Parliamentary questions

Fergus Ewing

2,894 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

19 Jan 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, following the comments by the Deputy Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform on 17 January 2007 (Official Report, c. 31170), whether it will seek to obtain information from the Home Office or any other source on the extent to which the powers to disqualify drivers who have been co…

Answer · George Lyon: The Home Office advise that theycollect figures on persons disqualified from driving having been convicted of offencesof kerb crawling. Thirty-six such cases were notified to them in both 2004 and 2005.However, they consider that the figures may be subject to…

19 Jan 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what information Transport Scotland has in respect of whether any plans or proposals are being considered to make charges for rail passenger franchise operators such as FirstScotrail for using the Stirling-Alloa-Kincardine rail line and whether it will place full details in the Scottish P…

Answer · Tavish Scott: Access charges will be paid byFirst ScotRail to Network Rail for use of the railway between Stirling and Alloa.This was anticipated in the ScotRail Franchise contract, in accordance with normalindustry practice.The level of charges will bedetermined be…

19 Jan 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that, because the issue of levying additional charges on freight or passenger rail operators was not raised during the parliamentary consideration of the Stirling-Alloa-Kincardine Railway and Linked Improvements Bill, such charges cannot now be made.

Answer · Tavish Scott: The Office of Rail Regulation(ORR) is responsible for setting an appropriate track access charge regime for newrailways. The Scottish Executive does not consider that the parliamentary considerationof the Stirling-Alloa-Kincardine Railway and Linked Improveme…

19 Jan 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive on what date the Stirling-Alloa-Kincardine rail line will be opened.

Answer · Tavish Scott: I expect the railway to open in the summer 2007; as indicated in mystatement of March 2006.

17 Jan 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2O-11639 by Ross Finnie on 11 January 2007 (Official Report c. 31009), whether it anticipates that a decision on the location of the first coastal and marine national park will be taken before dissolution of the Parliament; whether it will publish all a…

Answer · Ross Finnie: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-31125 on 31 January 2007 which outlines the Executive’s plansin making available responses received as part the consultation on proposals toestablish Scotland’s first Coastal and Marine National Park,which clos…

17 Jan 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish all advice received in connection with the proposal that a local referendum be held in relation to the proposed designation of any part of Scotland as a coastal and marine national park.

Answer · Ross Finnie: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-31125 on 31 January 2007 which outlines the Executive’s plansin making available responses received as part of the consultation on proposalsto establish Scotland’s first Coastal and Marine National Park,which c…

17 Jan 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will place copies of the submissions made to its consultation on coastal and marine national parks in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre and whether it plans to prepare an analysis of these submissions showing the name, address and position of each of the respondents an…

Answer · Ross Finnie: The Executive places copies ofresponses to consultations in the Scottish Executive library and on the ScottishExecutive website for public access, unless respondents have requested that theirresponse remains confidential. Responses to the consultation on the …

11 Jan 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much compensation has been paid under the sea eagle reintroduction programme to farmers on Mull for loss of lambs in each financial year since the inception of the programme.

Answer · Sarah Boyack: Responsibility for the distributionof compensation to farmers impacted by the sea eagle reintroduction programme onMull lies with SNH rather than Scottish ministers. As indicated in the followingtable, such compensation payments by SNH were discontinued after…

11 Jan 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the contents of the Historic Scotland document, Conservation of Architectural Ancient Monuments in Scotland, represent Executive policy and, if so, how this policy was determined and whether it will publish any relevant consultation papers and responses.

Answer · Patricia Ferguson: The status of the Historic Scotlanddocument The Conservation of Architectural Ancient Monuments in Scotland: Guidanceon Principles is made clear by its title: as is made explicit in theforeword and introduction, the document provides guidance and advic…

11 Jan 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on whether the United Kingdom is a signatory to the Burra Charter and, if it is a signatory, on what date it became one.

Answer · Patricia Ferguson: The Burra Charter, which providesguidance for the conservation and management of places of cultural heritage significance,was written and adopted by Australia ICOMOS (International Council on Monumentsand Sites). It does not have international signatories.

9 Jan 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made to the UK Government in respect of the Competition Commission’s inquiry into the joint venture between Stagecoach and Scottish Citylink and the manner in which the inquiry was conducted.

Answer · Tavish Scott: The Scottish Executive provideda written response to the Competition Commission (CC) inquiry on 3 April 2006 which isavailable on the CC website at:<ahref="http://www.competition-commission.org.uk/inquiries/ref2006/citylink/third_party_submissions.htm"…

22 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is satisfied that a sufficient allowance has been made in the cost estimates of Transport Initiatives Edinburgh of the Edinburgh trams scheme in respect of the level of optimism bias.

Answer · Tavish Scott: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-30775 on 12 February 2007. All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website the search facilityfor which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/w…

22 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is satisfied that the cost estimates of Transport Initiatives Edinburgh in relation to the Trams for Edinburgh scheme are reliable.

Answer · Tavish Scott: The Scottish Executive is consideringthe Tram Draft Final Business Case including the capital cost estimates and allowancesfor Optimism Bias.We expect to complete this considerationby the end of February 2007.

18 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients have been diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension in each of the last five years.

Answer · Andy Kerr: Data on primary pulmonary hypertensionalone are not available. The condition occurs in about one or two per million population.It affects women more than men, with an onset age of between 30 and 40 years.The number of patients with pr…

18 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its policy is in relation to the treatment of pulmonary hypertension.

Answer · Andy Kerr: The treatment of primary pulmonaryhypertension has been recognised as a designated national service because of thesmall numbers involved and the high cost of treatment. The service, which is fundedby NHSScotland collectively, is provided by the Scottish Pulmo…

6 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will reform the law relating to the requirement for wind turbines for domestic dwellings to have planning permission and, in particular, whether it will introduce a provision to have the same effect as Planning Policy Statement 22 on renewable energy policies.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The Executive is strongly committedto increasing energy from microrenewables such as rooftop wind turbines and solarpanels and research was commissioned to consider the scope for extending permitteddevelopment rights to some micro-generation projects. The ou…

6 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether charges are made for planning applications in respect of wind turbines for domestic dwellings in Scotland, but not in England and Wales and, if so, what these charges are and whether the same level of charges applies in each local authority area.

Answer · Des McNulty: Fees to be levied in respectof planning applications are set out in the Town and Country Planning(Fees for Applications and Deemed Applications) (Scotland) Regulations 2004 andare common to all local authorities in Scotland.Paragraph 7(a) of tab…

6 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the method of calculating the cost of civil service time spent on the consultation on the establishment of a coastal and marine national park is the same as that for calculating the cost of answering parliamentary questions and, if not, whether it will explain the methodological d…

Answer · Ross Finnie: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-30380 on 21 December 2006. All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facilityfor which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/…

6 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what it estimates the total costs will be of the consultation on the establishment of a coastal and marine national park and whether it will provide a breakdown of these costs, also showing the time that (a) civil servants and (b) others have spent, or will spend, on the consultation proc…

Answer · Ross Finnie: The total estimated cost of thecurrent consultation exercise on proposals to establish Scotland’s firstCoastal and Marine National Park, which seeks views on a number of issues including tencandidate locations, is £220,000. These estimated costs would be char…

24 Nov 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is aware of any other instances where a European state owns, or commissions the building of, vessels subject to the 1992 Maritime Cabotage Regulations and state aid rules, as in the case of the CalMac network.

Answer · Tavish Scott: The research commissioned bythe Scottish Executive on ferry services in other European Union countries (seeResearch and Advice on Risk Management in Relation to the Subsidy of FerryServices – Deliverable 1: Factual Summary of EU Member States, p…

24 Nov 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what transport projects have been announced and subsequently cancelled since 1999.

Answer · Tavish Scott: Over 1,000 transport projectshave been announced by the Scottish Executive since 1999, of which nine were subsequentlycancelled. This figure does not include projects funded from the annual allocationsgiven to local authorities in respect of Cycling, Walking …

24 Nov 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what total value of rolling stock (a) was delivered in each year since 1999 and (b) is due to be delivered in each year to 2012, broken down by manufacturer.

Answer · Tavish Scott: (a) The total value of the rollingstock is subject to the terms of contracts between the Franchisee and the RollingStock companies, and the values attributed to these in the Franchise agreement,are commercially confidential.(b) A procurement plan is in…

24 Nov 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many rail vehicles (a) were delivered in 2006 and (b) are due to be delivered in each year to 2012, broken down by manufacturer.

Answer · Tavish Scott: (a) There were no rail vehiclesdelivered for the ScotRail Franchise during 2006.(b) A procurement plan is inprogress to deliver fleets of new rolling stock for a range of major projects andpassenger growth initiatives from 2009 onwards.Bids have…

24 Nov 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what Transport Scotland’s annual budget is for employing workers on a consultancy basis.

Answer · Tavish Scott: Transport Scotland hasan Agency Administration Budget of £14.4 million for 2006-07 financial year, thisbudget will finance the running costs of the new Executive agency. This budget isfor all costs associated with staff, building costs and other administratio…