Parliamentary questions
Tavish Scott
2,683 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
11 Jan 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what role it envisages for Scottish Development International in assisting VisitScotland to attract overseas investors for future tourism-related projects in Scotland.
Answer · Jim Mather: Scottish Development International(SDI) has lead responsibility for attracting foreign direct investment, includingtourism-related projects, to Scotland. In doing this, SDI works closely with colleagues inthe enterprise networks and in VisitScotland, and disc…
11 Jan 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-6141 by Jim Mather on 29 November 2007, what the composition will be of any recruitment panel for the appointment of the new Chief Executive of Scottish Development International and what role ministers will have in the appointment.
Answer · Jim Mather: The recruitment panelfor the appointment of the new chief executive of Scottish Development Internationalwill consist of representatives from the Scottish Government and from Scottish Enterprise;a Civil Service Commissioner, and an external member.</p><p>The …
11 Jan 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-6141 by Jim Mather on 29 November 2007, when the post of Chief Executive of Scottish Development International will be advertised and when it expects any new appointee to be in post.
Answer · Jim Mather: The post of chief executive ofScottish Development International is scheduled to be advertised as an open competitionon Friday 18 January 2008. We hope to have the appointee in post as soon as possiblethereafter.</p>
9 Jan 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the fisheries and aquaculture sectors that will be able to apply for grants from the European Fisheries Fund, showing the specific share allocated to each sector.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: Eligible applicants under theEuropean Fisheries Fund will include all individuals, companies, trade and publicbodies that have a direct interest in commercial fisheries. Sectoral allocationswill be subject to industry input to the forthcoming public consultat…
9 Jan 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria were used, or will be used, when determining the distribution of funding from the European Fisheries Fund between the highlands and islands and the rest of Scotland.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: The allocation of European FisheriesFund resources between the convergence area of the Highlands and Islands and thenon-convergence area of the rest of Scotland was determined, at the memberstate level, by the European Commission. The UK’s convergence and sep…
9 Jan 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what funding from the European Fisheries Fund will be available to Scottish businesses in each year from 2007-08 to 2012-13 and how such funding will be shared between the highlands and islands and the rest of Scotland.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: Approximately €17.62 millionwill be available to the Scottish Highlands and Islands area, with the rest of Scotland allocatedapproximately €37.52 million during the European Fisheries Fund programming period.Annual allocations will be subject to industry inpu…
9 Jan 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria will be used when assessing applications to the European Fisheries Fund.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: The criteria for assessing applicationswill be finalised following full public consultation on the European Fisheries FundOperational Programme. It is anticipated that assessment in Scotland will remainalong similar lines to that employed under the successful…
9 Jan 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when the European Fisheries Fund will be opened to applications from Scottish businesses and when the first payments will be made to successful applicants.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: The European Fisheries Fund willopen to applications once the UK Government has submitted, and the EC approved,the UK Operational Programme. It is anticipated that the programme will be operationaltowards the end of 2008. Subsequent grant payments will be dep…
17 Dec 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will set out the detailed remit of the group which will take forward a crab and lobster strategy for Scotland.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: The crab and lobster strategy is at an early stage andmy officials are currently discussing the membership of a steering group to leadthe development of the strategy. Amongstother things, I expect the strategy will look at stocks, marketing, regulation, the w…
17 Dec 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive which individuals and bodies will be consulted by the group which is to take forward a crab and lobster strategy for Scotland.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: Work on a crab and lobsterstrategy is at an early stage and will proceed as part of the work taken forwardby the Scottish Fisheries Council. My officials are currently discussing with stakeholdersthe membership for the steering group to lead development of th…
17 Dec 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will set out the programme for the work of the group which will take forward a crab and lobster strategy for Scotland, showing when the group will consult outside bodies and when it will submit recommendations to ministers.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: Work on a crab and lobsterstrategy is at an early stage. My officials are currently discussing with stakeholdersthe membership for the steering group to lead development of the strategy. Shortlyafter its inception, the steering group will outline its programm…
17 Dec 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it plans to announce the membership of the group which is to take forward a crab and lobster strategy for Scotland.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: Work on a crab and lobsterstrategy is at an early stage. My officials are currently discussing with stakeholdersthe membership of a steering group to lead the development of the strategy. It isenvisaged that the steering group will represent a wide range of s…
17 Dec 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will set out the programme for the work of the group which will undertake the development of the Scottish Scallop Management Strategy, showing when the group will consult outside bodies and when it will submit recommendations to ministers.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: Work on the strategy is at anearly stage and will be taken forward as part of the work of the Scottish FisheriesCouncil. My officials are currently discussing membership of the group that willsteer the strategy development process. As part of that process the…
17 Dec 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will set out the detailed remit of the group which will undertake the development of the Scottish Scallop Management Strategy.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: Work on a crab and lobsterstrategy is at an early stage. My officials are currently discussing with stakeholdersthe membership of a steering group to lead the development of the strategy. It isenvisaged that the steering group will represent a wide range of s…
17 Dec 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive which individuals and bodies will be consulted during the development of the planned Scottish Scallop Management Strategy.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: Work on the Scottish ScallopManagement Strategy is at an early stage and will proceed as part of the work takenforward by the Scottish Fisheries Council. It is envisaged that the steeringgroup will engage with the full range of sectoral and other relevant sta…
17 Dec 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive which organisation or organisations will be involved in the group which will undertake the development of the Scottish Scallop Management Strategy.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: Work on the Scottish ScallopManagement Strategy is at an early stage and will proceed as part of the work takenforward by the Scottish Fisheries Council. My officials are currently discussingthe membership of the group which will steer the development of the …
13 Dec 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it plans to initiate a full review of the Less Favoured Area Support Scheme; what the remit for the review will be, and when it expects the review to be completed and its results announced.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: The EU designationproposals for less favoured area (LFA) are due to be published in 2008, with implementationin 2010. Once these are known, proposals for a new Less Favoured Area Support Scheme(LFASS) will be developed and will be subject to a full consultati…
29 Nov 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether local authorities will be given full discretion to spend the resources previously available to those funding lines outlined in table 17.02 of Scottish Budget: Spending Review 2007 which are due to be rolled up into the local government finance settlement for 2008-09.
Answer · John Swinney: For those fundingstreams being rolled up into the local government finance settlement, under theproposed agreement between the Scottish Government and local government, localauthorities will commission services which may have previously been funded bycentral …
29 Nov 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list those grants and funds outlined in table 17.02 of Scottish Budget: Spending Review 2007 where the allocation of those funds remains the responsibility of the Scottish Government.
Answer · John Swinney: The allocation ofall the grants and funding streams listed under the heading of ring-fenced in2008-09 in table 17.02 will remain the responsibility of the ScottishGovernment.</p>
29 Nov 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive which grants and funding outlined in table 17.02 of Scottish Budget: Spending Review 2007 are not being rolled up into settlement in 2008-09 in full.
Answer · John Swinney: The currentbaselined provision for all of the grants and funding outlined in table 17.02has been included in the 2008-11 local government finance settlements. Thegrants listed as ring-fenced in 2008-09 will remain as separately identifiableand the remainder r…
28 Nov 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the impact of any freeze in council tax on the numbers of people eligible for council tax benefit.
Answer · John Swinney: The council tax freezewill not itself affect anyone’s entitlement to council tax benefit.</p>
28 Nov 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how it intends to monitor the impact of any freeze in council tax on household income inequality.
Answer · John Swinney: As part of our commitmentto the 2017 Solidarity target we will be monitoring changes in income inequalityand developing an understanding of their causes.</p>
28 Nov 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much it expects to be held on account with HM Treasury by the end of (a) 2007-08, (b) 2008-09, (c) 2009-10 and (d) 2010-11.
Answer · John Swinney: As set out in theSpending Review document we have secured an unprecedented agreement with the UK government to make full use of Scotland’s EYF balances held by HM Treasury over the spendingreview period. Details of the balance held on account are published an…
28 Nov 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it expects any end-year flexibility money to be available for redistribution as a result of its decision to over-allocate £100 million in 2008-09, £100 million in 2009-10 and £24 million in 2010-11.
Answer · John Swinney: In view of the very tight spending review settlement from the UK Government the degree of flexibility available to us will be much less than in the past. The known balance of end-year flexibility money is already fully committed to support our spending plans …
28 Nov 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) reviews and (b) consultations have been initiated in each cabinet secretary’s portfolio area since May 2007.
Answer · Bruce Crawford: The information requestedis shown in the following table.</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td width=352 valign=top> <p align=center>Portfolio Area</p> </td> <td width=72 valign=top> <p align=center>Reviews</p> </td> …
28 Nov 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will prioritise the acceleration of the full implementation of reductions in business rates for small businesses announced in the budget on 14 November 2007 ahead of increased resources for Scotland's universities, if additional resources become available.
Answer · John Swinney: We will take prudentfinancial decisions in the light of financial circumstances as they prevail. Decisionson future spending plans and their prioritisation will only be made if additionalresources become available. Our spending plans are set out in the <i>Sco…
28 Nov 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what additional resources would require to be made available in order to prioritise the acceleration of the full implementation of reductions in business rates for small businesses announced in the budget on 14 November 2007.
Answer · John Swinney: Any decision onthe level of additional resources that would be required to accelerateimplementation of the Small Business Bonus Scheme would depend on additionalresources becoming available from budget or pre-budget report consequentials orother sources. Deci…
28 Nov 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how it expects to prioritise the acceleration of the full implementation of reductions in business rates for small businesses announced in the budget on 14 November 2007 if additional resources become available.
Answer · John Swinney: We will seek toact prudently and responsibly in the management of the resources at ourdisposal and in honouring the commitments we have made as part of the <i>ScottishBudget: Spending Review 2007</i>. Decisions on future spending plans and theirprioritisation…
28 Nov 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how it will prioritise any additional spending not detailed in the 2007 spending review if additional resources become available.
Answer · John Swinney: Decisions on thefuture spending plans and their prioritisation will only be made if additional resourcesbecome available. Our spending plans are set out in the Scottish Budget:Spending Review 2007 and make full use of the resources currently available tous.</…
28 Nov 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how it will monitor the impact on small business start-ups and closures of a reduction in business rates for small businesses.
Answer · John Swinney: We shall continueto measure the rate of small business start-ups nationally. The seven GovernmentEconomic Strategy targets and the 45 National Indicators and Targets which accompanythe Scottish Budget Spending Review 2007 include Indicator 2 on businessstart-…