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We carried out an internal review of the procurement process which concluded that the procedures were properly conducted. We will consider our response to the Commission when they come to a decision on the complaint.

None.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3O-2320 on 21 February 2008. All answers to oral parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/officialReports/meetingsParliament/or-08/sor0221-01.htm.

The UK Identity and Passport Service at present has no access to the registers held by the General Register Office for Scotland.

The Registrar General has had preliminary discussions with the UK Identity and Passport Service (IPS) on how Scottish registration data might be provided to the IPS using the powers of section 56 of the Local Electoral Administration and Registration Services (Scotland) Act 2006. It is not yet possible to say who in the IPS would need access to the data. The purpose being discussed is the prevention and detection of identity fraud. The only information that could be provided to IPS would be publicly available information contained in the Scottish registers of births, still-births, marriages, civil partnerships, deaths, divorces and dissolutions of civil partnerships.

The General Register Office for Scotland (GROS) has provided the UK Identity and Passport Service (IPS) with limited online access to the registers of births, marriages and deaths for Scotland. Between 2000 and 2004, as part of work to detect identity theft, GROS gave IPS online access to a computer index to the Scottish birth, marriage and death registers. The index contained limited fields of information taken from the Scottish registers and was also used by the public in the family history search rooms at the GROS office in Edinburgh and at local registration offices. IPS was offered this facility to enable it to check the facts of births against potentially fraudulent applications for passports. The service was rarely used by IPS and has now been discontinued.

More recently, the Registrar General has had preliminary discussions with IPS on how Scottish registration data might be provided to the IPS under section 56 of the Local Electoral Administration and Registration Services (Scotland) Act 2006.

Any transfer of Scottish registration data held by the General Register Office for Scotland to the Home Office would be covered by Section 56 of the Local Electoral Administration and Registration Services (Scotland) Act 2006. Section 56 enables the Registrar General for Scotland to provide Scottish registration information to any public body or office holder, including Government departments in the UK. The information in the Scottish registers is publicly available.

In addition, under section 9 of the Identity Cards Act 2006, the Registrar General for Scotland could be obliged to provide information to the Home Office for the specific purpose of verifying an individual's entry on the National Identity Register. This would require an Order to be made under the affirmative procedure by both Houses of the UK Parliament.

Nineteen planning applications were called by Scottish ministers during 2007. Of these, three had been notified to Scottish ministers because of local authority interest.

Of the 19 applications called-in, planning permission was granted in two cases and refused in one case. One application was withdrawn, and one call-in direction was revoked. The remaining 14 cases are still under consideration.

Yes. The role and remit are set out in Historic Scotland''s Framework Document 2004.

Yes. Historic Scotland achieved nine of the ten key performance targets set by Scottish ministers in 2006-07. In relation to listed building and conservation area consent cases, 99.57% were resolved within 28 days against a target of 97%.