- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 November 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 24 November 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it stands by the statement by the then Minister for Transport on Good Morning Scotland on 10 December 2004 that “We have to make sure that, if we are forced by Europe, that we have the very best prospect possible of CalMac winning that tender”, in relation to the outcome of the Clyde and Hebridean ferry tendering process.
Answer
As owners of Caledonian MacBrayne Limited, ministers want to ensure that the company can competitively tender for the contract to operate the Clyde and Hebrides ferry services. However, the company cannot, and will not, be given any favourable treatment by the Executive in the procurement process. The tendering process will be undertaken in full accordance with proper procurement procedures.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 November 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 24 November 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to review the funding arrangements for further education colleges.
Answer
The Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council has responsibility for allocating funds to further education colleges and promoting their efficiency and financial stability. As part of its responsibility the funding council regularly reviews funding arrangements.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 October 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by George Lyon on 10 November 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to make the provisions of the Licensing (Scotland) Bill apply equally to off-sales and on-sales premises.
Answer
The provisions of the Licensing (Scotland) Bill will apply equally to all premises, except where the provision is specifically drafted to apply to only on-sale or off-sale premises.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 October 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 8 November 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to make sustainable development a mandatory requirement of the planning system when the proposed Planning Bill is introduced.
Answer
The proposals in the White PaperModernising the Planning System will increase the opportunities for the planningsystem to play its role in delivering sustainable development. We are currentlyconsidering the content of the Planning Bill, which we intend to introduce shortly.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 October 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 8 November 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive under what circumstances a third party right of appeal in planning might be instituted.
Answer
The introduction of a third partyright of appeal in planning would require primary legislation.
The White Paper Modernisingthe Planning System sets out (section 5.3.4) the Executive’s reasons for notproposing a third party right of appeal in planning.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 October 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 7 November 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will examine the recent report by Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary, Meeting the Standard: A Thematic Inspection of the Scottish Crime Recording Standard, which indicates that Grampian Police has a low resolution rate on reported crime; whether the same reporting procedures are in place across all police forces, and, if so, why there are differing results across the police force areas.
Answer
The Scottish Crime RecordingStandard was introduced in April 2004 and has been applied by all forces, includingGrampian. Figures collected by the Scottish Executive show that crime clear-up ratesfor Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire and Moray are below the Scottish average.
Grampian Police has traditionallycommitted significant resources to crime prevention and crime reduction as partof its approach to community policing and success in these areas is not always evidentin a singular performance indicator such as clear-up rates. For example, the numberoffences recorded per 10,000 population in Grampian is lower than the Scottish average.
That said, the force is not complacentand is currently undertaking a review of activities in support of detections.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 October 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 7 November 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received any approaches from Scottish Opera seeking funding for it to perform in Aberdeen.
Answer
No. The provision of public fundingfor opera performance is a matter, on the one hand, for the Scottish Arts Counciland, on the other, for the relevant local authorities. The Scottish Executive expectsnational companies such as Scottish Opera to serve the whole of Scotland.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 October 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 7 November 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what its response would be to a business case being made by Scottish Opera for funding for it to perform in Aberdeen.
Answer
Scottish Opera is required tooperate within the resources made available by the Scottish Executive to the ScottishArts Council. I understand that planning is underway for the 2006-07 season andthat Scottish Opera hopes to be able to mount main-scale opera in the north-eastin 2007.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 October 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 4 November 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive how much financial support it has provided through the Route Development Fund since it was launched, broken down by route.
Answer
Since the inception of the RouteDevelopment Fund (RDF) in November 2002, a total of £1.6 million has been paid outin relation to new routes to 31 March 2005. The level of investment on an individual route basisis commercially confidential.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 October 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 4 November 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what conditions it attaches to the allocation of financial support through the Route Development Fund.
Answer
To qualify for Route DevelopmentFund (RDF) investment, each route must demonstrate that it can meet the fundamentalobjectives of the fund to improve connectivity with key business and inbound tourismmarkets.
Each route is appraised againsta wide range of operational and economic benefit appraisal criteria including netpresent value and benefit cost ratio hurdles.
The routes must operate to minimumweekly frequency requirements on a year-round basis, and must serve destinationsnot currently served from the respective airports. If the minimum requirements arenot maintained, the route ceases to be eligible for investment.
