- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 April 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 3 May 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will support and promote a pilot scheme for the introduction of road equivalent tariff on one of the ferry routes to the Western Isles.
Answer
We have no plans to support such a scheme.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 April 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by David Steel on 3 May 2002
To ask the Presiding Officer, further to his answers to questions S1W-19876, S1W-19886, S1W-20304 and S1W-21037 on 6 March 2002, whether the process of the evaluation of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body's rights and entitlements has been completed, or when it is anticipated that the process will be completed; against whom any litigation may be raised, and whether any of the parties against whom any litigation may be raised have had sight of any of the documents mentioned in questions S1W-19876, S1W-19886, S1W-20304 and S1W-21037.
Answer
The Convener of the Holyrood Progress Group has confirmed that the process is still under way and is being conducted in a manner consistent with achieving the key objective of the Holyrood construction programme. At this stage and subject to the evaluation of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body's rights and entitlements, litigation may be raised against the parent company. Parties to the contractual arrangements should be aware of relevant documents.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 April 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by David Steel on 3 May 2002
To ask the Presiding Officer, further to his answer to question S1W-20304 on 6 March 2002, what trading was being carried out by the parent company of Flour City Architectural Metals (UK) Limited as at 1 March 2002; with whom the parent company was trading; from what source the information about the trading position of the parent company was obtained, and whether any documents relating to the conclusion that the parent company was still trading as at 1 March 2002 will be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.
Answer
As at 1 March 2002, the shares of Flour City International were listed for trading on the National Association of Security Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDQ.) The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body has no further information about the scale and nature of the company's trading at that time.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 25 April 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by David Steel on 3 May 2002
To ask the Presiding Officer, in light of the passage of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Bill, whether the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body will now disclose information which was classified as confidential in answers to previous written parliamentary questions on the Holyrood Project, detailing the reasons for its position on this matter.
Answer
The Parliament's position on the disclosure of commercially confidential information has not changed, and is set out in my answer of 19 September 2000 to question S1W-9469. When the provisions of the Freedom of Information Bill come into force, claiming commercially confidential material will require to be judged in the context of the act's provisions on a case by case basis.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 April 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Simpson on 29 April 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to ensure the provision of specialist drug misuse services within the Lochaber area.
Answer
The Executive has allocated additional resources of over £380,000 for treatment and £831,000 for the rehabilitation of drug misusers in the Highland area for the period 2001-02 to 2003-04. Responsibility for how these and existing resources are spent rests with the local Drug and Alcohol Strategy Group and its constituent agencies, taking into account local circumstances and needs.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 April 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 29 April 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will detail each venture written off as a "failed joint venture" as referred to in the director's report on the Scottish Agriculture College (SAC), setting out the reason why each failed and the amount of money that was written off as a result.
Answer
The director's report to the Scottish Agricultural Group Accounts, for the year to 31 March 2001, refers to joint ventures that were entered into by SAC Commercial Ltd - the commercial arm of the SAC group. This company is not grant aided by the Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department. In the circumstances, the member might wish to approach the SAC for the information he is seeking.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 April 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 29 April 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish a detailed breakdown of the estimated #20 million cost of a new campus for the Scottish Agricultural College in Paisley and a move to Aberdeen; whether it is satisfied that these costings are accurate; whether the costings have been submitted for analysis or assessment and, if so, to whom.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-24835.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 April 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 29 April 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the Ministerial Statement by the Minister for Environment and Rural Development to the Parliament on 21 March 2002, Official Report, col. 10615, whether the proposals for the Scottish Agricultural College, Auchincruive will be submitted in any form for independent assessment or audit and, if so, who will carry out this assessment or audit; with which "major stakeholders" the college will consult and whether it will ensure that this includes representatives from the college students, the local National Farmers Union Scotland and the campaign to retain the college; what it meant by the "range of options that are open to the SAC", and whether it will specify these options.
Answer
The member is probably aware that the Scottish Agricultural College (SAC) has agreed to conduct a review of its future functions and objectives, in consultation with its key stakeholders. I would expect representatives of the groups to which the member refers to be invited to participate in the consultation process.Following this piece of work, the SAC will examine options - for all of its three campuses - about how it might restructure itself to be able to meet these objectives, prior to putting their conclusions to ministers for consideration. In advance of this work being taken forward, it is not possible to say at this stage what options will emerge for consideration or to comment on any individual one. The SAC will be using external consultants to help it with these major initiatives. The consultants will bring an independent line of thought to bear.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 04 March 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 8 April 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any (a) powers and (b) plans to give financial relief to fish farms in respect of rents charged by the Crown Estates Commissioners and what information it has received on any such charges collected in other countries for the purposes of assessing their impact on the fish farming industry in Scotland.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has no powers and, therefore, no plans to give financial relief to fish farms, in respect of rents charged by the Crown Estates.The fish farming industry has described the effect that the rents have on their competitiveness, in comparison with other salmon-producing countries. However, this is a matter for the Crown Estate and the industry to take account of, in their rent reviews. In the course of the development of our aquaculture strategy, we are considering the future competitiveness of the industry.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 07 March 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 3 April 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make representations to the Boundary Commission for Scotland that, if the boundaries of the constituency of Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber are altered, the new constituency name should be "Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey" and not "Inverness and Badenoch".
Answer
This is a reserved matter and as the Scottish Executive does not have a statutory role, it does not intend to make any representations.
