- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 25 April 2005
-
Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 3 May 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it accepts the recommendations in the Calman report in respect of additional undergraduate medical student places and medical schools' admission policies; whether it will make a statement on its position, and when its decision on the report's findings will be announced.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is carefully considering the implications of Sir Kenneth Calmans report and will look to publish its response as soon as possible.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 March 2005
-
Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 28 April 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether a decision has been made in respect of which company or companies will provide the completion of access to broadband to rural areas and whether it will publish the terms of any tender awarded for provision of these services and the costs involved.
Answer
A contract was signed on 15 April with BT for the provision of broadband services in 378 exchange areas in Scotland.
An award notice will be published on the website of the Official Journal of the European Communities which will include details of the terms of the contract, including the costs. For information, the public sector is contributing £16.5 million of the total project value of about £30 million.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 April 2005
-
Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 27 April 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will complete its records management policy in respect of computer-generated documents and electronic records.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is in the process of implementing a system for the electronic storage andarchiving of records. It is planned that the system will be fully implemented during2006. The same broad policies and principles of record keeping that apply to thepaper based system also apply to the storage of information in the new electronicrecord management system. Detailed guidance on keeping records in this system isnot finalised but will be published in October 2005.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 April 2005
-
Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 27 April 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any of the documents or files containing documents relating to the (a) Holyrood Inquiry and (b) Holyrood Project will be subject to the 30-year rule; if so, whether early release of such documents can be considered under its records management rules and, if so, on what date or dates their early release or, in the case of the first dated thereof, the early release of that document or file can be considered, and whether any person outwith the Scottish Executive will be consulted in relation to such decisions.
Answer
Under the Freedom of Information(Scotland) Act 2002, the 30-year rule no longer applies to any files. The only potentialbars to public access to information held on these files will be particular exemptionswhich might be applied under either FOI or the Data Protection Act 1998.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 April 2005
-
Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 27 April 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, with regard to its Records Management Manual, whether it will publish a list of lost files as referred to in paragraph 3.9 and give brief details of the subject matter of its lost files since 1999, and prior to that of each lost file of the Scottish Office which it is now responsible for maintaining under the Transfer of Property etc. (Scottish Ministers) Order 1999.
Answer
The list referred to in paragraph3.9 of the Executive’s Records Management Manual is a means to track downfiles which have been mislaid. It is not intended to be an ongoing list of lostfiles. However, we will publish a list of lost files as part of the Scottish Executive Publication Scheme as soon as this can be arranged.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 April 2005
-
Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 27 April 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any of its destroyed files have had the protective marking "SECRET", "CONFIDENTIAL" or "RESTRICTED"; whether it will confirm that none of the documents contained within files having this marking will be destroyed or, if not, whether it will, prior to any such documents being destroyed, consult the (a) Parliament and (b) Scottish Information Commissioner.
Answer
Yes, files which have at somepoint carried one of the protective markings listed have been destroyed. The Executivemanages its records in partnership with the National Archives of Scotland, whosestaff work alongside Executive staff to ensure that the proper procedures are followed.Files which reach the end of their scheduled life are reviewed in compliance witha retention schedule as recommended by the Code of Practice on Records Managementpublished under Section 61(6) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act2002. They are recommended for destruction when appraisal staff are satisfied thatthey contain no papers that are likely to be of continuing or historic interest.Protective markings often apply for only a limited period of time and have no bearingon the time for which a file should be retained. Thus the destruction offiles is part of the normal business of managing the Executive’s records, and thereis no requirement for the Executive to consult either Parliament or the ScottishInformation Commissioner as part of the process.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 11 April 2005
-
Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 27 April 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has a policy of using Scottish rather than English legal terminology in Parliamentary answers and ministerial statements.
Answer
The Scottish Executive’s policy is that parliamentary answers and ministerial statements shouldbe as clear, accurate and helpful as possible; and that any legal terminology whichis used is appropriate in the particular context.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 April 2005
-
Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 26 April 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-15164 by Nicol Stephen on 24 March 2005, whether it is in a position to indicate whether a Director for Scotland will be appointed as a single point of contact for the Executive.
Answer
Network Rail will remain a private sector company and its internal management arrangements are a matter for the company.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 11 April 2005
-
Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 26 April 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what the legal basis was for the voluntary purchase of plots referred to in Annex B of the letter of 24 March 2005 containing Scottish ministers' decision on the M74.
Answer
Powers to purchase property in advance are available to the Scottish ministers under Sections 103 and 104 of the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 11 April 2005
-
Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 26 April 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost was of the public local inquiry on the M74 Special Road (Fullarton Road to West of Kingston Bridge) Orders, detailing each component and element of the total costs and broken down into costs incurred by (a) the Inquiry Reporters Unit, (b) the civil service and (c) others.
Answer
The latest recorded costs incurred by the Inquiry Reporters Unit and the Executive are given in the table. Costs incurred by others represented at the Inquiry are not known.
| | Estimated Cost |
| (a) Estimated cost to the Inquiry Reporters Unit: | £41,855.00 |
| (b) Estimated cost to the Executive1 | |
| Legal Fees and Administration | £152,673.11 |
| Consultants Fees | £327,735.29 |
| Total cost | £522,263.40 |
Note: 1. The costs in the table represent the Executive’s contribution of 87.35% to the total cost of the scheme. Civil Service staff costs are not recorded.
