Parliamentary questions

Sarah Boyack

2,373 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

6 Jun 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what support it will give NHS Lothian for the combined development of the new Royal Hospital for Sick Children and Department of Clinical Neurosciences in Edinburgh.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The Scottish Government is fully committed to the delivery of the combined development of the new Royal Hospital for Sick Children and Department of Clinical Neurosciences in Edinburgh. With support and advice from Scottish Government Officials and the Scotti…

6 Jun 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what financial assistance it will give NHS Lothian for the combined development of the new Royal Hospital for Sick Children and Department of Clinical Neurosciences in Edinburgh.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The Scottish Government's position on funding support for revenue financed projects was set out in a letter to NHS chief executives from the Director General Health and Social Care on 22 March 2011. That letter detailed those elements of unitary payments made…

8 Mar 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the antisocial behaviour framework debate in the Parliament on 16 December 2010 (Official Report, c.31759), whether it will provide details of how Edinburgh is benefiting from the Community Wellbeing Champions Initiative.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: In March 2010 I announced £100,000 in support of the Community Wellbeing Champions Initiative. So far the Initiative has been piloted in five areas across Scotland: Fife; Shetland; North Lanarkshire; South Lanarkshire, and Stirling. Evaluation of the…

8 Mar 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average bursary award has been for (a) part-time and (b) full-time students at colleges and universities in Edinburgh and the Lothians region in each of the last five years, broken down by institution.

Answer · Michael Russell: Bursary payments to Scottish students are paid out by Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) for full-time higher education (HE) students, and the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) allocates further funds for further education (FE) students. The most recent year …

8 Mar 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many community projects were developed as part of the hydro-tendering process by the Forestry Commission Scotland renewables contracts announced by the Minister for Environment and Climate Change on 22 February 2011.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The results of the hydro-tendering process were announced in August and October 2010. The appointed development companies are still in the exclusivity phase and nothing has been decided as yet. Discussions are underway with some communities however.

8 Mar 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is aware of community renewables development scheme that have previously been worked up to the appropriate level for consideration under the provisions of the Forestry Commission Scotland renewables contracts out to tender.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Where Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS) was aware of community schemes that had started doing some preparatory work before the renewables contracts were announcement on 22 February, FCS built that knowledge into the arrangements by withholding the relevant f…

8 Mar 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive for what reason it decided to put the whole of the forest estate out to tender at the same time.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Every exercise like this is heavy on resource and time. Progressing these opportunities will contribute significantly to the delivery of the Government''s renewable energy targets and generate an additional revenue stream for Forestry Commission Scotland whic…

8 Mar 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Forestry Commission Scotland renewables contracts announced by the Minister for Environment and Climate Change on 22 February 2011 give exclusive rights to the whole of the commission’s estate to those companies that won the contracts.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Forestry Commission Scotland split the geographical areas of the national forest estate into five lots. In four of the five lots there are two companies given exclusivity for the eight month period, one dealing with schemes under 5MW site potential a…

8 Mar 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive on what basis it proposed the deadline of eight months from the agreement of exclusivity arrangements for communities to propose their own renewables projects on the Forestry Commission Scotland estate.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: This was considered to be a reasonable time for the development partner companies to assess the potential and draw up a portfolio of suitable sites.

8 Mar 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will delay the eight month limit from the agreement of exclusivity arrangements for communities to put forward their own proposals for renewables contracts the Forestry Commission Scotland estate.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Communities are welcome to flag up their interest during the eight month period if they want to pursue a renewables project under the National Forest Land Scheme (NFLS) prior to the list of sites being finalised by the developer. Once that list is established…

8 Mar 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the contracts for Forestry Commission Scotland renewables contracts announced by the Minister for Environment and Climate Change on 22 February 2011 have review points where increasing payments from companies with access to the commission’s estate might be considered.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The lease arrangements are structured to provide income to Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS) based on a share of the gross income generated by specific projects or a share of net income where FCS is joint venture partner or a combination of both. Therefore i…

8 Mar 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the duration will be of the contracts for the Forestry Commission Scotland renewables contracts announced by the Minister for Environment and Climate Change on 22 February 2011.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: It will only be possible to say which communities will benefit once the developers have identified potential sites on the national forest estate. It is expected that this process will take up to eight month to complete.

8 Mar 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the option of joint investment opportunities to develop the forestry commission estate has been considered.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Yes, and the deals announced provide for Forestry Commission Scotland to become a joint venture partner in specific schemes should they chose to do so.

8 Mar 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what options were explored by Forestry Commission Scotland prior to concluding that private companies be awarded the renewables contracts announced by the Minister for Environment and Climate Change on 22 February 2011.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: A series of options were modelled ranging from the current leasing arrangement through joint ventures to Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS) self development. Given FCS cannot borrow funding for such purposes the lease/joint version option was seen to be the b…

8 Mar 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what estimates it has made of the renewables potential of the forestry estate.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Forestry Commission Scotland estimate having 2GW of capacity installed (wind and hydro, excluding large-scale pumped storage) on the national forest estate by 2020.

8 Mar 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive which banks provided assistance in drawing up the contracts for the Forestry Commission Scotland’s renewables contracts announced by the Minister for Environment and Climate Change on 22 February 2011.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: No banks were involved in drawing up the contracts but financial advice was provided by Grant Thornton''s Edinburgh office. However, prior to the tendering exercise FCS received advice on renewable energy developments from Fortis Bank.

8 Mar 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish the report commissioned from Atkins Consultants Ltd on the potential for wind farm development on the national estate.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The project Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS) undertook with Atkins Consultants had the main objective to build a GIS based analytical model to enable FCS to assess potential wind resource on the national forest estate. This objective was achieved and FCS ro…

8 Mar 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much money it expects to raise from the Forestry Commission Scotland renewables contracts announced by the Minister for Environment and Climate Change on 22 February 2011.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Depending on energy prices Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS) anticipate total renewable energy derived income of about £30 million per year by 2020, this is based on FCS''s forecast that an additional 500MW of installed capacity should be achievable. This ex…

8 Mar 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive for what reason local communities did not participate in the decision made regarding the Forestry Commission Scotland renewables contracts announced by the Minister for Environment and Climate Change on 22 February 2011.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS) has responsibility for the development of the national forest estate and it would not have been appropriate to directly involve communities in the commercial process. However, FCS did discuss with representative community bo…

8 Mar 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Forestry Commission Scotland renewables contracts announced by the Minister for Environment and Climate Change on 22 February 2011 require safeguarding locally based employment for construction and maintenance work as part of the tendering process.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Due to the nature of the commercial process undergone, Forestry Commission Scotland could not specify requirements in this way however, each developer has stressed as part of their submission the importance they attach to local development and sustainability.…

8 Mar 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive which communities it expects will benefit from Forestry Commission Scotland’s renewables contracts announced by the Minister for Environment and Climate Change on 22 February 2011.

8 Mar 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how communities will be consulted on spending priorities arising from benefits received from Forestry Commission Scotland’s renewables contracts announced by the Minister for Environment and Climate Change on 22 February 2011.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Representative communities who engage with the developers will receive the level of benefit and direct investment agreed on their behalf by Forestry Commission Scotland with the developer for each lot. As such it will be entirely up to the properly constitute…

8 Mar 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how the community benefits from Forestry Commission Scotland’s renewables contracts announced by the Minister for Environment and Climate Change on 22 February 2011 will be administered and which organisations will oversee this.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: It will be for the appointed development companies for the different lots to engage with and agree the details with communities based upon the template agreed with Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS). FCS will additionally publish guidance for communities on t…

8 Mar 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what benefits it expects communities will receive from the Forestry Commission Scotland renewables contracts announced by the Minister for Environment and Climate Change on 22 February 2011.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Forestry Commission Scotland has secured leading edge community benefits of up to £5,000 per mw per annum for both wind and hydro developments. Communities, if they so wish, will be able to invest this payment in a share of the development. Also, they have th…

8 Mar 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what funding for bursaries has been allocated to (a) colleges and (b) universities in (i) Edinburgh and (ii) the Lothians region in each of the last five years, broken down by institution.

Answer · Michael Russell: Funding for bursaries for full-time higher education (HE) students in Scotland is allocated through the Students Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS). Table 1 shows the amount (in pounds sterling) paid as bursaries to HE students in Edinburgh and Lothian regions…

8 Mar 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance is issued to colleges and universities regarding the provision of childcare for postgraduates.

Answer · Michael Russell: Discretionary fund guidance is issued to all colleges and universities at the beginning of each academic year. The discretionary fund guidance includes details of the funding available to all students with childcare expenses, including postgraduate students.<…

8 Mar 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average level of student debt was among graduates from (a) universities and (b) colleges in (i) Edinburgh and (ii) the Lothians region in each of the last five years, broken down by institution.

Answer · Michael Russell: Student debt includes loans which are extended by the Student Loans Company. Student loan entitlement is assessed by Student Awards Agency Scotland and the loans are extended by the Student Loans Company (SLC). The SLC do not hold information on students that…

8 Mar 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much was invested in (a) colleges and (b) universities in (i) Edinburgh and (ii) the Lothians region in each of the last five years and what the annual change was expressed in real terms.

Answer · Michael Russell: The following tables show the funding allocated to higher education institutions (HEIs) and colleges in Scotland between 2004-05 and 2008-09, along with equivalent amounts at 2004-05 values (adjusted using HM Treasury GDP deflators) and the annual change of 2…

3 Mar 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3F-2930 by Alex Salmond on 24 February 2011 (Official Report, c.33513), how it will fund planting the 100 million trees and what the proposed rate of planting is for each of the next five years.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Our woodland creation targets are mainly achieved through grant support under the Scotland Rural Development Programme together with the Forest Leasing Scheme and some direct planting undertaken by Forestry Commission Scotland. The 2011-12 Draft Budget provid…

2 Mar 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether its home loans scheme will be rolled out across Scotland.

Answer · Jim Mather: The Energy Saving Scotland home loans pathfinder scheme was available across Scotland and home loans have continued to be available in Home Insulation Scheme and Universal Home Insulation Scheme areas. Following the completion of the home loans evalu…