- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 30 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what subsidies are available to ferry operators for livestock services serving the Orkney and Shetland Isles and whether these subsidies will be made available to all ferry operators carrying livestock.
Answer
Under the terms of the Highlands andIslands Shipping Services Act 1960, Tariff Rebate Subsidy (TRS) is paid to eligibleshipping operators wholly or mainly engaged in providing services to the Highlands andIslands in accordance with an undertaking, a draft of which has been laid before,and approved by, Parliament. Currently, only NorthLink Orkney and Shetland FerriesLtd has an undertaking. Other operators are free to apply for admittance to thescheme and their applications would be assessed against the stipulated criteria.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 30 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether adequate funding is given to (a) Orkney Islands Council and (b) Shetland Island Council for the provision of internal ferry and air services.
Answer
The recent local government financesettlement from Spending Review 2002 gave increases of 6.9%, 4.9%, 3.4% (£3.2 million,£2.4 million, £1.8 million) to Orkney Islands Council and 6.9%, 4.0%, 3.4% (£4.6million, £2.8 million, £2.5 million) to Shetland Islands Council, for 2003-04 to2005-06. It is up to each local authority to make their own spending decisions toreflect local needs and priorities.
Additionally, the Scottish Executive sponsors Highlands and Islands AirportsLtd (HIAL), which is the main airport operator in the Highlands andIslands. In 2002-03, the total support provided by the Executive to HIAL for theoperation of its 10 airports was £24.05 million.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 30 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the construction of Stromness, Scrabster and Hatston piers was completed within agreed (a) time limits and (b) budgetary limits.
Answer
Construction of new berthingfacilities to enable NorthLink's new vessels to berth at Scrabster, Stromness andHatston is a matter for the harbour authorities concerned, respectively, the ScrabsterHarbour Trust and the Orkney Islands Council.
Both harbour authorities hadplanned to have usable berths available by 1 October 2002when NorthLink's services started, recognising that further work would be necessaryto complete each project. Usable berths were available at Stromness and Hatstonas required, but the new Queen Elizabeth Pier at Scrabster did not become usableby NorthLink until 15 September 2003.
Final project costs are not yetavailable. However, we understand that in all three projects, the final costs willexceed the authorities’ pre-tender estimates.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 18 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 30 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to identify, and invest in, areas vulnerable to flooding and coastal erosion.
Answer
The Scottish Environment ProtectionAgency (SEPA) holds maps that indicate, approximately, those areas at an annualrisk of flooding from rivers of 1% (1 in 100 year risk). In addition, a report commissionedby the Executive
Climate Change: Flooding Occurrences Review provided anestimate of the number of properties adjacent to the coast which lie below the fivemetre contour and, therefore, potentially at risk of coastal flooding. (The reportis available on the Executive's River and Coastal Flooding website at
www.scotland.gov.uk/flooding).The Executive's National FloodingFramework includes a commitment to work with SEPA to produce second generation,but still indicative, flood risk maps. These will cover both river and coastal floodrisk and take account of the latest available techniques and developments. Thiswork is currently being taken forward.
Local authorities have the necessarypowers to address flood risk to non-agricultural land and coastal erosion in theirareas and decisions on investment in defences are for them. The Executive has providedincreased resources, amounting to £40 million for years 2003-04 to 2005-06, forlocal authorities' capital programmes for flood prevention and coast protection.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 18 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 30 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what action has been taken in response to the recommendation in the report by the Independent Expert Group on Mobile Phones, Mobile Phones and Health, that clearly-defined physical exclusion 'ones be established around base station antennas that delineate areas within which exposure guidelines may be exceeded.
Answer
The Government response to thereport from the Independent Expert Group on Mobile Phones (IEGMP) said that clearexclusion zones should already be in place around all base station antennas to preventthe public from exposure to radiofrequency radiation above the
International Commission on Non-IonizingRadiation Protection (ICNIRP) guidelines.
Annex B to Planning Advice NotePAN 62 on Radio Public Telecommunications refers to the need for operators to complywith current Health and Safety at Work legislation and to establish, where necessary,an exclusion zone around each antenna within which people cannot freely pass.
In addition, the Mobile OperatorsAssociation’s Ten Commitments document on self-regulation includes a programme forcompliance with current guidelines on public exposures for all radio base stations.The commitments require inclusion of certification of compliance with public exposureguidelines in all planning applications for base station installation. This is alsoa statutory requirement in Scotland. All indications to date suggest full compliance withthese requirements.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 18 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 30 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what canal restoration projects will not be able to proceed in light of the statement in British Waterways Annual Report 2002-03 that "funding is insufficient to meet the aspirations of the policy paper, Scotland's Canals - an asset for the future".
Answer
No specific canal restorationprojects are identified as aspirations in the policy paper. However, an additional£2 million has been allocated to British Waterways in Scotland thisyear for important repair work to be undertaken on the Caledonian Canal. This funding is in addition to the £8.4 million grant that has alreadybeen allocated to British Waterways in Scotland by the Executive for 2003-04. Once this repair work hasbeen completed, there will be no safety backlog arrears on Scotland’s canalnetwork.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 15 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 29 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans are in place to provide the additional 29 secure accommodation places for young offenders, announced on 24 March 2003.
Answer
Four of the five providers announcedon 24 March are finalising their secure redevelopment plans.
Discussions are continuing withRossie School to consider how we can best achieve an 18-bed secure unit in the north-east.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 11 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 29 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what role it will play in revitalising the Post Office network, as referred to in A Partnership for a Better Scotland.
Answer
Royal Mail, post offices andpostal services are reserved issues but the Scottish Executive recognises theimportance of the availability across Scotland of services provided by the Post Office network.
The Deputy Minister for SocialJustice launched a £2 million fund to develop post offices in deprived urban areason 30 December 2002. The objective of this fund is to contribute to the regenerationof deprived urban areas by sustaining and improving post office branches, on themargins of viability, that provide socially important services and facilities andthat can act as an anchor for other retail activity.
The Scottish Executive is represented on Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) interdepartmentalgroup convened to examine strategy for supporting rural post offices after April2006. This group has been convened to help DTI prepare options and advice for theirministers who have responsibility for postal matters. Officials also represent the Executive on Royal Mail’s rural interests group considering the use of funding providedby DTI.
The Executive will continue tomonitor post office developments in both urban and rural contexts and work togetherwith the DTI and Royal Mail to identify options for action that the Executive canpursue within its devolved powers.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 12 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 26 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to address the levels of overcrowding at Her Majesty's Prison Inverness referred to in the Scottish Prison Service Annual Report 2002-03.
Answer
I have asked Tony Cameron,Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is asfollows:
As a consequence of the needto manage unprecedented prisoner numbers we have no immediate plans to reducethe prisoner numbers at HM Prison Inverness. However, we recognise the pressure this places onthe establishment and will be monitoring the situation as part of the widerpopulation management.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 12 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 26 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it supports recommendation 10 of the report of the Scottish Charity Law Review Commission that Scottish charities should receive mandatory 80% relief from water and sewerage charges.
Answer
The Scottish Executive responded in full to
the McFadden Report on 16 December 2002.In our response we indicated that we had already said in the context of the WaterIndustry (Scotland) Act 2002 that we supported the phased withdrawal of relieffrom water and sewerage charges.
Tohelp organisations adjust to the withdrawal of relief, the Water and SewerageCharges (Exemption) (Scotland)Regulations 2002 provide for an exemption scheme run by Scottish Water. Thisexempts from all water and sewerage charges until 2006, organisations whichreceived relief in March 1999, have a net annual income of less than £50,000and are not a retail outlets, have permanent liquor licences or are part of alocal authority. A transitionalhardship fund was also established to assist those organisations who would notqualify for the exemption scheme but who would suffer real hardship as a resultof the withdrawal of relief.
