- 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 18 February 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with local authorities on limiting damage and nuisance caused by seagulls.
Answer
The last meeting with local authority representatives to discuss this subject took place in September 2000. Policy in relation to problems caused by gulls is clear and well-established.Where a threat to public health or public safety exists, local authorities already have discretionary powers (under general licence SEGEN/10) to control herring gulls and greater and lesser black-backed gulls. In addition, action can be taken by local authorities to limit the availability of food in urban areas and to reduce the attractiveness of potential nesting and roosting sites.
- 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 Peter Peacock on 18 February 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated costs will be to local authorities in 2002-03 of the increased rates of employers' National Insurance Contributions.
Answer
We do not make separate estimates for the wide range of individual factors that might impact on local authority expenditure levels. The actual costs of National Insurance Contributions by local authority employers will depend, in part, on local policy choices about staffing levels, etc.
- 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.
- 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 Lewis Macdonald on 18 February 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to introduce a pilot scheme, similar to the one in England, whereby speed cameras are painted yellow to make them more visible to motorists thereby encouraging them to reduce their speed.
Answer
The Scottish Executive agrees with the proposals to make speed cameras more conspicuous. Discussions are taking place with the police and other interested parties to determine how best this should be done.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 01 February 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 15 February 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will detail the plans to tackle trespass and vandalism on railways as announced in the strategic plan of the Strategic Rail Authority.
Answer
Railway safety is a reserved matter. This includes issues surrounding trespass and vandalism. It is for the Health and Safety Executive, in conjunction with the Strategic Rail Authority, to set out plans to tackle trespass and vandalism.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 01 February 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 15 February 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive when the new train crew depot at Dumfries as announced in the strategic plan of the Strategic Rail Authority is due for completion.
Answer
This is an operational matter for ScotRail. I understand, however, that this depot began operation in August 2001, and is expected to become fully operational in the course of this year.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 01 February 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 15 February 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will describe the improved operational flexibility for trains at Dumfries and Dunblane as announced in the strategic plan of the Strategic Rail Authority.
Answer
These are operational matters for the rail industry. I understand, however, that the improvements to operational flexibility for trains at both Dumfries and Dunblane are intended to reduce train turn-around times.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 01 February 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 15 February 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is a start date for the Edinburgh Airport rail link as announced in the strategic plan of the Strategic Rail Authority and how the link will be funded.
Answer
I refer the member to the answers given to questions S1W-22082 and S1W-22083 on 4 February 2002.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 01 February 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 15 February 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps have been taken to ensure that all students emerging from college and university are familiar with and have the skills with which to feel confident about operating information and communications technologies.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-22310 on 7 February 2002.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 01 February 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 15 February 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it has taken to stimulate the creation of a sustainable life sciences industry.
Answer
Sector-specific support and growth of biotechnology companies indigenous to Scotland and from outwith Scotland is taken forward by Scottish Enterprise and Scottish Development International. The Scottish Enterprise Biotechnology Cluster team has implemented a £40 million biotechnology cluster action plan,
Framework for Action,
which was launched on 9 November 1999. Between 1999 and 2003 the plan aims to double employment in the sector, the number of biotechnology companies, and the number of support and supply companies. The action plan can be viewed at
www.biotech-scotland.org.Since March 1999 the number of core biotechnology companies has grown at an average rate of 30% per annum, which compares well with the European average rate of 17% per annum over the same period. At September 2001, there were 428 organisations with 24,406 employees in the Scottish cluster, compared with 257 companies (12,729 jobs) at March 1999.
