Michael Russell

17 May 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what is the total amount of grants and special funding given to Scottish Opera and Scottish Ballet specifically to assist with the cost of merger and what are the dates when all such grants or special funding were awarded.

Answer · Sam Galbraith: The Scottish Arts Council awarded £600,000 to Scottish Opera/Scottish Ballet under its National Lottery Advancement Programme in 1998-99: £400,000 was paid in 1998-99 and £200,000 in 1999-2000. In addition, in 1998-99 SAC paid the companies £75,000 specifical…

12 May 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the reply to question S1W-6089 by Sarah Boyack on 20 April 2000, when it now expects to receive from Strathclyde Passenger Transport the full business case for a Larkhall rail link.

Answer · Sarah Boyack: Latest information from SPT indicates that we may now receive the full business case in the summer of 2000.

10 May 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many beds there will be in the new Netherton Hospital, Lanarkshire and how many of these will be acute beds.

Answer · Susan Deacon: The new District General Hospital at Netherton, Wishaw (Wishaw General), will have 633 inpatients beds: comprising 454 acute, 110 obstetric/neonatology and 69 acute psychiatry and long stay psychogeriatric.<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The hospital will also have 56 day…

3 May 2000 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has discussed with the Scottish Tourist Board or local tourist boards the need to support and retain manned tourist information centres.

Answer · Henry McLeish: No. Decisions about the provision of information are for Area Tourist Boards to take. They are in the best position to determine whether this should be through Tourist Information Centres or by some other method.

27 Apr 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will answer my questions S1W-5738 and S1W-5739, lodged on 30 March 2000.

Answer · Henry McLeish: These questions were answered on 27 April.

13 Apr 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it has taken recently to bring to completion the plans for a Larkhall rail link.

Answer · Sarah Boyack: The Larkhall to Milngavie rail route project is the responsibility of the Strathclyde Passenger Transport Authority as the public passenger transport body for the area. Scottish Executive officials have met SPTE officials on a number of occasions, most recent…

11 Apr 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what legal sanctions are available to individuals served by unadopted roads to enforce contributions from other residents so served in order that such roads can be upgraded to a standard suitable for adoption.

Answer · Sarah Boyack: There are no legal sanctions available to individuals to enforce contributions from other residents.<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">However, where a roads authority has served a notice under Section 13 of the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 requiring the frontagers to a private…

11 Apr 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what legal sanctions are available to local authorities to enforce upgrading of unadopted roads prior to adoption.

Answer · Sarah Boyack: Local Authorities have powers under Section 13 of the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 to require, by notice, that frontagers of a private road make the road up to, and maintain it at, such reasonable standards as may be specified in the notice. However, following u…

11 Apr 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated cost is of upgrading all unadopted roads in Scotland serving communities of 100 people or more to a standard suitable for adoption.

Answer · Sarah Boyack: This information is not held centrally.

11 Apr 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what grants are available for those served by unadopted roads to upgrade them to a standard suitable for local authority adoption.

Answer · Sarah Boyack: There are no grants available from the Scottish Executive to those served by unadopted roads to upgrade them to a standard suitable for local authority adoption.

11 Apr 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what grants are available for local authorities to upgrade unadopted roads to a standard suitable for adoption.

Answer · Sarah Boyack: There are no grants available from the Scottish Executive to local authorities to upgrade unadopted residential roads.

11 Apr 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-4570 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 3 March 2000, whether it intends to take any action to address the issue of damp and condensation in North Ayrshire's Council housing stock.

Answer · Wendy Alexander: Some 1,300 council houses in North Ayrshire were insulated in 1999-2000 through the Warm Deal grant allocated to the Council by the Executive. For this financial year, the council has total resources of some £6 million for capital investment in its own housin…

6 Apr 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether any financial backing from it for a Larkhall rail link will be subject to the conclusion of a Public Private Partnership.

Answer · Sarah Boyack: A condition of all PPP projects is that they should be able to demonstrate value for money. Consequently, the Scottish Executive's funding of £5 million from the 1998 Transport Challenge Fund towards the cost of the Larkhall to Milngavie Rail route and the le…

6 Apr 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will take steps to address any financial problems faced by Irvine's Compass Centre for mental health and any resultant job losses as a result of the gap in European Objective 3 funding.

Answer · Jack McConnell: As I explained to the European Committee on Tuesday 4 April, I am concerned about the position of a number of voluntary organisations sponsoring European Social Fund projects who were facing a gap in funding between the closure of previous structural fund pro…

30 Mar 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what grants of European Union funding have been received by Developing North Ayrshire in the current financial year.

Answer · Jack McConnell: Developing North Ayrshire received £418,336 of European Grant in the financial year 1999-2000.

30 Mar 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to give the workforce of Developing North Ayrshire the opportunity to give their views on the management of the organisation in any investigation.

Answer · Henry McLeish: The Scottish Executive is not investigating Developing North Ayrshire.

30 Mar 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is currently investigating Developing North Ayrshire and what the scope of any such investigation is.

Answer · Henry McLeish: The Scottish Executive is not currently investigating Developing North Ayrshire.

9 Mar 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it ring-fences local authority funding for the building of village halls in order to protect such projects from any local authority expenditure cuts.

Answer · Jack McConnell: No. Local authority non-housing capital allocations are mainly unhypothecated because local authorities are best placed to determine their own priorities in the light of their local circumstances.

9 Mar 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has considered assisting the villagers of Tarbrax in South Lanarkshire with funding for the building of a village hall.

Answer · Ross Finnie: The application by South Lanarkshire Council, on behalf of Tarbrax Village Hall Association, for funding towards the building of a new village hall in Tarbrax, is one of 40 bids under consideration. I hope to be able to announce decisions on awards soon.

9 Mar 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of the cost of building a village hall it normally meets.

Answer · Ross Finnie: Funding for village halls is met from the Executive's Local Capital Grants Scheme, which is one of three elements of the Scottish Rural Partnership Fund. On a competitive basis, the scheme may provide up to 50% of eligible costs, subject to a maximum of £100,…

9 Mar 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria are presently applied in determining funding for the building of village halls.

Answer · Ross Finnie: Funding for village halls is met from the Executive's Local Capital Grants Scheme, which is one of three elements of the Scottish Rural Partnership Fund. The purpose of the scheme is to assist local voluntary, youth and community organisations to provide new …

9 Mar 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what funding is presently available for the building of village halls in rural communities (a) directly from the Executive and (b) through grants from local authorities funded by the local government financial settlement.

Answer · Ross Finnie: Funding for village halls is met from the Executive's Local Capital Grants Scheme, which is one of three elements of the Scottish Rural Partnership Fund. Financial provision for the total fund in 2000-01 is £2.8 million. I am not yet in a position to say how …

9 Mar 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide details of the density of dumped munitions, including flares, along the route of the proposed Northern Ireland to Scotland interconnnector and what action it is taking to address the possibility of work on the interconnector dislodging further munitions from the se…

Answer · John Home Robertson: Reports of the survey work undertaken by the Marine Laboratory Aberdeen in the vicinity of Beaufort's Dyke in 1995 and 1996 have been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre as well as a copy of the 1996 report <I>Review of ROV Survey Composite V…

9 Mar 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it has taken with regard to the phosphorous flares which were washed up on Troon beach and the Heads of Ayr in recent days, and what precautions it is taking to ensure public safety in the event of further finds of such flares.

Answer · John Home Robertson: The Explosives Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Northern Diving Group based at Faslane has been collecting and disposing of the phosphorous flares washed up recently on beaches at a number of locations in south west Scotland. This is in line with well-established proc…

9 Mar 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration it has given to Lord Johnston's statement paying tribute to Shirley McKie at the conclusion of her case in Glasgow High Court in May 1999 and whether it will encourage Strathclyde Police and the Scottish Criminal Records Office to make statements apologising to Ms McKie.

Answer · Jim Wallace: I am aware of the statement. It would not be appropriate for me to make any comment at this stage.

8 Mar 2000 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Presiding Officer whether the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body has been advised that the new Parliament building will require further planning permissions in the light of design changes made since 1 June 1999.

Answer · David Steel: I advise members to await the publication of Mr Spencely's report which will enable such details to be set in context.

8 Mar 2000 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Presiding Officer whether the report from the design team to the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body's 22 February meeting, including any verbal estimates of costs of construction fees, fitting out, VAT and any other additional costs relating to the project given at the meeting, will be published.

Answer · David Steel: I advise members to await the publication of Mr Spencely's report which will enable such details to be set in context.

8 Mar 2000 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Presiding Officer how often the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body, or any of its members, has met Enric Miralles since 1 June 1999; where any such meetings were held and what was discussed at each of these meetings.

Answer · David Steel: Enric Miralles and/or his partners in the joint venture company EMBT/RMJM have met the SPCB on 10 separate occasions since 1 June 1999. Nine took place in Edinburgh and a range of issues were discussed. One meeting took place in the Parliamentary Chambers in …

8 Mar 2000 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Presiding Officer what additional elements (a) the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body and (b) the design team have added to the design brief for the new Parliament building since 1 June 1999; what date each additional element was added; why each addition was approved, and what the estimated cost is of ea…

Answer · David Steel: I advise members to await the publication of Mr Spencely's report which will enable such details to be set in context.

8 Mar 2000 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Presiding Officer at how many Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body meetings, from 1 June 1999 onwards, the design, space or cost of the new Parliament building was discussed.

Answer · David Steel: I advise members to await the publication of Mr Spencely's report which will enable such details to be set in context.