Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what recent assessment he has made of the (a) effectiveness of the operation of the Sewel Convention and (b) ability of the Scottish Parliament to carry out its legislative functions on devolved matters.
Answered by Lord Jack of Courance
Scotland’s two governments continue to work well together in line with the established practices of the Sewel Convention, a convention that has been used hundreds of times since the creation of the devolution settlement. The Scottish Government supported legislative consent motions for 19 UK Government bills in the last UK Parliamentary session.
The UK Government fully respects the devolution settlement as set out in the Scotland Act 1998, including the Scottish Parliament’s competence to legislate in respect of devolved matters.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what the average length of time was for Ministers of his Department to respond to correspondence from hon. Members in each month in the last two years.
Answered by Lord Jack of Courance
In line with Cabinet Office guidance, the Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland has a target of responding within 20 working days where a response is required. As you will understand, the Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland is currently dealing with unprecedented volumes of correspondence due to COVID-19. The Department ensures that urgent cases raised by hon. Members are prioritised, and is taking steps to provide substantive responses in as short a time as possible.
All correspondence received from hon. Members is being reviewed and will be responded to as soon as possible.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how many meetings (a) Ministers and (b) officials of his Department have had with representatives of (i) Carillion and (ii) Carillion subsidiaries since January 2017; who attended those meetings; and what was discussed at each such meeting.
Answered by David Mundell
The Scotland Office has no contracts with Carillion or its subsidiaries. Ministers and officials of the Scotland Office have had no meetings with representatives of (i) Carillion and (ii) Carillion subsidiaries in those capacities since January 2017.