Tavish Scott

16 Aug 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many cases of infringement of fisheries regulations the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency referred to the Procurator Fiscal in each of the last five years for which figures are available and how many of the cases referred in each year resulted in prosecutions, broken down by court …

Answer · Rhona Brankin: The table refers to the financial years 1996-97 until 2000-01 inclusive, and lists the number of cases sent to the Procurator Fiscal Service by the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency.<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=181><TR><TD WIDTH="50%" VA…

23 Jul 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what provision it is making to ensure that the subvention paid for livestock shipments from Orkney and Shetland to the mainland will continue after the expiry of the current contract with P&O Scottish Ferries on 1 October 2002.

Answer · Sarah Boyack: The Scottish Executive's current Northern Isles subsidy contract with P&amp;O Scottish Ferries and the recently awarded contract with NorthLink for the period 2002-07 provides subsidy for passenger and car ferry services only.<P>The Scottish Executive provide…

23 Jul 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when the analysis of the 2001 Less Favoured Area scheme will be complete so as to allow any changes to be proposed to the European Commission in time for the scheme's operation in 2002.

Answer · Ross Finnie: The Industry/Scottish Executive Working Group set up to consider the operation of the scheme is currently considering an initial analysis of this year's payments with a view to assessing possible changes to next year's scheme.

23 Jul 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many claims under the Less Favoured Area scheme for 2001 were submitted before the deadline and how many have been paid.

Answer · Ross Finnie: My Department received 13,718 claims. A small number have been either rejected, because they did not fulfil the basic criteria of the scheme, or withdrawn by the applicants. This left some 13,535 claims to be paid and to date 13,343 have been paid in full (98…

17 Jul 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its plans are for improving the supported accommodation provided by criminal justice social work services for offenders and ex-prisoners.

Answer · Jim Wallace: A review of the present arrangements and a consultation paper on future strategy for accommodation services is being issued today.<P>Copies of the paper will be available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. no. 14746).

13 Jul 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the rate relief scheme for businesses affected by the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak is to be extended.

Answer · Angus MacKay: The Scottish Executive has recognised the value of its initial rate relief scheme to affected businesses, detailed in Finance Circular 1/2001. We are therefore extending it for a further six-month period, until 31 December 2001. In addition, the rateable valu…

10 Jul 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the outcome was of the consultation on the proposal to introduce a 20-day standstill period following movements of sheep and cattle and what changes will now be introduced.

Answer · Ross Finnie: 155 responses were received on the consultation in Scotland. The vast majority of these - over 95% - were critical, or rejected the proposals altogether. There was, however, widespread recognition in the responses that the status quo was not tenable and that …

3 Jul 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to promote the development and manufacturing of renewable energy technologies as a key driver in the Scottish economy.

Answer · Wendy Alexander: Our promotion of renewable energy developments through the Renewables Obligation (Scotland) is intended to build up a Scottish renewable energy capability, as well as reducing emissions of greenhouse gases. One early result was the recent announcement of a si…

3 Jul 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to determine the underlying causes of any fall in the rate of new business start-ups and whether it will instigate changes in policy to address any such trend.

Answer · Wendy Alexander: The recently completed Fraser of Allander Institute review of Scottish Enterprise's Business Birthrate Strategy (BBRS) addresses a range of issues relevant to Scotland's business start-up rate. We shall use the report, and the consultation period now in train…

3 Jul 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it benchmarks the performance of Scottish economic development policy and the effectiveness of agencies charged with its delivery against other competitor nations and other parts of the UK.

Answer · Wendy Alexander: An extensive and far reaching review of the Enterprise Networks in Scotland was carried out by the Scottish Executive in 2000. This included benchmarking the networks in Scotland against economic development agencies elsewhere in the UK and in other countries…

3 Jul 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the comparative strength of the pound is undermining the competitiveness of Scottish tourism and, if so, what role local economic development policies have in countering this.

Answer · Wendy Alexander: The value of sterling is only one of a number of factors that may be taken into account by potential visitors to Scotland. The Executive's <I>National</I> <I>Tourism</I> <I>Strategy</I>, published in February 2000, contains actions that will increase Scotland…

3 Jul 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it last assessed trends in the levels of recruitment and retention of staff in the higher and further education sectors.

Answer · Wendy Alexander: Responsibility for recruitment and retention of staff rests with further and higher education institutions and we do not we hold centrally all the data necessary to assess trends.

3 Jul 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what targets it has for the future development of the Scottish economy.

Answer · Wendy Alexander: The Executive is committed to increasing Scotland's prosperity, and to stimulating high levels of sustainable growth. We are pursuing this through a range of policies and programmes, including those embraced in our strategy for the Enterprise Network, <I>A Sm…

27 Jun 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of children in each local authority area have a Record of Needs that specifies a need for speech and language therapy.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The information requested is not held centrally. The September School Census collects information on the main difficulty in learning of pupils with Records of Needs. Each pupil with a Record of Needs is classified into one of a list of main difficulties in le…

27 Jun 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what provision local authorities are required to make for pupils with speech and language impairment who do not have a Record of Needs.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: Education authorities are required to make appropriate provision for all children with special educational needs, including those with speech and language impairment. In addition, Section 2 of the Standards in Scotland's Schools Etc Act 2000 places a legally …

27 Jun 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when the review of speech and language therapy services will be published.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: Ministers have agreed the following terms of reference for the review:<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">an examination of the supply of speech and language therapists, physiotherapists and occupational therapists to meet the needs of children requiring these therapies;<P AL…

27 Jun 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the uptake is by each local authority of speech and language therapy funding for children with a Record of Needs.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: This information is not collected centrally. Grant-aided expenditure of £200 million for 2001-02 is available to local authorities to use in light of local needs and circumstances. Included in this figure is £6.5 million per year for speech and language thera…

27 Jun 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many children in each local authority area attend specialist language units and what percentage of these children have a Record of Needs.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The information requested is not held centrally.

25 Jun 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish the strategy for Scottish agriculture.

Answer · Ross Finnie: I will be launching this strategy later this morning in a document entitled <I>A Forward Strategy for Scottish Agriculture</I>. This document is the result of a process I started in April last year with the publication of a discussion document designed to sti…

21 Jun 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has reached a decision on its proposal to create a single all-Scotland water authority.

Answer · Ross Finnie: The proposal to create a single water authority included in the consultation on the Water Services Bill was supported by a substantial majority of those commenting on the issue. The Transport and Environment Committee in its report on the water industry, whic…

20 Jun 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has for a ministerial statement on the outcome of the Fisheries Council on 18 June 2001.

Answer · Rhona Brankin: I have no plans to make a statement about the outcome of the recent Fisheries Council. I have reported to Parliament by means of a parliamentary question. I have also written to the Convenors of the Rural Affairs Committee and the European Committee.

20 Jun 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it last met representatives of British Airways or its franchise partners to discuss the cost of flights within Scotland.

Answer · Sarah Boyack: The Scottish Executive meets airlines, including British Airways and its franchise partners, on a regular basis to discuss a variety of issues including the cost of flights. The last meeting with British Airways was on 11 June 2001.

20 Jun 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive who the board members of Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd are, specifying in each case the length of their term of office and their date of appointment.

Answer · Sarah Boyack: The information is as follows:<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=616><TR><TD WIDTH="33%" VALIGN="TOP"><FONT FACE="Arial"><P>HIAL Board Members</TD><TD WIDTH="33%" VALIGN="TOP"><FONT FACE="Arial"><P ALIGN="CENTER">Length of term of office</TD><TD …

20 Jun 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it retains an assessor on the board of Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd; if so, what responsibilities the assessor has and to whom the assessor is accountable.

Answer · Sarah Boyack: Yes, the Scottish Executive retains an assessor on the board of Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd (HIAL). The role of the assessor is to represent the Scottish ministers' interests, as shareholder, at board meetings and to advise the board on aspects of the …

20 Jun 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether planning for the introduction of NHS24 has taken into account the complexities of delivering primary health care in remote and island areas.

Answer · Susan Deacon: The NHS24 service is being designed to complement and enhance existing health services throughout Scotland and will be developed in partnership with them. NHS24 has begun discussions with health boards and other partners on the nature of the link they wish to…

20 Jun 2001 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what proposals it has to develop the inshore fishing industry.

Answer · Ross Finnie: I hope we can improve management of our inshore fisheries through the review of the Common Fisheries Policy and dialogue in the Scottish Inshore Fisheries Advisory Group.

20 Jun 2001 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress it is making in discussions with the European Commission over the sheep export trade.

Answer · Rhona Brankin: The importance of exports to the Scottish livestock industry and especially to sheep producers in the remoter areas is recognised fully by the Executive. Mr Finnie will be discussing with other UK Agriculture Ministers how best to put a case to the European U…

31 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of planning applications made since 1993 were approved in each of the following sectors: large scale retail development, new housing development, industrial estate, landfill, coal extraction, urban development project, holiday village or hotel complex, waste water treatmen…

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: Consistent, comparative data are only available since local government reorganisation in 1996. The categories by which data are collected do not match those requested. The data that are available are shown in the table. The instructions given to planning auth…

23 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the weight and value was of (a) king and (b) queen scallops caught in Scottish waters and exported to each EU nation other than the UK as (i) processed out of shell meat and (ii) live in shell whole scallops in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

Answer · Rhona Brankin: I refer the Member to the answer given to question S1W-15941.

23 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the weight and value was of (a) king and (b) queen scallops (i) caught by dredge, (ii) caught by divers and (iii) farmed in Scottish waters in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

Answer · Rhona Brankin: I refer the Member to the answer given to question S1W-15941.