Parliamentary questions
Fergus Ewing
2,894 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
17 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what role Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) plays in relation to the designation of land as a Special Protection Area and whether, in carrying out that role, SNH must observe and fulfil the duties imposed upon it by section 3 of the Natural Heritage (Scotland) Act 1991, in particular the du…
Answer · Sarah Boyack: In its role as adviser to Scottish Ministers on natural heritage matters, Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) advises on the scientific case for classifying Special Protection Areas (SPA). SNH staff carry out consultations on behalf of the Scottish Executive with…
15 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether, following the commitment given by the Minister for Finance on 9 February 2000 (col. 853), it will reconsider the criteria governing selection of those who are eligible to apply to be members of the water industry consultative committee.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: The Executive is committed to broadening the range of people to be considered for public appointments made by Ministers.<FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=2><P>Appointments to the Water Industry Consultative Committees are made by the Water Industry Commissioner, rather…
9 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will disclose what level of increase in water charges was sought or proposed by the water commissioner for the year 2002-03 for each of the three water authorities in Scotland.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: All of the Commissioner's advice to the Executive on charges was published on 26 January.
9 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will introduce a rebate for water charges similar to that available to council tax payers in order to help those with the least ability to pay.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: Water and sewerage charges, in common with other utility charges, cover the provision of specific services. They are not taxes and it would not be appropriate to treat them as such by introducing rebates for them. I have, however, asked my officials to consid…
9 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will reduce the increase in water charges for the year 2000-01 within the North of Scotland Water Authority area to the average level of increase in the rest of Scotland.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: In accordance with the provisions of the Water Industry Act 1999, I announced on 26 January the Executive's decisions on the framework for water and sewerage charges in the light of the Water Industry Commissioner's advice, received in December 1999. The leve…
9 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated cost is of the water commissioner and his office over each of the next three years.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: I have set the operating budget of the Water Industry Commissioner at £1,261,739 for 2000-01. I have also agreed that the Commissioner may spend up to an additional £681,000 in 2000-01 on one-off costs associated with establishing the new regulatory regime.
9 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will seek to prevent the North of Scotland Water Authority from holding public meetings in order to explain why water charges must increase or whether it will welcome public consultation of this nature.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: In my statement to the Scottish Parliament of 26 January, I set out how the Executive accepted the Water Industry Commissioner's advice that substantial increases in water and sewerage charges are needed to fund essential investment programmes although I mode…
9 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, in the light of its rejection of the water commissioner's advice on the level of water charges for the next two years, what necessary function it considers that the office of the Water Commissioner serves.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: As I made clear in my statement to the Parliament on 26 January, the Executive did not reject the Commissioner's advice. I also made clear then that the Commissioner has a crucial role as the independent, professional economic and customer service regulator o…
9 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated cost is of the proposed water industry consultative committees for each of the three water authority areas in each of the next three financial years.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: I recently set the budget for the Water Industry Commissioner for the year 2000-01, which included provision for operating costs of £60,000 for the three Water Industry Consultative Committees. The Water Industry Commissioner anticipates similar spending leve…
8 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any application for grant assistance made by the National Trust for Scotland to a local enterprise company will be considered in accordance with the same criteria as those governing applications by private businesses and, in particular, whether the rules regarding displacement of …
Answer · Henry McLeish: Any application for financial assistance made by the National Trust for Scotland to a local enterprise company would be appraised according to the same criteria as applies to other financial assistance cases or development projects promoted by private compani…
7 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received the report Economic Impacts of Road Fuel Prices in the Highlands and Islands of January 2000 by EKOS Ltd, commissioned by Highland Council and Highlands and Islands Enterprise and, if so, whether it accepts the findings of the Report and in particular the compariso…
Answer · Sarah Boyack: We have a copy of the EKOS report <I>Economic Impacts of Road Fuel Prices in the Highlands and Islands</I> and have no reason to doubt the figures presented. We recognise that higher fuel costs remains a matter of considerable concern for those living and wor…
7 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to question S1W-1282 lodged on 1 September 1999 about the specialisms of its special advisers, when it will provide an explanation for the delay in providing a substantive answer and whether the answer will include details of those special advisers who, since the lodging of the q…
Answer · Donald Dewar: I refer to the answer I gave to question S1W-1282 on 22 February 2000.
3 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any Ministers have visited or intend to visit the Millennium Dome as part of their official duties and, if so, what lessons they learned or hope to learn from such a visit.
Answer · Sam Galbraith: To date, no Scottish Ministers have visited the Dome in their official capacity, and there are currently no firm proposals for them to do so. However, it is possible that opportunities may arise for Scottish Ministers to visit the Dome later in the year.
3 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make available to all those applicants under the Agricultural Business Improvement Schemes whose applications were not met in full, details of any proposals which it has or will bring forward for a new programme under the European development funding programme for the next…
Answer · Ross Finnie: Details of the proposed Highlands and Islands Special Transitional Programme, which includes proposed grant assistance to farmers and crofters, are already in the public domain. A copy has been lodged with the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.
3 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will seek to obtain information regarding the policies pursued in Denmark to promote renewable energy and in particular those which encourage the use of renewable energy amongst consumers, and whether it will make such information available in the Scottish Parliament Informatio…
Answer · Sarah Boyack: The proposals of the Scottish Executive on the promotion of renewable energy were outlined in my answer to S1W-4084 dated 1 February. These proposals are part of the framework established by the UK Government to pursue the target of meeting 10% of GB electric…
3 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when the Scottish Utilities Forum will next meet, and whether it will discuss methods by which utilities operating in Scotland will be encouraged to remove any premiums or other charges which may discourage the use of "green" energy among lower income consumers.
Answer · Henry McLeish: The Scottish Utilities Forum will meet on 21 March. The Forum, which has been established by the private sector utilities in Scotland as a result of their participation in Pathfinders to the Scottish Parliament, will set its own agenda. I expect, however, tha…
3 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made with the proposals on infectious salmon anaemia, referred to in the Ministerial Statement of 15 December 1999 as having been submitted to the European Commission, in providing greater flexibility in handling the clearance of fish and in reviewing the criteria f…
Answer · John Home Robertson: The formal Commission proposal to amend the relevant EC legislation to allow greater flexibility in clearance of fish from infected farms will be discussed in the European Parliament Fisheries Committee on 22 February prior to likely consideration a…
2 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make representations to Her Majesty's Government that additional "agrimoney" compensation be paid to Scottish families this year, whether it will place in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre copies of such representations, and whether it will provide details of how …
Answer · Ross Finnie: The precise amounts of agrimonetary compensation available to UK milk producers as well as other agricultural sectors have yet to be determined. These will not be known until the European Commission publishes a regulation later this month. Payments must be ma…
2 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-3768 by Mr Jack McConnell on 28 January 2000, whether it will state with which business representative bodies he met and, of these, with which he discussed the proposed setting of the business rate poundage for Scotland at a higher level than that in…
Answer · Jack McConnell: I met and discussed issues related to the forthcoming non-domestic rates revaluation in Scotland with The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in Scotland, The Federation of Small Businesses, The Scottish Chambers of Commerce, The Confederation of British…
2 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-1612 by Donald Dewar on 16 September 1999, whether it will now specify the revised total estimated annual costs of employment of Special Advisors broken down by individual and, including any termination and other payments which have been made to Mr R…
Answer · Donald Dewar: There are currently eight Special Advisers employed within the Scottish Executive. The estimated annual cost of employing them (including overheads) is £527,207. Individual salaries are not revealed in order to protect the privacy of those concerned. Regardin…
2 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, in respect of each Information Society Initiative (ISI) Programme, whether it will state the activity level during the period May 1998 to December 1999 in terms of the numbers of (a) client throughput (organisations), (b) businesses assisted and (c) seminars/events delivered.
Answer · Henry McLeish: The ISI is a UK-wide initiative and statistics are not generally available on a territorial basis for individual ISI programmes. The ISI Centre programme is an exception, and the figures for the Scottish ISI Centres are as follows:<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">May 1998 …
2 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what role it has in the Information Society Initiative (ISI) and whether it will provide details of the number of programmes which have been launched in Scotland under the ISI Programme for Business and, in each case, at what cost.
Answer · Henry McLeish: The Scottish Executive is actively engaged in the application of the ISI in Scotland. Officials are in regular dialogue with the ISI team at the Department of Trade and Industry, and work to ensure that Scottish policy on related matters, such as the promotio…
1 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether, in respect of the pension scheme surplus of the Transport Operation Pension Scheme (TOPS), it will provide all information and assistance requested to the trade union representatives representing the workforce and support the efforts of the workforce in campaigning for distributi…
Answer · Sarah Boyack: Information about the administration of the Transport Operatives Pensions Scheme is a matter for the Trustees of the Scheme until such time as the scheme is wound up. The distribution of any surplus is governed by the Trust Deeds, the Scottish Transport Group…
27 Jan 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what economic development services are provided by Business Shops; whether any analysis has been done or will be done as to whether the nature and range of services provided vary and whether it will place a copy of such analysis in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.
Answer · Henry McLeish: I refer Mr Ewing to my answer to question S1W-4002.
27 Jan 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many Business Shops there are and to list their location and the total annual cost of their operation.
Answer · Henry McLeish: The Scottish Business Shop Network comes under the operational remit of Scottish Enterprise. Details of the annual cost of their operation are contained in the <I>Scottish Enterprise, Scottish Business Shop Network Evaluation Main Report: Final Report Februar…
25 Jan 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to review the regulations governing EU agricultural subsides and whether the existing rules punish cases of inadvertent error.
Answer · Ross Finnie: The Regulations governing EU agricultural subsidies are reviewed regularly by Agricultural Departments in the UK on an individual and collective basis. The need for change is also discussed regularly with the EU and the other member states before revisions ar…
25 Jan 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will be co-operating fully with the National Audit Office in the latter's consideration of the written undertakings given by Lord Sewel on 18 February 1999 that all applications under the original and revised Agricultural Business Improvement Scheme would be accommodated; wheth…
Answer · Ross Finnie: I refer Mr Ewing to the answer I gave to question S1W-3495 on 2 October 2000.
25 Jan 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will institute a consultation process as to the way in which the provisions, under article 11.1A of the EC Regulation ((EEC) 3887/92), which relate to the administration of claims under the Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS) and in particular with regard to an …
Answer · Ross Finnie: All EU Regulations, which impact on producers, were the subject of detailed scrutiny by the Red Tape Review panel of industry representatives. Their report was handed over on 26 January and I am now considering the recommendations. The Panel investigated the …
25 Jan 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the absence of any formal right of appeal under the Sheep Annual Premium Scheme 1999 may constitute a breach of the European Convention of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
Answer · Ross Finnie: The current options available to a farmer to challenge a decision by the Scottish Executive under the Sheep Annual Premium Scheme 1999, or any other agricultural subsidy scheme, include asking for Judicial Review in the Court of Session. Whether Judicial Revi…
21 Jan 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is in favour of elected representatives of the Highlands and Islands working together on any reconvened Highlands and Islands Convention and, if not, why not.
Answer · Alasdair Morrison: I refer the Member to the First Minister's answer to S1F-79 of Thursday 3 February.