Parliamentary questions
Murray Tosh
706 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
21 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many of its staff at each location within the City of Edinburgh and at each salary grade receive payments or any form of financial assistance towards owning, leasing and using cars in relation to their duties.
Answer · Jack McConnell: The information requested is provided below:<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=616><TR><TD WIDTH="33%" VALIGN="TOP"> </TD><TD WIDTH="33%" VALIGN="TOP"><P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Salary Band</TD><TD WIDTH="33%" VALIGN="TOP"><P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Locatio…
21 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many staff it employs at all locations in the City of Edinburgh other than Victoria Quay, how many workplace parking spaces it provides at each location and what steps it is taking to reduce the number of spaces and promote car sharing and modal switch at each location.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: The information about staff numbers and normally available car parking spaces is laid out in the table below.<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=612><TR><TD WIDTH="27%" VALIGN="TOP"><P>Location</TD><TD WIDTH="46%" VALIGN="TOP"><P>Permanent core Sc…
21 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-1943 by Sarah Boyack on 22 November 1999, what percentage of its staff at Victoria Quay share cars and what steps it is taking to encourage further car sharing.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: A study carried out in 1997 found that 10% of staff based at Victoria Quay share cars for their journeys to and from work.<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The Scottish Executive is committed to encouraging its staff to consider using more sustainable transport modes in get…
21 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-1943 by Sarah Boyack on 22 November 1999, what effect its Green Transport Plan has had on the transport modal split for its employees at Victoria Quay and what further initiatives it plans to take to reduce car use.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: The Executive intends to assess the effectiveness of its Green Travel Plan following the completion of the Ocean Terminal development and the associated public transport improvements.<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">A range of initiatives are underway or planned to encoura…
16 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-7725 by Sarah Boyack on 9 August 2000, when it anticipates that sufficient consideration of the A65 (Dalkeith Bypass) scheme will have taken place to determine whether a multi-modal appraisal of the scheme will be carried out.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: Following the Strategic Roads Review I announced on 4 November that the A68 Dalkeith bypass and two other schemes would be held in abeyance. The words in the document <I>Strategic Roads Review- Scheme Decisions</I> were "..these schemes should be held in…
14 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-8807 by Sarah Boyack on 10 August 2000, whether it will calculate an estimate of the capital value of the non-trunk road networks in Scotland, both in aggregate and by road classification.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: The Scottish Executive has no plans to do so.
10 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether its finalised Scottish Forestry Strategy will set out clear mechanisms to enable opportunities to be provided for people who live in well forested areas to take up forestry employment using modern, efficient equipment, and whether any such mechanisms will include proposals for tra…
Answer · John Home Robertson: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-9098.
10 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much current grant aid it intends to redirect towards Forest Habitat Networks and what the implications will be for those sectors which will lose grant aid.
Answer · John Home Robertson: One of the priorities for action identified in the draft Scottish Forestry Strategy was to extend and enhance native woodland by developing Forest Habitat Networks. Assuming that this is included in the final strategy, the Forestry Commission will use the Woo…
10 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Environmental Impact Assessment (Forestry) (Scotland) Regulations 1999 (SSI 1999/43) have now been fully implemented and whether the doubling of forestry planting envisaged in its draft Scottish Forestry Strategy will be the subject of an environmental impact assessment on a S…
Answer · John Home Robertson: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-9102.
10 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to review the current planning regime for forestry.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: We have no plans to review the planning regime for forestry.
10 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will identify any estimated costs of the Scottish Forestry Strategy which are built into the figures published in Investing in You, the Annual Expenditure Report of the Scottish Executive, and the budgets from which these costs will be met.
Answer · John Home Robertson: Our Annual Expenditure Report contains information about our current expenditure on forestry programmes. Any additional expenditure arising from the Scottish Forestry Strategy will be included in future reports.
10 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether its finalised Scottish Forestry Strategy will include detailed implementation plans for promoting the transformation of plantation forests and bringing deer densities down to optimum levels.
Answer · John Home Robertson: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-9098.
10 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the potential for (a) natural woodland regeneration and (b) all forms of timber planting to contribute to carbon sequestration as part of its programme for combating climate change.
Answer · John Home Robertson: We have estimated that, if planting continues at its current level, trees and forests in Scotland will absorb about 400,000 tonnes of carbon each year. Obviously the amount of carbon absorbed would increase if the area planted increased. We are continuing to …
10 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether its finalised Scottish Forestry Strategy will set targets for (a) the planting and re-planting of timber, (b) the maintenance or expansion of wood processing capacity in Scotland and (c) the output and export of timber and timber products.
Answer · John Home Robertson: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-9098.
10 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to examine the implications which doubling forestry planting over the next 20 years will have for other forms of agricultural land use and whether it will make any such assessment public.
Answer · John Home Robertson: About 10,000 hectares of new woodland is created in Scotland each year. We have no plans to double this rate of new planting. Should we wish to consider such a change to our current programme we would, of course, examine the implications for other forms of ag…
10 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the preferred areas identified by local authorities in their indicative forestry strategies are sufficient to enable new planting to be doubled over the next 20 years.
Answer · John Home Robertson: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-9102.
10 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether its finalised Scottish Forestry Strategy will contain practical proposals for the protection and investigation of archaeological sites within existing forests and proposed new plantations and how it plans to ensure that forest owners and forest contractors notify the relevant auth…
Answer · John Home Robertson: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-9098.
10 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether its finalised Scottish Forestry Strategy will contain practical proposals to promote the increased use of wood and timber brash as fuels in order to reduce net carbon emissions.
Answer · John Home Robertson: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-9098.
10 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether its finalised Scottish Forestry Strategy will set out a strategic approach for the transportation of timber in those areas where neither rail nor coastal shipping are available options.
Answer · John Home Robertson: We expect to publish our Scottish Forestry Strategy in the autumn. We are still working on the strategy, taking account of all the points that have been raised during the consultation process, and so it is not possible to give precise details about the conten…
9 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, with regard to Lord MacFadyen's judgement in the Court of Session on the listed building application for 105-107 West Regent Street and 112 Wellington Street, Glasgow, whether this judgement may create a basis for applicants or third party objectors to challenge planning decisions by cou…
Answer · Sarah Boyack: I refer the Member to the answer to S1W-9028.
9 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, with regard to Lord MacFadyen's judgement in the Court of Session on the listed building application for 105-107 West Regent Street and 112 Wellington Street, Glasgow, what the wider implications of this are for decisions made by Scottish Ministers, since the incorporation into Scottish …
Answer · Sarah Boyack: I refer the Member to the answer to S1W-9028.
9 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what advice it has received about the applicability of the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 1981 (as amended) to the current voluntary tendering exercise for the management and maintenance of the trunk road network and whether, in conducting this tendering e…
Answer · Sarah Boyack: The Scottish Executive has taken advice from the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury, and is continuing to consult with these bodies.<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The requirements we are introducing into the competition to safeguard the employment rights of existing work for…
9 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether, in assessing tenders for contracts for the management and maintenance of the trunk road network, it will take into account all the costs which may be incurred by the public sector in the event that the contracts for trunk road maintenance are awarded to contractors other than loc…
Answer · Sarah Boyack: No. Under the terms of the competition, award of the contracts will be based on the Scottish Executive's assessment of the prices and rates offered by the tenderers. Under EU procurement regulations and competition law, the Scottish Executive treats all bids …
3 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, with regard to Lord MacFadyen's judgement in the Court of Session on the listed building application for 105-107 West Regent Street and 112 Wellington Street, Glasgow, what the wider implications of this are for the validity of notification and call-in procedures, where action by Scottis…
Answer · Sarah Boyack: I refer the Member to the answer to S1W-9028.
3 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it will take in response to Lord MacFadyen's judgements in the Court of Session on the listed building application for 105-107 West Regent Street and 112 Wellington Street, Glasgow.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: We have lodged an appeal against Lord Macfadyen's judgement. We therefore do not consider it appropriate to comment further.
3 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has been in consultation with Her Majesty's Government in connection with the proposed EC Directive on waste electrical and electronic equipment and what representations it has made on (a) whether any such Directive should come into force in Scotland and (b) whether retailers o…
Answer · Sarah Boyack: We recently issued a consultation paper which was prepared jointly with the Department of Trade and Industry, on the European Commission's proposals for Directives on waste electrical and electronic equipment. We shall consult industry, local authorities, SEP…
1 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether local authorities will still be the first point of contact for complaints, representations and requests for information from road users after the new contracts for trunk road management and maintenance are let in 2001 and what arrangements it proposes for liaison between the publi…
Answer · Sarah Boyack: The new operating companies will be the first point of contact. A freephone national customer contact number will be in place for the start of the new contracts on 1 April 2001 to allow the public to report defects and register complaints. The new contracts a…
1 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what proposals it has, in tendering for trunk road management and maintenance, to ensure that local authorities are entitled to sell on any surplus existing plant, equipment, vehicles or depots, when the new contracts are let in 2001, in the event that any such contracts are won by contra…
Answer · Sarah Boyack: The future ownership and deployment of these resources is entirely a matter for the local authorities.
1 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what its policy is in relation to the Statement of Practice, issued by the Cabinet Office in January 2000 on Staff Transfers in the Public Sector and whether it has any plans to apply the Statement's principle to the tendering of contracts for the management and maintenance of the trunk r…
Answer · Sarah Boyack: The Scottish Executive will have regard to the Statement of Practice in any contract to be let by the Scottish Ministers, having regard to the particular circumstances of each contract.<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">For the contracting exercise for the management and mai…
1 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the operational and financial consequences for local authorities' integrated operations and efficient local resource utilisation for trunk and non-trunk maintenance, in the event that contracts for trunk road maintenance and management from 2001 are awarded …
Answer · Sarah Boyack: Should local authorities not be successful in tendering for the new contracts, the impact on their other operations will depend on the arrangements they subsequently make. The Scottish Executive has not made an assessment of the many possible outcomes.