- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 February 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 7 March 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive when the Minister for Environment and Rural Development will respond to my letter of 6 December 2001 about jobs at West of Scotland Water in Dumfries.
Answer
I wrote to the member on 23 October 2001 about this issue. There is no record of a subsequent letter of 6 December on this subject from the member.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 February 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 7 March 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how many railway stations have been adapted to fulfil the requirements of access for all.
Answer
The information requested is not held centrally.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 February 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 6 March 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures are proposed to address any overcrowding on the Fife circle railway line.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is committed to making special grant payments to Fife Council totalling £2.384 million spread over financial years 2000-01 to 2003-04 inclusive, in support of additional rail services in Fife. In addition, the Executive are committed to providing extra rolling stock for operation on the Fife commuter lines. The Executive is currently assessing the best option as to how to achieve this. In the longer term, the lengthening of platforms in Fife under the Strategic Rail Authority's Incremental Output Statement programme will facilitate the operation of longer trains. We would also expect the successful bidder for the re-letting of the ScotRail franchise, which expires in March 2004, to come forward with innovative proposals on how it will address overcrowding across the Scottish railway network.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 January 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 6 March 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S10-3907 and S1W-20775 by Mr Jack McConnell and Nicol Stephen on 4 October 2001 and 7 January 2002 respectively, whether local authorities which are not successful in whole or in part in the bidding process for funding to improve school buildings will be able to submit further bids in any future bidding rounds.
Answer
First round bids had to be submitted by 14 December 2001 and there is a deadline of 30 September 2002 for second round bids. Scottish Executive Education Department circular 8/2001 indicated that "there may be some constraint on the extent to which unsuccessful first round bids can be reconsidered in the second round". This remains the position.
- 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 5 March 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what average data speed is achieved in rural and remote areas.
Answer
Telecoms regulation is reserved to the UK Government.However, the minimum data speed currently set by European legislation, and the subject of an obligation on BT, is 2.4 kilobits per second.
- 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 Elaine Murray on 5 March 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken in order to promote awareness of digital television.
Answer
Broadcasting is a reserved matter and this issue is therefore for UK ministers. The UK Government published the Digital Television Action Plan on 21 December 2001, setting out the action being taken to facilitate the take-up of digital television.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 February 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 20 February 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how many of the more than 30-year-old Mark 1 slam-door carriages are still in operation.
Answer
These are operational matters for the rail industry. I understand, however, that no such carriages are used by operators of rail passenger franchises in Scotland.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 February 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 20 February 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the results of the consultation on priorities for the development of the passenger rail network have yet been presented to the Strategic Rail Authority.
Answer
Strategic Priorities for Scotland's Passenger Railway: Response to the Consultation Paper was published in June 2001 and a copy was sent to the Strategic Rail Authority.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 04 February 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 19 February 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what contribution it made to the Moffat Hills Wild Goat Framework Plan.
Answer
The Executive was not involved in the Moffat Hills Wild Goat Framework Plan, which was prepared by Scottish Natural Heritage.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 04 February 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 18 February 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated cost will be to the NHS in 2002-03 of the increased rates of employers' National Insurance Contributions.
Answer
The actual cost of employer's National Insurance Contributions is dependent on the staff mix within each NHS board. The overall costs are not held centrally but will be available from each NHS board.The cost of employer's National Insurance Contributions will be met from NHS board's unified budgets which are to increase by 7.2% on average in 2002-03.
