- Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 19 December 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 21 January 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-10664 by Michael Russell on 25 February 2008, whether the Minister for Environment was aware of the £30,000 donated to the SNP by Mr Donald Macdonald of Aviemore Highland Resort prior to phoning the chief executive of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency to check that there were no matters of process unnecessarily holding up consideration of Aviemore Highland Resort’s planning applications.
Answer
As with all donations above £5,000, the donation was registered with the Electoral Commission and had been a matter of public record since 21 August 2007.
- Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 19 December 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 21 January 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-9059 by Michael Russell on 25 February 2008, whether the exhibition of phase two of the Aviemore Highland Resort's development arranged by Mr Donald Macdonald for the First Minister during the SNP conference in Aviemore on 26 October 2008 was held at or immediately adjacent to the meeting that took place at the SNP Conference involving Aviemore Resort Hotels, the Minister for Community Safety, who chaired the meeting, the Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism, the Cairngorms National Park Authority Convener, Highland Council Convener and Highlands and Islands Enterprise, at which Aviemore Highland Resort’s planning application was discussed.
Answer
This information is not held by the Scottish Government.
- Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 19 December 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 21 January 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-9066 by Michael Russell on 25 February 2008, whether the advice received from officials included an explanation as to why Scottish Environment Protection Agency had withdrawn its objection to the Aviemore Highland Resort’s master plan planning application three days previously despite the absence of a satisfactory flood risk assessment.
Answer
I am satisfied that the advice I received from officials covered all relevant issues.
- Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 19 December 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 21 January 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-9066 by Michael Russell on 25 February 2008, whether the Minister for Environment had knowledge of Aviemore Highland Resort’s objection to Laurel Grant Ltd’s rival retail planning application on 7 December 2007 when he decided to contact the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) to check that there were no misunderstandings or matters of process for SEPA that were unnecessarily holding up proper consideration of the Aviemore planning applications.
Answer
No.
- Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 15 December 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 21 January 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what its estimate is of the savings to Scottish Water between 1 December 2008 and 31 December 2009 as a result of the reduction in VAT announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 24 November 2008 and whether any savings will be spent on infrastructure projects.
Answer
Water charges are zero rated for VAT purposes. There will therefore be no savings to Scottish Water as a result of the Chancellor''s announcement on 24 November 2008.
A link to the relevant part of HM Revenue & Customs website is attached here for information.
http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageLibrary_PublicNoticesAndInfoSheets&propertyType=document&columns=1&id=HMCE_CL_000132#P110_7568.
- Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 15 December 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 21 January 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what its estimate is of the reduction in the costs of transport projects in 2008-09 and 2009-10 stemming from the reduction in VAT announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 24 November 2008 and whether the savings will be spent on transport projects.
Answer
Transport Scotland officials are currently working on quantifying the possible savings and I will write to the member in due course.
- Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Saturday, 05 January 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 19 January 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism, with or without officials, met Mr Donald Macdonald of Aviemore Highland Resort or representatives of Macdonald Hotels at any time between his appointment as a minister and his meeting with representatives of Macdonald Hotels, the Cairngorms National Park Authority, Highland Council and the Minister for Community Safety in Aviemore on 26 October 2007 and, if so, on what dates.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-19043 on 25 February 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.
- Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Saturday, 05 January 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 19 January 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism was aware of the £30,000 donated to the SNP by Mr Donald Macdonald of Aviemore Highland Resort when meeting representatives of Macdonald Hotels, the Cairngorms National Park Authority, Highland Council and the Minister for Community Safety in Aviemore on 26 October 2007.
Answer
As with all donations above £5,000, the donation was registered with the Electoral Commission and had been a matter of public record since 21 August 2007.
- Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 15 December 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 15 January 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive how much it estimates that the reduction in VAT announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 24 November 2008 will save NHS Scotland between 1 December 2008 and 31 December 2009, also broken down by NHS board.
Answer
There are a number of changes to the VAT rules that impact on NHS Scotland beyond the temporary savings resulting from the reduction to the standard rate of VAT. It is not possible to provide an accurate estimate of the overall impact resulting from these changes. For example, changes to the rules in respect of some services procured by NHS bodies will lead to permanent increases in VAT payments on an annual basis. The Scottish Government is contacting HM Treasury to press for recompense resulting from the loss of funding relating to this change. At this stage, it is not possible to determine the response of HM Treasury and therefore we cannot accurately estimate the total level of VAT payments of NHS Scotland.
- Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 15 December 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 15 January 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive how much it estimates that the reduction in VAT announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 24 November 2008 will save local authorities between 1 December 2008 and 31 December 2009 and whether that amount was taken into account in the announcement on the local government settlement made by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth on 10 December 2008.
Answer
The Scottish Government has made no estimation of the savings to local authorities as a result of the reduction in VAT nor did we take the reduction of VAT into account in the calculation of the 2009-10 local government finance settlement. Section 33 of the Value Added Tax Act 1994 provides all local authorities with the power to recover VAT incurred from supplies of goods and services received so any savings to Scotland''s local authorities would be at the margins.
