- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 06 August 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 24 September 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether local authorities require authorisation from it to lease out heritable property for a period of 99 years to any organisation for either a nominal or a full rent and, if so, what rules and conditions apply in relation to such authorisations.
Answer
Local authorities only require ministers consent under section 12(7) of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987 if they wish to dispose of housing or housing land from their Housing Revenue Account at a full rent. For the criteria and disposals at less than best price I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-7981 on 28 June 2000.
- 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 18 September 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive when the Minister for Environment and Rural Development will respond to my letter of 11 May 2001 regarding Mr Halliday of Caplefoot, Tundergarth.
Answer
I am sorry that I have not been able to reply to your letter of 11 May, but will do so as soon as the results of enquiries which are under way are known.
- 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 18 September 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive when the Minister for Environment and Rural Development will respond to my letter of 31 May 2001 regarding Mr Rennie of Stockholm Farm, Beattock.
Answer
I am sorry about the delay in replying to your letter, the subject matter of which is being investigated at present.I will write to you as soon as I can.
- 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 18 September 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive when the Minister for Environment and Rural Development will respond to my letter of 15 June 2001 regarding Mr & Mrs Hutchison of Moffat.
Answer
I replied to the member on 25 August and am sorry I was unable to do so sooner.
- 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 18 September 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive when the Minister for Environment and Rural Development will respond to my letter of 23 May 2001 regarding Mr Sloan of Woodend Farm, Johnstonebridge.
Answer
I am sorry that I have not yet been able to reply to your letter of 23 May before now. I hope to be in a position to write to you soon.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 August 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 6 September 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has received from the Highways Agency about a start date for construction of the M6 Carlisle to Guardsmill extension.
Answer
The Highways Agency have provided the Scottish Executive with an outline programme. Subject to the continuing availability of funding and successful completion of statutory procedures, they expect construction to start in 2004-05.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 06 August 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 3 September 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what authorisation local authorities require from it in order to transfer a heritable asset to a not for profit organisation for no or a nominal consideration and what rules and conditions apply in relation to such transfers.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-7981 on 31 July 2000.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 06 August 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 3 September 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects the South of Scotland University Working Group to report and whether its report will be made public.
Answer
The working group completed its consideration in May of this year. I expect to receive the report of the group's conclusions and recommendations shortly and will place a copy before the Parliament thereafter.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 July 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Angus MacKay on 30 August 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what the total number of forms is that can be issued by it, or any of the agencies or non-departmental public bodies for which it is responsible, for completion by an external party.
Answer
The information requested on the number of forms issued by the Executive, agencies and non-departmental public bodies is not held centrally. However, the Executive is committed to reducing the burden placed on providers of information. The following are examples of some of the action being taken:
- a bureaucracy audit to reduce the administrative burdens on teachers, schools and authorities;
- development of proposals to allow the electronic submission of legal aid forms by solicitors to the Scottish Legal Aid Board;
- a number of initiatives aimed specifically at reducing bureaucracy for Scottish farmers and crofters.
More generally, as part of the Modernising Government agenda, the Executive is committed to improving public services. One aspect of this is improving the ease with which information is provided; activity in this respect should have a very positive impact on the current number of forms issued by the Executive and public bodies.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 06 August 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Alasdair Morrison on 29 August 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what impact the funding allocated to VisitScotland prior to 2 August 2001 in connection with the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak has had to date on (a) the number of tourists visiting and (b) the level of tourist spending in (i) Dumfries and Galloway and (ii) Scotland, compared in particular with the number of visitors and level of spending anticipated had this funding not been made available.
Answer
The Executive is working with VisitScotland to monitor the effectiveness of the actions put in place to assist the tourism industry to recover from the effects of foot-and-mouth disease. It is not, however, possible at this time to make the assessment requested and Mr Mundell will appreciate that tourist demand is affected by a number of factors. Much of the funding provided prior to 2 August was also used to alleviate immediate hardship.
