- Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 18 November 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 2 December 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what consultation has taken place with Strathclyde Passenger Transport Authority and Strathclyde Passenger Transport Executive in respect of the Scotland Act 1998 (Modifications of Schedule 5) Order 2004 concerning the ability of the Scottish ministers to transfer the powers of those bodies relating to the provision and regulation of railways to the Scottish ministers.
Answer
The proposal to transfer the rail powers of the Strathclyde Passenger TransportAuthority and Executive (SPTA/E) was set out in the Scottish Executive’stransport White Paper, Scotland’s Transport Future, (Bib. number 33072)published in June 2004. There was discussion between the Scottish Executive andSPTA/E both before and after the publication of the White Paper.
- Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 18 November 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 2 December 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive why no regulatory impact assessment was prepared in respect of the draft Scotland Act 1998 (Modifications of Schedule 5) Order 2004.
Answer
The decision on a Regulatory Impact Assessment is in accordance with the guidance
Better Policy Making: A Guide to Regulatory Impact Assessment issued by the Cabinet Office.
The draft order varies the competence of the Scottish Parliament. It does not in itself have a direct or indirect impact (whether benefit or cost) on business, charities or the voluntary sector. It would not therefore have any regulatory impact. The approach is normal for constitutional measures.
- Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 18 November 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 2 December 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has sought legal advice concerning any possibility that the implementation of the provisions of the Scotland Act 1998 (Modifications of Schedule 5) Order 2004 may be premature while amendments to legislation arising from the UK White Paper, The Future of Rail, are still being considered and, if so, what the substance of that advice is.
Answer
The Railways Bill introduced and published on 25 November 2004 proposes to repeal some sections of the Transport Act 1968 and Railways Act 1968 which relate to Passenger Transport Executives and Authorities across Great Britain. These do not form the whole of the rail powers of Strathclyde Passenger Transport Executive and Authority and the Scotland Act 1998 (Modifications of Schedule 5) Order 2004, once made, will still enable the Scottish Parliament to legislate to transfer relevant rail powers.
- Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 18 November 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 2 December 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether Scottish ministers have the necessary powers to take on rights and responsibilities connected with the signing of the Scottish Passenger Rail Franchise.
Answer
The Scottish ministers do not currently have the statutory powers to take on all the rights and responsibilities connected with signing the Scottish Passenger Rail Franchise. The Scottish ministers have powers to give the Strategic Rail Authority binding directions and guidance and to fund the franchise.
The Railways Bill introduced in the UK Parliament on the 25 November 2004 will, once enacted, confer on Scottish ministers amongst other matters, the powers and functions connected with the tasks of planning, specifying, letting (including signing), managing and financing rail passenger franchises in Scotland.
- Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 26 November 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 29 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive when it plans to publish its plans for promoting efficiency in Scotland’s public sector.
Answer
Today the Scottish Executive published
Building a Better Scotland: Efficient Government – Securing Efficiency Effectiveness and Productivity. This plan describes how the Executive will increase the efficiency, effectiveness and productivity of the Scottish public sector, save at least £745 million a year by 2007-08, and achieve aggregate cumulative cash-releasing savings over the next three years of £1,732 million, and work towards its initial target of £1 billion a year by 2009-10. The plan also contains proposals for further “time-releasing” efficiency savings, including five initial areas of reform which aim to produce the equivalent of £300 million annual savings by 2007-08.
Copies have been placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 34543).
- Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 November 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by John Scott on 19 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what fair trade products are available at Holyrood and what the origin is of those products.
Answer
The fair trade products listed below are currently used by our contract caterers throughout the Parliament complex.
| Product | Point of Origin |
| Coffee | Mexico and Peru |
| Tea | East Africa |
| Orange Juice (used for Hospitality) | Cuba |
Fair Trade chocolate was offered for a short period following the move to Holyrood but proved to be largely unsuccessful.
The SPCB is committed to increasing the availability of fair trade products, where possible, and our contract caterers have given a commitment to work with the SPCB to encourage customer uptake of fairly traded produce. In addition, our Procurement department are developing a Responsible Purchasing initiative which will ensure fair trade issues are embedded in the way we procure goods and manage contracts.
- Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 08 October 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 8 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-10174 by Nicol Stephen on 27 September 2004, what information it has on what proportion of Network Rail’s spending will go towards the rail network in Scotland.
Answer
The cost of operating, maintaining and renewing the railway infrastructure is an operational matter for Network Rail.
The Office of the Rail Regulator determines Network Rail’s expenditure on a GB basis. Network Rail’s Business Plan contains information on planned expenditure across each of the 26 Network Rail strategic routes which make up the GB rail network.
The information requested is not held by the Executive, but significant work will be carried out on this issue in the context of the rail review proposals to devolve further rail powers in Scotland.
- Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 08 October 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 8 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-1153 by Ross Finnie on 4 August 2003, what the results were of Scottish Water’s comprehensive evaluation of the impact and scale of leakage on the water network, broken down by area.
Answer
I have asked Jon Hargreaves, Chief Executive of Scottish Water, to reply. His response is as follows:
Improving leakage rates on the public water network is a long-term objective of Scottish Water and our evaluation of leakage on the network continues to be ongoing. A large part of Scottish Water’s focus to date has been to establish District Metered Areas (DMAs) and during the current investment period (2002-06) DMAs are being set up on 60% of the water network. These DMAs support the development of area-specific leakage strategies, which can involve identifyingand fixing leaks as well as installing pressure management systems to reduce theamount of water lost.
The establishment of DMAs is being prioritised in areas where leakage is highas well as areas known to have a supply-demand deficit. Areas where we are establishing DMAs include Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Ayrshire, Argyll and Bute, Dumfries and Galloway, Inverness, Fife, Dundee, and Edinburgh. New corporate systems are being developed in parallel that will allow cost and leakage performance data to be captured and analysed. For each area this analysis of level of leakage and operational costs enables the determination of the economic level of leakage which will in future be used to prioritise investment in leakage reduction.
- Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 08 October 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 8 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has commissioned an independent legal opinion on whether it is necessary, in light of the European Court of Justice Altmark ruling, to tender the lifeline ferry services run by Caledonian MacBrayne.
Answer
The Executive has significant legal advice at its disposal. On the basis of that advice, and following consideration of the opinion of the European Commission, it is clear that there continues to be a requirement on the Executive to tender these services.
- Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 08 October 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 8 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what level of track access charges the ScotRail franchise will be required to pay in (a) 2004-05, (b) 2005-06, (c) 2006-07, (d) 2007-08 and (e) 2008-09.
Answer
The level of fixed track access charges for the ScotRail franchise is set out in the table below.
| 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 |
| £60,6m | £60,600,000 | £125,100,000 | £123,800,000 | £134,700,000 |
The information is provided from Annex E of the Office of the Rail Regulator’s Access Charge Review 2003: Regulator’s approval of Network’s Rail proposed financing arrangements.
