- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 March 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 20 March 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive in which areas broadband services provided by Omne Communications Ltd will be available from 25 February 2002.
Answer
Omne Communications Ltd. offer broadband services in Irvine and Troon.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 March 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 19 March 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive when the Minister for Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning will publish her transport strategy.
Answer
The Minister for Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning will publish the Transport Delivery Report shortly.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 March 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 19 March 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the proposed west Edinburgh tram system will be funded by a Private Finance Initiative.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is working with City of Edinburgh Council to examine all options for how best to finance this project.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 March 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 19 March 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to contribute additional funding for the west Edinburgh tram system beyond the #5 million it is considering contributing for preparatory work.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is working with City of Edinburgh Council, to examine all options for how best to finance this project beyond our initial commitment, in principle, to fund further appraisal work and work to obtain Parliamentary powers for the project.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 March 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 19 March 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the proposed West Edinburgh tram system will be complementary to the West Edinburgh Busways scheme.
Answer
The Scottish Executive expects City of Edinburgh Council to ensure that the two projects complement each other.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 15 February 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 15 March 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps have been taken in order to meet the aims and objectives outlined in The Nature of Scotland - A Policy Statement.
Answer
The Executive has been developing the detail of the policy contained in The Nature of Scotland with the assistance of the Expert Working Group on Site of Special Scientific Interest Reform and the Partnership for Action Against Wildlife Crime. We will publish a draft nature conservation bill, based on the proposals contained in The Nature of Scotland as soon as possible.Some of the policies contained in The Nature of Scotland, which do not require new legislation, are already being implemented. Scottish Natural Heritage has, for example, launched its Natural Care programme which aims to bring an additional 25% of the Site of Special Scientific Interest series into assured management by 2007-08.The Executive has also recently announced a number of new measures to combat wildlife crime including action against illegal trade in wildlife and poisoning of wildlife.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 14 February 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Iain Gray on 14 March 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to measure performance in achieving digital inclusion targets by utilising benchmarking and monitoring techniques currently being developed within the European Union.
Answer
The Executive already monitors internet access and usage through the Scottish Household Survey and surveys conducted by the Office for National Statistics.Eurostat, the European Union's statistical information service, is currently developing recommendations on household and individual take-up and usage on the internet. These are expected to be very similar to data collected by the Scottish Household Survey and, therefore, should allow benchmarking with Europe once the recommendations have been put into practice.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 14 February 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 12 March 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what emphasis it places on the perspective of the consumer when formulating and developing policies and strategies for the knowledge economy.
Answer
Delivery of customer focused services which are built around the needs and views of Scotland's citizens is at the heart of the Executive's agenda. A key message from the Scottish Executive Report on the Cross-cutting Issue of the Knowledge Economy is that the knowledge economy affects everyone, not just those in high-tech companies.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 14 February 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 8 March 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive which (a) rural and (b) semi-rural areas currently have no access to cable services.
Answer
The following table shows which areas in Scotland have access to cable services:% Households with Cable access by Region
| Region | % households with access to cable |
| Grampian | 0 |
| Tayside | 30 |
| Dumfries & Galloway | 0 |
| Lothian | 44 |
| Central | 9 |
| Strathclyde | 34 |
| Islands area | 0 |
| Highlands | 0 |
| Fife | 13 |
| Borders | 0 |
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 February 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 8 March 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the #7 billion which the Strategic Rail Authority has estimated will be needed to purchase new trains from the private sector will be required for the Scottish network.
Answer
This figure is the Strategic Rail Authority's best estimate of the commitments needed to deliver the short and medium term priorities for growth and improvement set out in The Strategic Plan. The proportion of that figure that will be required for the Scottish network depends both on the contents of our directions and guidance for the Scottish passenger rail franchise and on the subsequent commercial negotiations that the SRA will conduct on the Executive's behalf.
