Parliamentary questions

Kenny MacAskill

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

13 Jun 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost to date has been of converting its vehicles to liquid petroleum gas.

Answer · Angus MacKay: The Scottish Executive has purchased 86 dual fuelled vehicles which run on either liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) or unleaded petrol. All modifications took place prior to purchase. The total cost of conversion was £154,092, an average of £1,792 per vehicle. LP…

5 Jun 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made to the Strategic Rail Authority regarding the use of special purpose vehicles as a method of funding rail improvements.

Answer · Sarah Boyack: Scottish Executive officials are in regular contact with the Strategic Rail Authority on a wide range of matters, including the financing of railway infrastructure projects.

5 Jun 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many businesses affected by the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak have (a) applied for and (b) received hardship relief in relation to non-domestic rates, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Angus MacKay: Councils are still preparing returns on hardship relief claims and therefore the data is not yet co-ordinated.

4 Jun 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether, in conjunction with the Strategic Rail Authority, it will ensure that the opening of the Stirling/Alloa/Dunfermline line is made a condition of any future ScotRail franchise.

Answer · Sarah Boyack: The Executive's Directions and Guidance to the Strategic Rail Authority for the new Scottish passenger rail franchise will not contain detailed prescription about infrastructure. All bids for the new franchise will be scrutinised by the SRA (and Strathclyde P…

4 Jun 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has made representations to the Office of Fair Trading regarding charter flight supplements charged on holiday flights from Scotland and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

Answer · Sarah Boyack: The Scottish Executive has made no representations to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) regarding flight supplements on air services from Scottish Airports. If it received evidence that flight supplements were in breach of competition legislation, the Scottish…

1 Jun 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what sums were charged to or recovered from motorists or their insurers by health boards relating to road traffic accidents, broken down by health board on an annual basis since 1997.

Answer · Susan Deacon: Charges for NHS treatment following a road traffic accident are payable by insurers, and only where the casualty has made a successful claim for personal compensation following the accident in question. The charge is remitted to the Trust, or directly managed…

30 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost of motor insurance was for the vehicles owned and operated by it or the Scottish Office in each year since 1997.

Answer · Angus MacKay: Vehicles owned by the Scottish Executive have Crown exemption. Consequently, the Executive meets the cost of liabilities arising from their use. For staff, personal injury cover is provided by the Principal Civil Service Pension scheme. The cost of supplement…

30 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost of motor insurance was for (a) each police force, (b) each fire service, (c) the ambulance service and (d) the prison service in each year since 1997.

Answer · Jim Wallace: The information requested for the fire and ambulance services is shown in the following table. The figures for 2000-01 are provisional.						 £'000<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING…

29 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the remit is of the Energy Saving Trust (EST); to whom the EST is accountable; what funding the EST receives from what sources, and whether it will outline any policies or guidance developed or issued by the EST.

Answer · Rhona Brankin: The Energy Saving Trust's (EST) remit in Scotland is to promote energy efficiency to the domestic energy user and the very small business market. In Scotland, the Trust delivers UK-wide programmes as well as distinctive Scottish schemes developed by the Execu…

29 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there has been an audit of (a) the utility costs saved by the inhabitants as a result of the properties in Easthall, Easterhouse having solar heating systems installed and (b) the effect on their quality of life.

Answer · Jackie Baillie: This is a matter for Glasgow City Council who own the majority of the properties concerned.

29 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what European Union funds are available for any aspect of solar energy generation, in particular for the installation of solar energy systems, and how much European funding related to solar energy has been accessed by the Executive in each year since 1997.

Answer · Rhona Brankin: ALTENER is the European Union programme promoting the use of renewable energy sources within the EU, and is the only programme devoted entirely to renewable energy. The ALTENER budget for 2001-02 is around 17.5 million euros.It is a matter for individual o…

11 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what additional budget will be made available to visitscotland for marketing in each of the next two financial years.

Answer · Alasdair Morrison: The total grant-in-aid budget for visitscotland for 2002-03 is £22.8 million and for 2003-04 is £23.8 million. The proportion that will be allocated to marketing from these budgets is an operational matter for visitscotland.

11 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had or proposes to have with easyJet regarding a direct air link between Scotland and Northern Spain.

Answer · Sarah Boyack: The Scottish Executive has had no discussions with easyJet about a direct air link between Scotland and Northern Spain. We have, however, had discussions with Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and airport operators about the promotion of a…

11 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had or proposes to have with Ryanair regarding additional air links between Prestwick and destinations in Europe.

Answer · Sarah Boyack: The Scottish Executive has had no discussions with Ryanair about additional air links between Prestwick and destinations in Europe. We have, however, had discussions with Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and airport operators about the pr…

10 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many modern apprenticeship schemes were in operation in each year since 1997 in each local authority area.

Answer · Wendy Alexander: This information is not held centrally.

4 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the remit was of any management consultants involved in considering the internal organisation of Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise in each year since 1997.

Answer · Wendy Alexander: No consultants have been engaged since 1997 by either the Scottish Office or the Scottish Executive to consider the internal organisation of either Highlands and Islands Enterprise or Scottish Enterprise.The employment of such consultants by the bodies the…

4 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise spent on management consultants in relation to matters of internal organisation in each year since 1997 and what the anticipated expenditure is anticipated on this until 2003.

Answer · Wendy Alexander: This is an operational matter for both Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise. I have asked the Chairmen of both organisations to write to the member direct. A copy of the replies will be placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre.

4 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many expressions of interest it had received in respect of taking over the Motorola site at Bathgate as at 26 April 2001, and when the details of those interested parties were given to Motorola.

Answer · Wendy Alexander: Motorola has submitted, for formal consultation, a proposal to cease operations at Easter Inch.A number of initial expressions of interest in the facility have been received by the Executive and by Scottish Enterprise.Should the current proposal to clos…

3 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-14726 by Rhona Brankin on 17 April 2001, what action it (a) has taken and (b) intends to take to support and encourage the use and introduction of solar heating.

Answer · Rhona Brankin: Working within a UK framework with the Carbon Trust and the DTI, the Executive will continue to encourage research and development into a range of low carbon technologies, including solar heating, and, where these technologies are demonstrated to be technical…

2 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration it has given to the report by the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council (SHEFC), Realising their Potential - Report of the Contract Research Staff Initiative, and what guidance it has given to the SHEFC in the light of the report's recommendations.

Answer · Wendy Alexander: I have already emphasised to SHEFC, in my guidance letter of November 2000, that improvement in human resource policies and management should be a priority for the sector. This report makes a helpful contribution to taking this agenda forward in the case of c…

2 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what powers it has to extend the fuel duty rebate scheme to cover non-registered coach journeys and coach holidays and whether it has any plans to extend the scheme in this way.

Answer · Sarah Boyack: Statutory powers are included in the Transport (Scotland) Act 2001 to enable the Scottish Executive to amend the basis for grants to bus operators, including a power to make regulations as to the classes of bus service for which grant might be paid, and the m…

1 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, with regard to the report in The Herald on 27 April 2001 of the UK Minister for Transport's plans to create 60,000 jobs in the transport industry, how many of the jobs will be in Scotland, in what sectors these will be and when they will be created.

Answer · Sarah Boyack: The estimate is for jobs generated by the expenditure planned under Transport 2010, the 10-year Plan published by the UK Government last July. An unspecified proportion of these jobs will relate to spending on reserved transport services in Scotland.

1 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to post a civil servant to the UK Embassy in Washington and, if so, what level of civil service post it will be, to whom the post will be accountable, how it will interact with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department of Trade and Industry, whether it will…

Answer · Jack McConnell: Yes. Detailed arrangements for this post have not yet been finalised.

1 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to have a civil servant posted in Paris and Berlin, what other countries are being considered as possible locations for Executive representatives and, in each case, what the reasons are for its position.

Answer · Jack McConnell: There are no plans to have a civil servant posted in Paris or Berlin. Civil servants may be posted to other countries for a variety of reasons; for example, inward investment or EU policy development. At present there are Scottish Executive civil servants in …

1 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many graduates there were from each university engineering faculty in each year since 1995 and how many of these were from (a) Scotland, (b) the rest of the UK, (c) another EU country and (d) a non-EU country.

Answer · Wendy Alexander: Information is not collected by faculty. However, available data by subject group for those graduating from higher education institutions in Scotland is as follows:Graduates from Scottish Higher Education Institutions wit…