- Asked by: Mr Brian Monteith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 October 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 1 November 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish the advice upon which the decision to close its Environment and Rural Affairs Department area offices in Stirling, Dundee, and Forfar was taken.
Answer
No. It is not normal practice to actually publish advice, but the options considered can be summarised as follows:
a. Reorganisation into a single new building in Perth.b. As (a) but retaining the Dundee Office.c. As (a) but retaining the Stirling Office.d. No new building, with alternative accommodation found in Perth and Dundee for displaced staff.Relocation to a single site in Perth was easily the most economical and attractive in terms of overall efficiency.
- Asked by: Mr Brian Monteith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 October 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 1 November 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what sums are being reallocated from the departmental underspends, as outlined in its announcement of 19 September 2001, to the Scottish Arts Council, the Scottish Sports Council and the proposed national theatre company.
Answer
Up to £1 million is being allocated to sportscotland, the majority of which will be for repairs and maintenance to the National Centre, and £710,000 to the Scottish Arts Council. In the parliamentary debate on culture on 25 October, I gave a full account of our plans for the allocation to the Scottish Arts Council. I also stated in that debate that I am giving careful consideration to the paper submitted by the council on its deliberations further to the reports it commissioned on the feasibility of a national theatre for Scotland and the wider review of theatres. I look forward to making a statement shortly on the matter of theatre.
- Asked by: Mr Brian Monteith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 October 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 30 October 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the recently established Agriculture and Environment Working Group will consider the future provision and location of the Environment and Rural Affairs Department's network of local area offices.
Answer
The Agriculture and Environment Working Group has a wide remit, including a review of the provision of environmental advice and guidance to farmers and crofters. This will include the guidance provided through the Environment and Rural Affairs Department's Area Offices, but it should be borne in mind that this is only one part of the role of staff in these offices. The working group has no remit to consider either the provision or location of local area offices.
- Asked by: Mr Brian Monteith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 October 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 23 October 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive how many staff were employed in its Environment and Rural Affairs Department area offices in (a) Stirling, (b) Dundee and (c) Forfar in each of the past three years.
Answer
Staff complements in the three offices in each of the past three years were as follows:
| 1998-99 | 1999-2000 | 2000-01 |
Stirling | 18 | 19 | 25 |
Dundee | 28 | 29 | 31 |
Forfar | 2 | 2 | 2 |
The staff in the Forfar Office are DEFRA employees.
- Asked by: Mr Brian Monteith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 October 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 23 October 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-18218 by Ross Finnie on 1 October 2001, what the annual financial savings will be to its Environment and Rural Affairs Department from closing its area office in Dundee.
Answer
As I have previously indicated, keeping the Dundee Office open would incur additional annual running costs of around £110,000.
- Asked by: Mr Brian Monteith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 October 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 23 October 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-18217 by Ross Finnie on 1 October 2001, whether any consultations were undertaken with the local farming communities concerning the closure of its Environment and Rural Affairs Department area offices in Dundee and Forfar.
Answer
As I have previously indicated, there were no formal consultations with local farming communities about the rationalisation of the department's agricultural offices.
- Asked by: Mr Brian Monteith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 September 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 15 October 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive how many visitors Historic Scotland properties located in (a) Stirling, (b) Clackmannanshire and (c) Fife have received in each year from 1999 to date.
Answer
I have asked Graeme Munro, Chief Executive of Historic Scotland to answer. His response is as follows.
Listed in the table are the visitor numbers for Historic Scotland staffed sites in the Stirling, Clackmannanshire and Fife local authority areas for the calendar years 1999 and 2000 and for this calendar year to end August.
Site | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 To end of August |
Stirling | | | |
Stirling Castle | 416,070 | 430,362 | 292,538 |
Argyll's Lodging | 68,604 | 64,712 | 50,043 |
Doune Castle | 20,083 | 19,347 | 15,292 |
Inchmahome Priory | 16,565 | 17,854 | 14,069 |
Total | 521,322 | 532,275 | 371,942 |
Clackmannanshire | | | |
Castle Campbell | 19,277 | 18,667 | 11,182 |
Fife | | | |
Aberdour Castle | 10,346 | 8,174 | 7,640 |
Dunfermline Abbey | 10,291 | 9,677 | 7,092 |
Inchcolm Abbey | 15,103 | 15,385 | 15,284 |
St Andrews Castle | 61,658 | 59,991 | 43,165 |
| St Andrews Cathedral | 34,019 | 31,441 | 23,435 |
| Total | 131,417 | 124,668 | 96,616 |
- Asked by: Mr Brian Monteith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 28 September 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 12 October 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Minister for Education, Europe and External Affairs has any plans to visit St Mary's Episcopal Primary School to meet parents and teachers before January 2002.
Answer
I have no plans to do so. Stirling Council is best placed to discuss the future arrangements for this school.
- Asked by: Mr Brian Monteith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 28 September 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 12 October 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive how much it cost to launch, publish and distribute the digital inclusion strategy Digital Inclusion: Connecting Scotland's People.
Answer
The cost of launching, publishing, and distributing the document Digital Inclusion: Connecting Scotland's People was £4,640.88.
- Asked by: Mr Brian Monteith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 September 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 9 October 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what the total cost was of launching, publishing and distributing its publication Communique: The Scottish Executive's Newsletter on Europe and External Relations issue one - September 2001, and what budget has been allocated to the continued publication of the newsletter in each of the next two years.
Answer
The first edition of
Communiqué cost £1,615 to design, print and add to the Scottish Executive website. A total of 6,000 copies were produced. The cost of distribution to MSPs, Scottish MEPs, local authorities, European information centres, universities, the Consular Corps in Scotland, UK missions overseas and a range of public and private sector organisations in Scotland was £280.
It is envisaged that approximately three issues a year may be published, but how often Communiqué is produced and how it is developed will be considered in light of feedback on the first issue, and reviewed regularly. No specific budget has yet been allocated for the publication given the scale of expenditure involved which can be met from the External Relations budget.
