Parliamentary questions

Kenny MacAskill

2,611 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

28 Jun 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the role of the national transport agency will be with regard to bus service operators grants.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: I refer the member to the answer given to his question S2W-9414 answered on 26 July 2004. All answers towritten parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, thesearch facility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliam…

28 Jun 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the national transport agency will be in control of the funding and allocation of freight facilities grants and waterborne freight grants and, if not, who will be and what the reasons are for the position on this matter.

28 Jun 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the remits and respective roles will be of the Transport Department at Scottish Enterprise and the new national transport agency.

28 Jun 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the role of the national transport agency will be with regard to the promotion of direct flights from Scotland and the operation of the Interim Route Development Fund.

28 Jun 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the role of the national transport agency will be with regard to vehicle licensing and what rights it will have to give direction and guidance to the Driving and Vehicle Licensing Agency.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: I refer the member to the answer given to his question S2W-9413 answered on 28 July 2004. All answers towritten parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: <ahref="http://www.scottish.parl…

28 Jun 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the role of the national transport agency will be with regard to aviation; what powers it will have in this area, and what rights it will have to give direction and guidance to the Civil Aviation Authority regarding flights within Scotland and the regulation thereof.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: I refer the member to the answergiven to his question S2W-9413 on 28 July 2004.All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’swebsite, the search facility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/web…

28 Jun 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what role the national transport agency will have with regard to ports and harbours; what powers it will have in this area, and what rights to direct UK bodies will be available to the agency.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-9413 answered on 28 July 2004. All answers towritten parliaamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website,the search facility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliamen…

28 Jun 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the relationship will be between the national transport agency and any new asset-owning company formed from Caledonian MacBrayne; whether ownership of the company will be transferred and, if not, what powers of direction and guidance will be given to the new agency.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: I refer the member to the answer given to his question S2W-9414 answered on 28 July 2004. All answers towritten parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, thesearch facility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parlia…

28 Jun 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the relationship will be between the national transport agency and Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd (HIAL); whether ownership of HIAL will be transferred and, if not, what rights to provide direction and guidance will be available to the new agency.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: As an executive agencywithin the Scottish Executive, the proposed national transport agency willexercise the transport powers and other responsibilities, which Scottish Ministerschoose to delegate to it.Consideration is being givento the devolved funct…

28 Jun 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the national transport agency will be able to give direction and guidance to any UK organisations with responsibilities for Scotland relating to air and maritime matters.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: As an executive agencywithin the Scottish Executive, the proposed national transport agency willexercise the transport powers and other responsibilities which Scottish Ministerschoose to delegate to it. The establishment of the agency will not, in itself,resu…

28 Jun 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the role of Transport Initiatives Edinburgh (TIE) will be, given the proposed creation of a national transport agency and regional transport partnerships and what powers TIE will retain and what powers will be ceded.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: Transport InitiativesEdinburgh is a company established by the City of Edinburgh Council to take forward their Integrated Transport Initiative. As such italready works in partnership with a number of bodies in the public and privatesector. It will be for…

28 Jun 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the role of the Forth Estuary Transport Authority will be, given the proposed creation of a national transport agency and regional transport partnerships; what powers the authority will retain and what powers will be ceded to which body; what alternative source of funding will exist…

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The relationship between the Forth Estuary Transport Authority and the national transport agency and regional transport partnerships will be assessed as part of the second phase of the Executive’s review of tolled bridges. It is our intention that the second …

22 Jun 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive which organisation is responsible for promoting Scotland as a destination in which to learn English as a foreign language and what information it has on the respective roles of (a) the British Council, (b) VisitScotland and (c) VisitBritain in the matter.

Answer · Frank McAveety: No single organisation has overall responsibility for promoting Scotland as a destination in which to learn English as a foreign language. The promotion of teaching English as a foreign language to international students visiting Scotland is part of the work …

22 Jun 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many visitors to Scotland have come to learn English as a foreign language in each year since 1999; what information it has on how much such visitors spend during their stay; what the average duration of stay is for such visitors, and, if such information is not available, whether it …

Answer · Frank McAveety: Such information would come from the International Passenger Survey. Every three years, the survey does ask visitors to the UK about whether they have come to learn English as a foreign language, but there is a high level of non-responses from these students,…

22 Jun 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what changes will be made to the structure of VisitScotland.com in view of the abolition of area tourist boards, in particular, what changes will be made to board structure and representation; what action will be taken in regard to shares controlled by the current area tourist boards, and…

Answer · Frank McAveety: VisitScotland.com is proving to be a great means of increasing the number of visitors to Scotland and will continue to be so. The board and shareholder structure of eTourism Ltd (known as visitscotland.com) will not be affected by the introduction of the new …

18 Jun 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make representations to Her Majesty's Government and the government of the United States of America seeking the provision of US immigration facilities at Edinburgh and Glasgow airports, in light of the impact of direct flights from the United States on tourism and busines…

Answer · Nicol Stephen: Immigration issues are reserved to the UK government. The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the UK government on a range of issues.

15 Jun 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive who prepared the business case for the Snowflake SAS flights from Inverness to Stockholm; what the estimated load factor and passenger traffic was; what significance was placed on the nature of the plane to be used; what lessons have been learned, and what action will be taken as a result.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The business case for investment in an air service between Inverness and Stockholm was prepared by aviation consultants, AviaSolutions, in conjunction with Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd and Snowflake. The analysis of demand indicated that there was poten…

15 Jun 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on when the Strategic Rail Authority will publish the route utilisation study for the east coast main line, why the tender process has begun prior to the publication of the study and whether an additional station at Musselburgh Parkway will be contained within the …

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the Strategic Rail Authority on a wide range of issues including the east coast main line. The publication of an east coast main line route utilisation strategy is a matter for the Strategic Rail Authority as…

15 Jun 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether any increase in electrification of the rail network was sought, or will be obtained, as a result of the new franchise and, if not, whether there are any plans to ensure such an increase, in light of the increase in the price of diesel.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The new franchise will deliver rail services. Infrastructure is procured by other means. The lead responsibility for rail infrastructure improvements – including electrification – lies with the Strategic Rail Authority and Network Rail.

15 Jun 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will reconsider regulation of bus services in light of the selection of First Group plc as the preferred bidder for the ScotRail franchise and, if not, what steps it will take to protect commuters from possible abuse of a monopoly situation.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: There are no current plans to increase regulation of the bus industry. It is for the Competition Commission to determine the conditions, if any, to be imposed on First Group to protect users of public transport from abuse of a monopoly situation. First Group …

15 Jun 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-8221 by Nicol Stephen on 10 June 2004, when the phase 1 project at Waverley Station is due to commence and be completed; whether further capacity enhancements are planned for subsequent phases and, if so, what their nature is, what additional service…

Answer · Nicol Stephen: Initial planning for the projecthas begun. Detailed design and development work will commence in August of thisyear and conclude by November 2005. It is anticipated that the project will be completedby the end of 2007. The project provides a common first stag…

15 Jun 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of ferry users in Scotland use Caledonian MacBrayne for internal ferry services.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: For several years, the Scottish Executive has published statistics of the numbers of passengers for various ferry routes in Scottish Transport Statistics. The latest available figures appear in Tables 10.14 and 10.16 of the 2003 edition, which is avail…

14 Jun 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on the percentage of air travellers from Scotland that use a British Airports Authority airport for (a) scheduled international, (b) scheduled domestic and (c) chartered flights.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The percentages of air travellersfrom Scotland using one of BAA’s Scottish airports are as follows:Scheduled international, 76%. Scheduled domestic, 93%.Charter, 95%.The figures are compiled fromthe Civil Aviation Authority…

14 Jun 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of rail travellers in Scotland use ScotRail trains.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The information requested is available from tables 8.1 and 8.3 of ScottishTransport Statistics No. 22 published by the Scottish Executive in 2003 a copyof which is available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 29044).

14 Jun 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of bus users use (a) First Group plc, (b) Stagecoach Bus, (c) Arriva and (d) Lothian Buses services.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The Scottish Executive obtains some statistics about bus passenger numbers from the Department for Transport's Public Service Vehicle operator annual returns. However, the Executive cannot release figures for individual operators because of an undertaking reg…

10 Jun 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is any requirement for it to take the advice of Historic Scotland in respect of the demolition of listed buildings.

Answer · Frank McAveety: The Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 requires planning authorities to notify to Scottish ministers applications for consent for the demolition of any category of listed building which they are minded to approve. This is t…

10 Jun 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria have to be met in order for it to approve the demolition of listed buildings, broken down by grade of building.

Answer · Frank McAveety: Government policy with regard to the demolition of listed buildings is set out in the Memorandum of Guidance on Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas, the document to which all planning authorities are directed by Scottish Office Development Departme…

10 Jun 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many listed buildings it has approved for demolition in each year since 1999, broken down by grade of building.

Answer · Frank McAveety: This information is not available. Statistics for listed building consent casework notified by planning authorities to Scottish ministers under the requirements of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 are compiled by Hist…

10 Jun 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to intervene to support the proposed relocation of the original structures of the 1738 remnants of George Watson's Hospital which, as part of the old Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, are scheduled for demolition.

Answer · Frank McAveety: The site of the old Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh in Laurieston Place is now the subject of a very large redevelopment which will regenerate the area and re-use important historic buildings which form a significant element within the townscape of the World He…

10 Jun 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether any difficulties arise in recruitment or retention of social workers in particular areas due to the absence of a national pay scale for social workers; whether it has any plans to introduce such a pay scale, and, if not, what action will be taken to ensure that public funds are sp…

Answer · Euan Robson: We are not aware of any evidence that suggests difficulties are arising because of the absence of a national pay scale. Where there are shortages, it is in areas where demand outstrips supply, but there are more social workers in Scotland now than ever before…