Parliamentary questions

Kenny MacAskill

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

15 Jan 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been spent on literature by the Scottish Enterprise Creative Industries cluster team in each year since its inception and how much will be spent on literature by the team in each year to 2006.

Answer · Frank McAveety: I have asked RobertCrawford, Chief Executive of Scottish Enterprise, to respond. His response isas follows:A summary of CreativeIndustries Cluster Investment in Publishing to date is as follows. 2001-02,£67,800; 2002-03, £183,250; 2003-04, £62,000. The…

15 Jan 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been spent by the Scottish Arts Council on literature in each year since 1997, expressed also as a percentage of total Arts Council expenditure in each year.

Answer · Frank McAveety: Scottish Arts Council hasprovided figures as set out in the following table. The figures do not includeNational Lottery funding.<table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td> Financial Year </td> <td> Lit…

15 Jan 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what requirements each local authority currently places on registered taxis as a result of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, and what percentage of taxis must be wheelchair-compliant and by what date.

Answer · Tavish Scott: The DisabilityDiscrimination Act 1995 provides for the introduction of taxi accessibility regulationscontaining the minimum specification requirements for such vehicles. Suchmatters are reserved to the Westminster Parliament, although their applicationin Scot…

15 Jan 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make representations to Her Majesty's Government in respect of addressing any shortage of qualified HGV drivers in Scotland, in light of the impact of any such shortage on the economy.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: I am aware of the concernsof the Scottish haulage industry regarding the recruitment and retention of HGVdrivers. Communication with Westminster is maintained on this issue through ScottishExecutive attendance at the UK road haulage forum.My officials …

15 Jan 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many test centres currently issue MOT certificates for taxis, broken down by local authority area, and whether it provides any advice to local authorities in respect of the number of centres in each area and their operation.

Answer · Tavish Scott: Under the provisions of theCivic Government (Scotland) Act 1982, it is for individual licensingauthorities to determine the requirements for taxi testing and inspection forvehicles operating in their area, including where the necessary testcertificate can be …

14 Jan 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how it will support the teaching of English as a foreign language (TEFL); how TEFL has been supported in each of the last four years; what information it has in respect of the organisations that support TEFL; what plans it has to promote TEFL abroad and which organisations will be involv…

Answer · Peter Peacock: The promotion of TEFL tointernational students visiting Scotland is part of the work of Education UK Scotland, whichis core-funded by the British Council and supported by the Scottish Executive and the Scottish Higher and Further Education Funding Councils. S…

14 Jan 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will adopt the Swedish scheme of giving every child membership of a local library and a children's book at birth and how much such a scheme would cost.

Answer · Frank McAveety: A similar scheme alreadyoperates in the UK. Bookstart, which was established in 1992, providesthe parents of each new-born child with a pack containing an invitation tolibrary membership, advice on reading and two books. In Scotland,this is an inter-agency pr…

14 Jan 2004 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Presiding Officer what recent discussions have been held with the Nordic Council on behalf of the Parliament; what plans it has to meet the council in 2004, and whether it has any plans to enter into discussions with the council regarding full or associated membership of the council.

Answer · Andrew Welsh: The Parliament has recentlybeen involved in discussions with the Nordic Council through its membership of the British-Irish Inter-parliamentary Body (BIIPB). The BIIPB will produce areport shortly on its links with the Nordic Council. MSPs and officials fromt…

12 Jan 2004 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Presiding Officer what role the Parliament will have in Scotland Week in Estonia in July 2004.

Answer · Andrew Welsh: The Presiding Officer willconsider what role may be appropriate for the Parliament in Scotland Week in Estonia whenmore details of the event become available.The Scottish Parliament hasalready established very productive relations with the Estonian Par…

12 Jan 2004 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Presiding Officer what steps the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body is taking to enter into formal relationships with the parliaments of EU accession states.

Answer · Andrew Welsh: The SPCB has taken no stepsto enter into formal relations with other parliaments. However the Parliamenthas established productive informal relationships with many legislatures,including the parliaments of the EU accession states. Of the countries accedingto …

12 Jan 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on what organisations will be involved in Scotland Week in Estonia in July 2004; what funding will be made available for the proposed event, and what information it has on events planned for the week.

Answer · Andy Kerr: Scotland Week in Estonia is being organised by the Honorary Consul for Estonia in Scotland, MrIain Lawson. We understand that the focus of the week will be on raising theprofile of Scottish business in Estonia. The programme is at an early stage of developmen…

12 Jan 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the operational impact of the introduction of sky marshals will be on policing at airports.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: Aviation Security isreserved to the UK Government. It has made it clear that its policy, for securityreasons, is not to comment on when or where specific, additional securitymeasures are being deployed.The deployment of skymarshals, and the operational…

8 Jan 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many responses it received to its consultation on the report of the Nicholson Committee and what the plans and timetable are for the implementation of recommendations contained in the report.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The Scottish Executive has received a total of 166 responses to the report of the NicholsonCommittee. Those responses are currently being independently analysed and areport will be submitted to ministers. Ministers will therefore publish theirresponse to the …

8 Jan 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the annual expenditure has been on public relations and advertising by Highlands and Islands Airport Ltd since 1997 and what the estimated budget for such expenditure is for the next three years.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The annual amounts are as follows:<table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td> </td> <td> 1997-98 </td> <td> 1998-99 </td> <td> 1999-2000 </td>…

19 Dec 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has regarding the reasons for (a) Glasgow being unsuccessful and (b) Lisbon being successful in its application for the siting of the European Maritime Safety Agency; who was responsible for Glasgow's application process and how the application process was conducted; w…

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The location of the headquarters of the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) was decided by headsof government at the Brussels European Council on 12 and 13 of December asrecorded in the presidency conclusions. There was strong competition from anumber of b…

19 Dec 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the introduction of road tolls, as has been implemented in England, would be effective in Scotland; what discussions would have to be undertaken and by whom, if road tolls were to be introduced; what powers it would have not to agree to, or to seek to vary, any tolls; to whom any …

Answer · Nicol Stephen: There are no provisions inthe Transport (Scotland) Act 2001 for tolling of motorways and trunk roadsand no proposals to proceed with any tolling projects in Scotland.

10 Dec 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the traffic implications are for Edinburgh of any expansion of retail sites at Straiton and what its position is on any such expansion.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: Any development proposalswhich did come forward would be assessed by the Executive on the basis of theirtrunk road impact.Midlothian Council arecurrently in the process of undertaking a multi modal corridor study of theA701. The objective of this study…

10 Dec 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on any impact on bus services if a current bus operator obtained the new rail franchise, in particular on the number of services, and areas, likely to be affected and what measures would be put in place to address such a situation.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The provision of busservices is a matter for the operating companies concerned, subject to therequirements of their licenses.The bid specification forthe ScotRail franchise was primarily concerned with the provision of railservices. However, in line wi…

9 Dec 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on how much it would cost to electrify the railway line from Bathgate to Edinburgh.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The electrification of the Edinburgh toAirdrie line, via Bathgate, is included within the specification of the Airdrie-Bathgateengineering feasibility study. The study’s completion is expected by the end ofMarch 2004.

9 Dec 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it took to promote St Andrew's Day, detailing the activities and events it promoted and the costs incurred.

Answer · Andy Kerr: On St Andrew’s Day thisyear, the First Minister's speech, delivered at the Royal Scottish Academy ofMusic and Drama, focused on culture and the creativity of the Scottish people.The First Minister addressed an audience comprising leading representatives of Sc…

9 Dec 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to promote Burns Night, detailing events, activities, costs and funds available to organisations, departments and non-departmental public bodies.

Answer · Frank McAveety: Scotland’s tourism industry benefits greatly from thiscountry’s cultural history and Burns is one of Scotland’s greatest culturalicons. His work is well known around the world, and Burns Night presents anexcellent opportunity for the promotion of Scotland as …

9 Dec 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding has been allocated under the concessionary fares scheme (a) since the scheme's inception and (b) for each of the next two years, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The funding for the current concessionary travel schemes is allocated to local authorities primarily by formula allocation. The information requested is set out in the following tables.Funding for the partnership agreement commitments for a national fr…

9 Dec 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the importance of the book publishing sector to implementing its cultural strategy and what assistance, financial or otherwise, will be made available to that sector.

Answer · Frank McAveety: The Scottish publishingsector is recognised as important to the cultural and creative life of Scotland. the Scottish Arts Council has commissioned “A Review of Scottish Publishing in the21st Century”, which is to be published this year. The council will use t…

8 Dec 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking regarding visitscotland.com advising potential customers that Edinburgh was full to capacity during the festival; whether it will seek compensation either for individual hoteliers and guest houses or the city as a whole, and what the reasons are for its position on…

Answer · Frank McAveety: This is entirely anoperational matter for visitscotland.com.

8 Dec 2003 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Presiding Officer how many high profile or VIP visits there were to the Parliament in each month from (a) May 1999 to May 2000 and (b) May to November 2003 and what the estimated number of visits is from November 2003 to May 2004.

Answer · Andrew Welsh: The Parliament received 48 high-profile or VIP visits between May 1999 to May 2000 (inclusive) and 80visits between May and the end of December 2003. From January to end of May2004, the Parliament’s External Liaison Unit are currently developingprogrammes for…

5 Dec 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it, or any of its agencies, have taken to persuade Ama'on.com to locate its European operations centre in Scotland.

Answer · Jim Wallace: Scottish development international(SDI) is charged with attracting inward investment projects to Scotland.SDI is pursuing a number of major inward investment projects including severalin the online services sector. Due to considerations of commercialconfident…

27 Nov 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on any increase in road traffic from the Maybury roundabout to Turnhouse in relation to air freight and cargo and what plans it has to improve access for road freight to the airport freight section of Edinburgh Airport at Turnhouse.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The Future Development ofAir Transport in the United Kingdom: Scotland contains forecasts up to 2030 of the potential growthof air freight/cargo at Scotland’s main airports including Edinburgh.The impact on surface access will be dependen…

27 Nov 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether plans for a road link from the M8 to Edinburgh Airport have been removed from structural plans for west Edinburgh and what the reasons are for the position on the matter.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: Both the Rural West EdinburghLocal Plan (which has not yet been adopted) and the West Edinburgh PlanningFramework make provision for the safeguarding of options for possible new roadaccesses to the airport. The Executive currently has no plans regarding anacc…

27 Nov 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has in respect of costing and proposals to complete the Edinburgh bypass between the Maybury roundabout and Barnton.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: There are no plans in thecurrent programme to extend the Edinburgh by-pass from Maybury to Barnton.

14 Nov 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration it has given to seeking, or supporting, access to Marco Polo funds from the European Commission; what action it has taken to access such funds, and what routes it considers may be appropriate for such funding.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The European Commission hasalready issued a call for applications for Marco Polo funding by 10 December 2003. Inthe following months, all eligible applications will be assessed by a panel ofofficials from each member state. The panel will receive advice from …