- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 08 October 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 5 November 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of the Scottish Enterprise budget in the current financial year will be spent on a recovery programme following the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak.
Answer
Scottish Enterprise plans to spend up to £9.5 million during 2001-02 in support of recovery programmes designed to combat the impact of foot-and-mouth disease. This represents 2.4% of Scottish Enterprise's current grant-in-aid allocation of £395 million.As its area of operations was worst affected by the outbreak, Scottish Enterprise Dumfries and Galloway will receive £5.5 million of Scottish Enterprise's planned spend on this subject. This represents an increase of 65% in the Local Enterprise Company's original budget of £9 million.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 October 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Alasdair Morrison on 1 November 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what support it plans to provide to British Nuclear Fuels plc and its workforce at Chapelcross Nuclear Power Station in the preparation of proposals for a next generation nuclear power station on the Chapelcross site.
Answer
We understand that British Nuclear Fuels plc expect that Chapelcross Power Station will remain operational until around 2010. Any proposal for a replacement nuclear power station at the site would rest entirely with the company. If such a proposal was forthcoming, application for consent for any new station would be considered by Scottish ministers under devolved powers under the Electricity Act 1989.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 October 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 1 November 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance it will issue to the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Councils following the publication of the report of the South of Scotland University Steering Group Higher Education in the South of Scotland.
Answer
I intend to include guidance on stimulating uptake of higher education and continuing professional development in the rural south in my letters of guidance to the Funding Councils for 2002-03. I have already asked the Chief Executive of the Funding Councils to establish a group bringing together representatives of relevant higher and further education institutes, local authorities and local enterprise bodies, as recommended in the steering group's report.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 20 September 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 23 October 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) sheep, (b) cattle, (c) pigs and (d) other animals in (i) Scotland, (ii) Dumfries and Galloway and (iii) Scottish Borders have been slaughtered under the Livestock Welfare (Disposal) Scheme since the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.
Answer
The Intervention Board Executive Agency operates the Livestock Welfare (Disposal) Scheme on behalf of all UK Agriculture Ministers. The Intervention Board advise me that (a) 40,808 sheep, (b) 10,558 cattle, (c) 45,972 pigs and (d) nine other animals have been slaughtered and compensation has been paid in Scotland. In Dumfries and Galloway, (a) 4,113 sheep, (b) 1,585 cattle and (c) 29 pigs have been slaughtered and compensation paid. In the Borders, (a) 3,539 sheep, (b) 609 cattle and (c) 544 pigs have been slaughtered and compensation paid.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 20 September 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 23 October 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive how many of the (a) sheep, (b) cattle, (c) pigs and (d) other animals slaughtered in Scotland under the Livestock Welfare (Disposal) Scheme since the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease were on farms (i) subject and (ii) not subject to Form A or D notices.
Answer
The Livestock Welfare (Disposal) Scheme is run, on behalf of UK Agriculture Ministers, by the Intervention Board Executive Agency. The Intervention Board advise me that they carry out checks on the disease status of holdings at several stages of applications to the scheme but do not keep statistics on farm status, which can change between application and collection.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 September 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 11 October 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance it issues to local authorities on the production of schools option appraisals and whether the Appendices to the Schools Option Appraisal by Dumfries and Galloway Council complies with any such guidance or is in a format appropriate for public consultation on school closures.
Answer
Advice on option appraisal for potential Public/Private Partnership projects is contained in the HM Treasury publication
Appraisal and Evaluation in Central Government. I understand that Dumfries and Galloway Council has taken that advice into account in preparing an outline business case in connection with its proposals for the refurbishment of its school stock.
Separate procedures apply under the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 in relation to public consultation for a specific proposal to close a school. Such consultation would be required only after an authority had reached a view that it wished to pursue the possible closure of a particular school.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 September 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 9 October 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what the Minister for Environment and Rural Development learned about the provision of services to remote and rural communities during his visit to Canada in July.
Answer
My visit to Canada was designed to enable me to hear about and see many of the rural development activities under way in Canada, and in particular activities related to the delivery of services in rural areas. The visit was a very useful one, and I brought back many lessons and ideas about the delivery of services in rural communities. The Executive will be drawing on these as we take forward our commitment to ensuring that quality of services should depend on what you need, not where you are.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 September 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 9 October 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1O-3704 by Mr Jack McConnell on 6 September 2001, when it expects CoSLA to complete its consultation on a code for rural school closures.
Answer
CoSLA has been giving consideration to preparing a code of practice on school closures in response to a recommendation by the Parliament's Education, Culture and Sport Committee. This has been a matter for CoSLA, and the Executive has not been engaged with them on it.
I now understand that CoSLA has reached the view that the issues they were considering cannot be satisfactorily addressed through the provision of a code and has decided to abandon its work on the code of practice on school closures.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 August 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 8 October 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive when the Minister for Environment and Rural Development will respond to my letter of 13 June 2001 regarding the slaughter of feral goats near Moffat.
Answer
With apologies for the delay, I replied on 1 October 2001.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 September 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 25 September 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what its strategy is for the development of the retail sector.
Answer
The Executive recognises the importance the retail sector makes to the economy. We are committed to maintaining an efficient, competitive and innovative retail sector within a planning framework that supports the vitality and viability of town centres. This is reflected in our National Planning Policy Guidelines 8 -Town Centres and Retailing.
