Parliamentary questions
Peter Peacock
1,395 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
2 Oct 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how the estimated cost of collecting a local income tax in the Comhairle nan Eilean Siar area compares with the cost of collecting the council tax.
Answer · John Swinney: I refer themember to the answer to S3W-4867 on 26 October 2007 All answers to written parliamentary questions areavailable on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can befound at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search">h…
2 Oct 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated cost will be of collecting a local income tax in the Comhairle nan Eilean Siar area.
Answer · John Swinney: I refer themember to the answer to S3W-4867 on 26 October 2007 All answers to written parliamentary questions areavailable on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can befound at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search">h…
2 Oct 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many people in the Comhairle nan Eilean Siar area it expects to be eligible to pay a local income tax.
Answer · John Swinney: I refer themember to the answer to S3W-4867 on 26 October 2007 All answers to written parliamentary questions areavailable on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can befound at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search">h…
2 Oct 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects a local income tax to be operational in the Comhairle nan Eilean Siar area.
Answer · John Swinney: We intend to launcha consultation later this year on our proposals for a fairer local tax, before weintroduce the necessary legislation in the 2008-09 parliamentary year. While itis therefore too early to discuss detailed impacts on particular local authoriti…
1 Oct 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will guarantee that the establishment of a Scottish futures trust, as promised in the 2007 SNP manifesto, will not cause the scheduled completion of the new Lochaline Primary School to be postponed or cancelled.
Answer · John Swinney: I refer the memberto the answer to question S3W-4835 on 22 October 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa…
1 Oct 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will guarantee that the establishment of a Scottish futures trust, as set out in the 2007 SNP manifesto, will not affect the scheduled completion of the new Inverness High School.
Answer · John Swinney: I refer the memberto the answer to question S3W-4835 on 22 October 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa…
1 Oct 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will guarantee that the establishment of a Scottish futures trust, as set out in the 2007 SNP manifesto, will not affect the scheduled replacement of Newmore/Invergordon town and country schools.
Answer · John Swinney: I refer the memberto the answer to question S3W-4835 on 22 October 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa…
1 Oct 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will guarantee that the establishment of a Scottish futures trust, as set out in the 2007 SNP manifesto, will not affect the scheduled replacement of Caol/Banavie primary schools.
Answer · John Swinney: I refer the memberto the answer to question S3W-4835 on 22 October 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa…
1 Oct 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will guarantee that the establishment of a Scottish futures trust, as set out in the 2007 SNP manifesto, will not cause the planned replacement of Wick High School to be postponed or cancelled.
Answer · John Swinney: Each local authorityhas a statutory responsibility to provide and maintain their own school buildings.The replacement of Wick High School, therefore, is a matter for Highland Council as is anyother school proposal within the council’s authority and control. T…
1 Oct 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what discretion it has to fund government agencies, non-departmental public bodies and non-governmental organisations in order for them to make payments to farmers and crofters for positive environmental management on their holdings, outside the constraints of the single farm payment and …
Answer · Richard Lochhead: I refer themember to the answer to question S3W-4833 on 24 October 2007. Allanswers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’swebsite, the search facility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.…
1 Oct 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what discretion it has to make direct payments to farmers and crofters for positive environmental management on their holdings, outside the constraints of the single farm payment and rural development regulations.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: Any such schemewould have to comply with the European Community Guidelines for State Aid in theAgriculture and Forestry Sector 2006/C319/01 and would be subject to lengthyand potentially complex EU State Aid notification procedures.</p>
28 Sep 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will set out the timescale and the nature of the review of national and small business grant schemes in the Highlands and Islands Enterprise area.
Answer · Jim Mather: As the Cabinet Secretaryfor Finance and Sustainable Growth announced in his statement, we intend in thelonger term to look at integrating national grant schemes and to review the useof small business grants in the Highlands and IslandsEnterprise area. This wi…
28 Sep 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will confirm that it is removing all the core skills, training and careers functions from Highlands and Islands Enterprise.
Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The skills and trainingelements of the enterprise networks (in both Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise) will be part of the new skillsbody. However, the enterprise networks will retain those interventions which arebusiness specific and w…
28 Sep 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will confirm that the regeneration powers and duties passing to local authorities in the Scottish Enterprise area will not pass to local authorities in the Highlands and Islands Enterprise area.
Answer · Jim Mather: The Cabinet Secretaryfor Finance and Sustainable Growth announced in the statement on enterprisenetworks reform, that Highlands and Islands Enterprise will retain its strengtheningcommunities remit. As regeneration activity is a component of this remit, Highl…
28 Sep 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive by how much it will reduce the budget of Highlands and Islands Enterprise to account for the changes of functions of the local enterprise companies.
Answer · Jim Mather: All budgets are subjectto consideration as part of the forthcoming Spending Review. There is likely tobe some alteration in the Highlands and Islands Enterprise budget to take accountof the reforms but no changes will be made until the next financial year.</p>
11 Sep 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has the power to legislate on equal access, in terms of gender, to sport in private clubs.
Answer · Stewart Maxwell: Legislation on equalopportunities is largely reserved to Westminster. The GenderDirective (2004/113/EC) relates to the principle of equal treatment between menand women in access to and supply of goods and services. The UK Government has recentlyconsulted on …
2 Aug 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Minister for Europe, External Affairs and Culture intends to invite Lex Brown of Anta Estates for a meeting to seek an application for the development of Castle Tioram.
Answer · Linda Fabiani: Castle Tioram is anancient monument of national importance scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. Any development would require scheduled monumentconsent, obtained on behalf ofScottish ministers through HistoricScotland.</p><…
3 Jul 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether its top priority for fishing is achieving a sustainable fishery or being fair to fishing communities.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: Achieving sustainablefisheries and being fair to fishing communities are both priorities for the Executive and they are not mutually exclusive. Sustainable fisheries are of keyimportance to the future of fishing communities. However, we believeinsufficient at…
3 Jul 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether its plan for a single point of delivery of services from the range of agencies serving rural Scotland, which the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment has asked to work more effectively together, means that the closure of some existing offices in small rural comm…
Answer · Michael Russell: Nine of the organisationssponsored by the Rural Affairs and Environment portfolio have been asked todevelop a proposal for a single delivery service for their shared customers. Theproposal is expected in September 2007.</p><p>I expect that the proposalwould i…
26 Jun 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-538 by Adam Ingram on 18 June 2007, whether the answer indicates that COSLA is now responsible for developing the Executive’s policy on the importance of funding support parenting orders; whether the Executive has its own position on the issue and, i…
Answer · Adam Ingram: I refer the member to the questionS3W-538, answered on 18 June 2007, where I said that the Scottish Executive recognisesthe importance of quality parenting a child receives in determining his or herfuture. All parents need help at some point and the Scottish …
26 Jun 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to pilot the development of a single public sector organisation to deliver all public services in (a) Orkney, (b) Shetland, (c) the Western Isles or (d) all of these islands and what democratic and accountability mechanisms will be used to govern any such organisation.
Answer · John Swinney: There are currently twoprojects on the islands being funded through the Efficiency and Reform Fund. Theyare Joint Working in Orkney and the Comhairle nan Eilean Siar IntegratedService Delivery.</p><p>The overall aim of theOrkney project is to improve the effi…
26 Jun 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to review the distribution of local government finance to ensure that greater weight is given to areas that have a sparse population and are affected by the high costs of service delivery to remote or island populations and, if so, when any such review will take place and…
Answer · John Swinney: The distribution oflocal government finance is kept under regular review and the needs-based formulacurrently contains indicators to recognise the additional cost of delivering servicesto areas with sparse populations such as the number of pupils in small sch…
25 Jun 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-280 by Richard Lochhead on 12 June 2007 in which he confirmed his meeting with NFU Scotland, whether NFU Scotland’s delegation contained a representative from its Highland Committee; how many farmers NFU Scotland represents, shown as a percentage of …
Answer · Richard Lochhead: There was no delegation assuch. As part of our engagement process, the Minister for Environment and I metwith the Chief Executive and Head of Rural Policy for NFU Scotland, both ofwhom had attended the Stakeholders meeting immediately beforehand.</p><p>The in…
21 Jun 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the total Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department (SEERAD) underspend against budget was in (a) 2004-05, (b) 2005-06 and (c) 2006-07; how much of the underspend was returned to SEERAD as end-of-year funding for its use in (i) 2005-06 and (ii) 2006-07; whether the…
Answer · Richard Lochhead: Under spending by the Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs against its Budgets in theyears 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07 was £39 million, £46 million and £54 millionrespectively. The allocations made to the Department at the end of 2004-05 and2005-…
21 Jun 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the outcome was of expenditure against each budget head at levels 3 and 4 of the budget in (a) 2004-05, (b) 2005-06 and (c) 2006-07 in respect of the budgets managed by the Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: Both budgets and related accountsin respect of resources voted to the Executive in the Annual Budget Act are ata very high level. The Executive’s Consolidated Accounts contain no informationon outturn lower than the level 2 distribution set out in the budget …
21 Jun 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether crofters will have access to the funding for new entrants to farming and, if so, whether it will be at the same rate as for farmers.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: New entrants to croftingalready have access to the Highlands and Islands Croft Entrant Scheme, a dedicated schemeto facilitate entry into crofting. However, subject to meeting the eligibilityrequirements, crofters will have access to the New Entrants measure …
21 Jun 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when and how the First Minister was first informed of any part of the detailed content of the memorandum of understanding between the UK and Libyan governments and which other ministers, including the Lord Advocate, were informed.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-1311 on 19 July 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.s…
20 Jun 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how the First Minister was first aware of the existence of the memorandum of understanding between the UK and Libyan governments.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-1311 on 19 July 2007. All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the searchfacility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.se…
20 Jun 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive on what day and at what time of that day the First Minister was first made aware of the existence of the memorandum of understanding between the UK and Libyan governments.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-1311 on 19 July 2007. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility forwhich can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.se…
20 Jun 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there was any communication between it and the UK Government to notify the UK Government of the intention to have an emergency statement in the Parliament on the memorandum of understanding between the UK and Libyan governments and, if so, on what date and at what time such commun…
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-1311 on 19 July 2007. All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facilityfor which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.se…