Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 1095 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S2W-20132

Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 October 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 4 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive which individual routes and airlines have received financial support from the Route Development Fund since it was launched.

The information requested isprovided in the following table. A total of 31 routes have been supported sincethe inception of the Route Development Fund (RDF) by the Scottish Executive in November2002.

Route	Airline	Date Air Service Started
Aberdeen-Groningen	bmi	May 2004
Aberdeen-Bristol	Eastern	November 2004
Aberdeen-Copenhagen	SAS	November 2004
Aberdeen-Oslo	CityStar	March 2005
Aberdeen-Southampton	Eastern	March 2005
Aberdeen-Blackpool	CityStar	July 2005
Edinburgh-Cologne	Germanwings	March 2003 (now operating without RDF support)
Edinburgh-Jersey	bmi	May 2003 (ceased summer 2003)
Edinburgh-Geneva	duo	November 2003 (ceased May 2004)
Edinburgh-Milan	duo	November 2003 (ceased May 2004)
Edinburgh-Zurich	duo	November 2003 (ceased May 2004)
Edinburgh-Oslo	duo	November 2003 (ceased May 2004)
Edinburgh-Munich	duo	March 2004 (ceased May 2004)
Edinburgh-New York	Continental	June 2004
Edinburgh-Barcelona	Flyglobespan	May 2005
Glasgow International-Dubai	Emirates	April 2004
Glasgow International-Prague	CSA Czech Airlines	October 2004 (ceased August 2005)
Glasgow International-Barcelona	Flyglobespan	March 2005
Glasgow Prestwick-Skavsta (Stockholm)	Ryanair	April 2003
Glasgow Prestwick-Girona (Barcelona)	Ryanair	May 2003
Glasgow Prestwick-Gothenburg	Ryanair	October 2003
Glasgow Prestwick-Bergamo (Milan)	Ryanair	January 2004
Glasgow Prestwick-Ciampino (Rome)	Ryanair	April 2004
Glasgow Prestwick-Neiderrhein (Düsseldorf)	Ryanair	November 2004
Glasgow Prestwick-Lübeck (Hamburg)	Ryanair	March 2005
Glasgow Prestwick-Pisa	Ryanair	March 2005
Inverness-Birmingham	Eastern	November 2003
Inverness-Stockholm	Snowflake	March 2004 (ceased July 2004)
Inverness-Bristol	easyJet	July 2005
Kirkwall-Bergen	Loganair	June 2003 (ceased September 2003)
Sumburgh-Oslo	Widerøe	July-August 2004 and July-August 2005

Question reference: S2W-19767

Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 October 2005
Current Status: Answered by George Lyon on 26 October 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive which trade bodies the Deputy Minister for Finance, Public Service Reform and Parliamentary Business was referring to during his evidence to the Local Government and Transport Committee on 27 September 2005 (Official Report c. 2895) as having made representations to him on amendment 174 to the Licensing (Scotland) Bill and what the nature was of such representations.

Question reference: S2W-19766

Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 October 2005
Current Status: Answered by George Lyon on 26 October 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive which trade bodies the Deputy Minister for Finance, Public Service Reform and Parliamentary Business was referring to during his evidence to the Local Government and Transport Committee on 3 October 2005 as being supportive of the Executive's proposal to use the maximum capacity of premises in relation to assessing the overprovision of licensed premises.

Question reference: S2W-19668

Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 October 2005
Current Status: Answered by George Lyon on 26 October 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will seek parliamentary time to debate council tax reform.

In the debate on council tax in the Parliament on 14 April 2005 (on Motion S2M-2693), the (then) Deputy Minister for Finance and Local Government Reform said that the Executive had established an independent review of local government finance and that it would now be necessary “to wait to see what conclusions it reaches.” The time for a further debate is therefore after the Local Government Finance Review Committee has reported.

Question reference: S2W-19674

Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 October 2005
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 26 October 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has made, or intends to make, representations to Her Majesty's Government and Ofgem in respect of the impact of rising electricity prices on Scottish industry under the New Electricity Trading Arrangements which has resulted in it being stated that prices have risen from £15 per megawatt hour in 2000 to a current £50 per megawatt hour with almost no differences between suppliers.

Rising energy prices are very largely a result of global and UK market forces. UK electricity markets are regulated by Ofgem.

Ofgem has stated that the introduction of the British Electricity Trading and Transmission Arrangements (BETTA) which started on 1 April 2005 has not resulted in an increase in electricity prices. Ofgem has also stated that BETTA created a competitive Great Britain electricity trading and transmission market which has lowered the cost to suppliers of supplying customers in Scotland and has provided access to the wider market to Scottish generators, including renewable generators.

Question reference: S2W-19667

Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 October 2005
Current Status: Answered by George Lyon on 26 October 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to reform the council tax system.

Question reference: S2W-19669

Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 October 2005
Current Status: Answered by George Lyon on 26 October 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to strengthen the role of community councils.

Question reference: S2W-19666

Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 October 2005
Current Status: Answered by George Lyon on 26 October 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish any correspondence it has issued to local authorities or to COSLA in respect of increases in council tax.

The Scottish Executive already publishes formal correspondence issued to COSLA and to councils on financial matters, including the council tax. An example is Finance Circular No. 08/2004, issued to COSLA and to all councils by the Executive’s Finance and Central Services Department on 8 December 2004, which said:

Ministers confirmed during their meeting with COSLA elected members on 24 November 2004 that the current three-year settlement for local government is based on councils increasing council tax by no more than 2.5% in 2006-07 and 2007-08 as a contribution to the overall GAE uplift underlying the settlement. For 2005-06, ministers have confirmed that they expect council tax rises to be kept as low as possible and have urged local authorities to take all steps possible to improve council tax collection rates to help minimise council tax rises.

The full text of the circular is available at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/local-government/17999/Financecirceightof04

Question reference: S2W-19601

Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 October 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 25 October 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what commitments it has received from rail freight companies to make use of enhanced gauging between Mossend and Elgin and how many additional rail journeys this will generate each year.

Without the gauge enhancement scheme, there is a risk that the existing freight traffic could be lost to road whilst the decision to progress allows for increased movement of freight by rail. This is a significant development for the north east of Scotland as it will deliver environmental and economical benefits, and it reaffirms the Scottish Executive’s commitment to a more efficient distribution of freight.

Whilst it is not possible to gain commitments from the freight operating companies or their customers until the project is complete, detailed forecasting and marketing consultation has revealed a strong desire for the additional capacity and North East Scotland Rail Freight Development Group will be responsible for marketing and promoting the new facility with the aim of gaining optimum use.

Our forecasting cannot confirm the number of extra trains that will run, but it does indicate that the enhanced gauge will result in a reduction of lorry use by around 12.3 million vehicle kilometres per year.

Question reference: S2W-19604

Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 October 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 20 October 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-18594 by Tavish Scott on 15 September 2005, what estimate it has made of the lifespan of the Forth Road Bridge.