reasons why the Scottish Government worked hard to find a solution once it first became aware of the financial difficulties the company was facing.