Alison McInnes

14 Dec 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to its news release on 26 November 2009, More new schools, on what grounds one further primary school in Glasgow has been included among the primary schools allocated funding through the school building programme.

Answer · Keith Brown: The following criteria were taken into consideration by the Scottish Government and COSLA in identifying the 21 schools announced on 26 November: distribution of needs, nationally, best available information about schools'' condition and unsuitability to deli…

1 Dec 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of the population lives in (a) rural and (b) remote areas, broken down by (i) region, (ii) UK Parliament constituency and (iii) Scottish Parliament constituency.

Answer · Jim Mather: The Scottish Government Urban Rural Classification defines rural areas as settlements with a population of less than 3,000 people and remote areas as settlements with a drive time of over 30 minutes to a settlement of 10,000 or more people. Based on these def…

1 Dec 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of roads goes through (a) rural and (b) remote areas, broken down by (i) region, (ii) UK Parliament constituency and (iii) Scottish Parliament constituency.

Answer · Stewart Stevenson: The only information that the Scottish Government has available relates to type of road by council area shown in table 5.2 of the publication <i >Scottish Transport Statistics</i>. The latest edition was published in December 2008 and is available in the Scot…

23 Nov 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether claimant numbers for unemployment-related benefit were analysed at ward level in deciding which colleges would receive funding from the extra £12 million allocated for college buildings announced by the Scottish Funding Council on 4 September 2009.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: Decisions on the funding of individual colleges are a matter for the Scottish Funding Council. I will ask the chief executive of the Scottish Funding Council to reply to the member.</p>

23 Nov 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will instruct the Scottish Funding Council to consider claimant numbers for unemployment-related benefit at ward level in deciding which colleges should receive funding from the additional £8.4 million for extra college places yet to be allocated.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The process for distributing funding to individual colleges is a matter for the Scottish Funding Council within broad policy guidance given by ministers, it would be inappropriate to instruct the funding council at the level of detail suggested.</p>

23 Nov 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that some rural local authorities have pockets of high unemployment that are not reflected in the overall unemployment rate for that area.

Answer · John Swinney: The official measure of unemployment based on the ILO (International Labour Organisation) definition is not reliable below local authority level. However, an alternative measure of unemployment is the claimant count. This gives the number of people claiming u…

23 Nov 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that some rural local authorities have pockets of high unemployment.

Answer · John Swinney: The official measure of unemployment based on the ILO (International Labour Organisation) definition is not reliable below local authority level. However, an alternative measure of unemployment is the claimant count. This gives the number of people claiming u…

23 Nov 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether claimant numbers for unemployment-related benefit were analysed at ward level in deciding which colleges would receive funding from the additional £7.7 million for college places announced by the Scottish Funding Council on 9 July 2009.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: Decisions on the funding of individual colleges are a matter for the Scottish Funding Council. I will ask the chief executive of the Scottish Funding Council to reply to the member.</p>

23 Nov 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what estimate it has made of the number of kilometres that will be travelled by non-UK-based HGVs on (a) all and (b) rural roads in Scotland in each of the next five years.

Answer · Stewart Stevenson: The information requested is not held centrally.</p>

23 Nov 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what estimate it has made of the number of kilometres that will be travelled by UK-based HGVs on (a) all and (b) rural roads in Scotland in each of the next five years.

Answer · Stewart Stevenson: The information requested is not held centrally.</p>

23 Nov 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what estimate it has made of the number of kilometres that will be travelled by non-UK-based HGVs over 3.5 tonnes on (a) all and (b) rural roads in Scotland in each of the next five years.

Answer · Stewart Stevenson: The information requested is not held centrally.</p>

23 Nov 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what estimate it has made of the number of kilometres that will be travelled by UK-based HGVs over 3.5 tonnes on (a) all and (b) rural roads in Scotland in each of the next five years.

Answer · Stewart Stevenson: The information requested is not held centrally.</p>

23 Nov 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on the number of kilometres travelled by non-UK-based HGVs over 3.5 tonnes on (a) all and (b) rural roads in Scotland in the last year.

Answer · Stewart Stevenson: The information requested is not held centrally as the data available does not distinguish between GB and non-GB registered vehicles.</p>

23 Nov 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on the number of kilometres travelled by UK-based HGVs over 3.5 tonnes on (a) all and (b) rural roads in Scotland in the last year.

Answer · Stewart Stevenson: The information requested is not held centrally as the data available does not distinguish between GB and non-GB registered vehicles.</p>

23 Nov 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on the number of kilometres travelled by HGVs over 3.5 tonnes on (a) all and (b) rural roads in Scotland in the last year.

Answer · Stewart Stevenson: In 2008, HGV traffic in Scotland accounted for 2.8 billion vehicle kilometres, of which 1.5 billion vehicle kilometres were on rural roads.</p>

23 Nov 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on the number of days (a) UK-based and (b) non-UK-based HGVs were on the road in Scotland in the last year and their weight category.

Answer · Stewart Stevenson: The information requested is not held centrally as the data available does not distinguish between GB and non-GB registered vehicles.</p>

23 Nov 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on the number of kilometres travelled by HGVs in Scotland in the last year, broken down by (a) UK-based and (b) non-UK-based HGVs and showing their weight category.

Answer · Stewart Stevenson: The information requested is not held centrally as the data available does not distinguish between GB and non-GB registered vehicles.</p>

23 Nov 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on the number of journeys made by (a) UK-based and (b) non-UK-based HGVs in Scotland in the last year and their weight category.

Answer · Stewart Stevenson: The information requested is not held centrally as the data available does not distinguish between GB and non-GB registered vehicles.</p>

23 Nov 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what information is held on the number of (a) kilometres travelled, (b) journeys made and (c) days spent on the road in Scotland by HGVs from outwith the United Kingdom.

Answer · Stewart Stevenson: The information requested is not held centrally as the data available does not distinguish between GB and non-GB registered vehicles.</p>

23 Nov 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on how many kilometres UK-licensed HGVs travelled on (a) non-trunk A roads and (b) minor roads in Scotland in the last year.

Answer · Stewart Stevenson: The information requested is not held centrally as the data available does not distinguish between GB and non-GB registered vehicles.</p>

23 Nov 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on the number of kilometres travelled by UK-licensed HGVs on Scottish roads in the last year, broken down by (a) weight category and (b) type of road.

Answer · Stewart Stevenson: The information requested is not held centrally as the data available does not distinguish between GB and non-GB registered HGVs.</p>

23 Nov 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many licensed HGVs there are, broken down by weight category.

Answer · Stewart Stevenson: The following table shows the number of licensed HGVs in Scotland, broken down by weight category.</p> <table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 > <thead> <tr > <td width=96 valign=bottom > <p align=center >Gross Weight (Tonnes)</p> </td> …

19 Nov 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish its public engagement strategy, as specified in section 91 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009.

Answer · Stewart Stevenson: The Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 requires the public engagement strategy to be published no later than 31 December 2010.</p>

19 Nov 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has plans to exercise the powers specified in section 84 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 to establish a deposit and return scheme. 

Answer · Stewart Stevenson: The Scottish Government has taken powers, through the Climate Change Act, to make regulations to establish a deposit and return scheme in Scotland, however there are no plans at the present time to do so.</p> <p >Scottish ministers have insisted, throughout …

19 Nov 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has plans to exercise the powers specified in section 83 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 to set targets for reducing packaging. 

Answer · Stewart Stevenson: The Scottish Government has taken powers, through the Climate Change Act, to make regulations to introduce targets for the reduction of packaging, however there are no plans at the present time to do so.</p> <p >Scottish ministers have insisted, throughout t…

19 Nov 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has plans to exercise the powers specified in section 78 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 to introduce regulations on planning for waste prevention and management. 

Answer · Stewart Stevenson: The Scottish Government has taken powers, through the Climate Change Act, to make regulations to introduce new obligations for providing waste prevention and management plans, however there are no plans at the present time to do so.</p> <p >Scottish minister…

19 Nov 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what consultations it has held regarding the provision of permitted development rights for air source heat pumps and micro wind turbines in domestic properties, as specified in section 70 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009.

Answer · Stewart Stevenson: Consultation meeting the terms of section 70(4) of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 has yet to take place. </p> <p >The final research report setting out the findings of the independent study commissioned by ministers on this topic was submitted to the…

19 Nov 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish its plan to promote energy efficiency, as specified in section 60 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009. 

Answer · Jim Mather: From 5 January 2010, when the consultation on the government energy efficiency action plan consultation paper <i >Conserve and Save </i>closes, we will evaluate the responses. We will use them to develop the policies and programmes in our energy efficiency ac…

19 Nov 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish its land use strategy, as specified in section 57 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009. 

Answer · Richard Lochhead: Section 57 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act introduced a statutory requirement for ministers to lay a land use strategy before Parliament by 31 March 2011 and to undertake a public consultation on a draft of the Strategy before doing so. We will provide i…

19 Nov 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what consultations it plans to hold before issuing guidance to public bodies on the climate change duties that will be imposed by section 44 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009. 

Answer · Stewart Stevenson: The Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009, requires Scottish ministers to consult before providing guidance to public bodies on the climate change duties that will be imposed by section 44 of the act. They are required to consult with associations of local autho…