Murray Tosh

28 Jan 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether, with regard to the extension of planning controls to marine fish farming, operators of existing fish farming businesses will be eligible to apply for, and obtain, certificates of lawful use in relation to uses that they can demonstrate have been in existence for 10 years.

Answer · Mary Mulligan: Transitional arrangementsfor existing marine fish farms will be addressed in our forthcomingconsultation paper on extension of planning controls. There are a number ofcomplex issues to be dealt with before we can introduce the necessary changesto the planning…

15 Dec 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the introduction, enactment and commencement of the Water Industry (Scotland) Act 2002 (Directions in the Interests of National Security) Order 2002 was subject to any protocol agreed between it and Her Majesty's Government; whether it was informed or consulted on the content of t…

Answer · Ross Finnie: The general principlesgoverning relations between the UK Government and the Executive on matters ofmutual interest, including legislation, are set out in the published <i>Memorandumof Understanding</i>.</p><p>In respect of the Water Industry (Scotland) Act 20…

15 Dec 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to require Scottish Water to review its practice of issuing annual fixed charges to non-domestic consumers for water and waste water services.

Answer · Ross Finnie: No.</p>

15 Dec 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to issue any guidance to Scottish Water in respect of reducing or eliminating the allowable cost figure that Scottish Water applies in respect of new water and sewerage connections.

Answer · Ross Finnie: Part 2 of the WaterEnvironment and Water Services (Scotland) Act 2003 provides for ministers tomake regulations determining what is a reasonable cost, for the purposes of section1 of the Sewerage (Scotland) Act 1968 and section 6 of the Water (Scotland) Act19…

15 Dec 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it, or any of its agencies, publishes statistics on babies born in transit to maternity hospitals and, if not, whether it will consider publishing such statistics in future in relation to the impact of greater centralisation of service delivery arising from rationalisation of con…

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The Information and Statistics Division (ISD) of the Common Services Agency is the main agency that publishes information on births and maternities. ISD has no plans at present to publish these statistics. However, if a clear intent was identified the figures…

13 Oct 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the commitment made by the Minister for Transport to the Local Government and Transport Committee on 7 October 2003 in regard to providing the committee with updated and detailed information about the progress and implementation of its strategic transport infrastructure proje…

Answer · Nicol Stephen: I have placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre, a copy of the information about the majortransport infrastructure projects that I provided to the Local Government andTransport Committee for its consideration of the Draft Budget for 2003-04 (Bibnumber 2938…

13 Oct 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether land and buildings belonging to Scottish Water are Crown property and therefore exempt from planning and building regulations and what directions have been given to, or protocols agreed with, Scottish Water to ensure that works carried out by, or for, it comply with planning and b…

Answer · Mary Mulligan: Land owned by Scottish Water is not Crown property and does not therefore benefit from Crown immunity from planning and building regulations. Scottish Water has therefore not been given any directions by, nor have they agreed any protocols with, the Scottish …

9 Oct 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to its news release on affordable housing in rural Scotland on 7 October 2003, whether it will identify all areas designated as "pressured areas" under the powers given to local authorities to restrict right to buy sales of housing stock.

Answer · Margaret Curran: No applications by localauthorities to designate pressured areas under the Housing (Scotland)Act 2001 have so far been received.</p>

9 Oct 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to its news release on affordable housing in rural Scotland on 7 October 2003, whether the additional funding for Communities Scotland's development programme for housing in rural areas has been allocated only for housing in the Highlands and Islands local authority areas; whethe…

Answer · Margaret Curran: I have asked Angiolina Foster, acting Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Herresponse is as follows:</p><p>The new funding will beavailable to support affordable housing projects in all rural areas in Scotlandsuffering acute shortages of affo…

8 Oct 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will allocate funding to support any bid by Inverclyde Council to upgrade its school estate under any of the PPP models which it is supporting in other local authority areas.

Answer · Peter Peacock: We have advised InverclydeCouncil that the invitation to submit a business case in response to theindicative offer of revenue support we made last year for a public privatepartnership project of the order of £80 million remains open. The Executivecurrently su…

8 Oct 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the evidence given by Mr Andy Kerr to the Finance Committee on 30 September 2003, why the #53 million end year flexibility (EYF) from the Communities portfolio was not returned to Communities Scotland for the development of affordable housing.

Answer · Andy Kerr: The Communities portfolioreceived an allocation of £25 million end year flexibility in 2003-04, whichmet requirements across the portfolio. The EYF allocation was less than theunderspend because the Treasury agreement to meet debt breakage costs followinghous…

8 Oct 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the full costs to NHS Argyll and Clyde were of ministerial intervention in the board in 2002 and, given the deficit facing NHS Argyll and Clyde, whether it will take responsibility for any costs arising from its intervention.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: NHS Argyll and Clyde hasassessed the full costs of intervention as being £300,000. The costs were metby NHS Argyll and Clyde with a contribution of £147,000 from the HealthDepartment.</p>

8 Oct 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much accumulated revenue over-expenditure has been incurred by NHS Boards since 1999; on what terms it has written off any such amounts incurred by boards, in particular NHS Tayside, and whether it has any plans to offer a similar write-off to NHS Argyll and Clyde once that authority…

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: In 2001-02 the Scottish Executive allocated an additional £90 million to NHS boards to accelerate theimplementation of <i>Our National Plan: A Plan for Action, A Plan for Change</i>.The £90 million formed part of the Finance Minister’s end year flexibility se…

8 Oct 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what research it has commissioned into (a) changing patterns of licences granted under legislation subsequent to the Clayson report and (b) any correlation between changes in the licensing regime and increasing levels of alcohol abuse and alcohol-related disease during the 1990s.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: There has been no researchcommissioned on those topics.</p>

8 Oct 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what research it has commissioned into the impact of the Homelessness etc. (Scotland) Act 2003 on the (a) need for affordable housing in Scotland as a whole and (b) requirement for new housing in each local authority area and what plans it has to increase the supply of new affordable hou…

Answer · Margaret Curran: Each local authorityrequires to assess housing needs across all tenures within its area in terms ofits local housing strategy, which should complement the local authority'shomelessness strategy and other strategic plans. In making this assessment itwill need …

8 Oct 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive which local authorities have submitted local housing system analysis returns to Scottish Homes or Communities Scotland in each of the last three years; which returns identified (a) housing needs figures due to household formation, (b) unmet need among existing households and (c) particula…

Answer · Mary Mulligan: There is no statutory requirementfor local authorities to either undertake a local housing system analysis or tosubmit a return to Communities Scotland. As such the information requested isnot collected by Communities Scotland.</p><p>Local authorities have a …

8 Oct 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-2780 by Mrs Mary Mulligan on 30 September 2003, what the current estimate is of the transfer valuation of Western Isles and Argyll and Bute Councils' housing stock; why the proposed stock transfer of Shetland Council's housing stock is no longer unde…

Answer · Mary Mulligan: The independent valuationsof the council housing stock in Western Isles and Argyll and Bute have notbeen finalised and it would not be appropriate to provide an estimate of thevalue at this stage.</p><p>Shetland Islands Council andShetland Homes issued a join…

8 Oct 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will identify (a) new registered social landlords (RSLs), (b) new RSLs formed from merged RSLs and (c) social landlords who have been de-registered for any reason other than merger since the enactment of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001.

Answer · Margaret Curran: I have asked Ms Angiolina Foster, Acting Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:</p><p>The following RegisteredSocial Landlords (RSLs) have been registered since the enactment of the Housing(Scotland) Act 2001: Balmore …

8 Oct 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-20674 by Iain Gray on 19 December 2001, what the out-turn in actual cash expenditure was in each of the last two years; what the (a) estimated actual cash expenditure and (b) allocation for expenditure under community ownership (wider regeneration) w…

Answer · Margaret Curran: The information requested,where available, is included in the following tables.</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td> <p>Year</p> </td> <td> <p>Scottish Homes/Communities Scotland Approved Development Programme</p> <…

8 Oct 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-26489 by Ms Margaret Curran on 20 June 2002, whether it will update the tables for housing approvals and completions to show the out-turn figures for 2002-03, the estimated figures for subsequent years and the completions that were funded, in whole o…

Answer · Margaret Curran: I have asked Angiolina Foster, acting Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:</p><p>Further to the answer toquestion S1W-26489, the outturn for approvals and completions for 2002-03 andestimated figures for 2003-04 that…

8 Oct 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-2552 by Mrs Mary Mulligan on 25 September 2003, where the housing being proposed for transfer is located and how many houses are involved; whether agreement has been reached on the valuation for transfer of each of these local authorities' stock, and…

Answer · Mary Mulligan: The information requested isas follows:</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td> <p>Council</p> </td> <td> <p>Location</p> </td> <td> <p>Estimated Number of Houses</p> </td> <td> <p>Ballot</p> </td> </tr> </t…

14 Mar 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will give details of all respects in which royal prerogative is delegated to it.

Answer · Patricia Ferguson: The Royal Prerogative is exercised by the Sovereign, not by ministers. However, Scottish ministers advise the Sovereign on the exercise of the Royal Prerogative where it is exercised in relation to devolved matters.

24 Feb 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to change its policy on whole-stock local authority housing transfers and allow local authorities pursuing partial stock transfers to bid for support to deal with overhanging debt in line with the policy recently announced for England by Her Majesty's Government.

Answer · Margaret Curran: I have now announced that, working in partnership with our colleagues in the Treasury, we have agreed that the same financial arrangements for debt write-off which apply to whole-stock transfers should also apply to partial stock transfers in Scotland.<P>This…

2 Dec 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-31597 by Lewis Macdonald on 2 December 2002, whether its letter to the Convener of the Transport and Environment Committee will be issued, in paper or electronic form, to all MSPs.

Answer · Iain Gray: I am writing today to the Convener of the Transport and Environment Committee to inform him that the Scottish passenger rail franchise is to be seven years in length, with the possibility of a three-year extension, and to explain the reasoning for that decisi…

20 Nov 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will commission an independent review of care for the historic environment, as proposed by Scottish Environment LINK.

Answer · Elaine Murray: I met representatives from Scottish Environment LINK in June when we discussed, among other things, their tentative proposals for an audit of the historic environment in Scotland. LINK are now discussing this issue with my officials in Historic Scotland and w…

15 Nov 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the decision of Her Majesty's Government and the Strategic Rail Authority to reduce the South Central rail franchise from 20 to seven years, and subsequent indications from UK Ministers and the Strategic Rail Authority that other passenger rail franchises may be reduced, will affe…

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: Specification of the terms on which the Scottish passenger rail franchise is let is a matter for the Scottish ministers. The Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) published its Franchising Policy Statement on 6 November 2002. Ministers are currently examining the SR…

6 Nov 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with Network Rail about its operation in Scotland and what changes it anticipates there will be in the structure, responsibilities and lines of accountability of the company in Scotland from those of Railtrack Scotland.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with Railtrack/Network Rail on a wide range of issues, including the company's plans for its future operations in Scotland.

6 Nov 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will fund the Edinburgh to London sleeper service in the new franchise for passenger rail services.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The existing level of service is to be the baseline for bids for the next Scottish passenger rail franchise. Subject to relevant spending constraints, it is intended that the baseline will be maintained and developed in the next franchise.

6 Nov 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has made any representations to the Strategic Rail Authority in support of commitments in the authority's 10-year plan to the upgrading of Edinburgh Waverley Station, the restoration of rail services to the Borders and the building of rail connections to Glasgow and Edinburgh …

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the Strategic Rail Authority on a wide range of issues, including Waverley Station, rail services to the Borders and rail connections to Glasgow and Edinburgh airports.

6 Nov 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what power it has to issue guidance or directions to the Strategic Rail Authority on the specific rail enhancement projects that the authority will include in its forthcoming 10-year plan.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The Scottish Executive's powers to issue directions and guidance to the Strategic Rail Authority are set out in section 208 of the Transport Act 2000.