Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S1W-06462

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 May 2000
Current Status: Answered by Henry McLeish on 16 May 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive how many extra jobs will be (a) created and (b) sustained if Badenoch and Strathspey is excluded from the assisted area status map and what its estimate is of the impact on the local economy if the area is excluded from the map.

Question reference: S1W-06460

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 May 2000
Current Status: Answered by Henry McLeish on 16 May 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive how many extra jobs will be (a) created and (b) sustained if Nairn is excluded from the assisted area status map and what its estimate is of the impact on the local economy if the area is excluded from the map.

Question reference: S1W-06459

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 May 2000
Current Status: Answered by Henry McLeish on 16 May 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive how many extra jobs will be (a) created and (b) sustained if areas of Inverness are excluded from the assisted area status map and what its estimate is of the impact on the economy if these areas are excluded from the map.

Question reference: S1W-06458

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 May 2000
Current Status: Answered by Henry McLeish on 16 May 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive on what grounds Badenoch and Strathspey is being excluded from the assisted area status map and what specific representations it will be making to The Scotland Office on this matter.

Question reference: S1W-06457

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 May 2000
Current Status: Answered by Henry McLeish on 16 May 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive on what grounds Moray is being excluded from the assisted area status map and what specific representations it will be making to The Scotland Office on this matter.

Question reference: S1W-06456

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 May 2000
Current Status: Answered by Henry McLeish on 16 May 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive on what grounds Nairn is being excluded from the assisted area status map and what specific representations it will be making to The Scotland Office on this matter.

Question reference: S1W-06455

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 May 2000
Current Status: Answered by Henry McLeish on 16 May 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive on what grounds most of Inverness is being excluded from the assisted area status map and what specific representations it will be making to The Scotland Office on this matter.

I will refer, in answering this question, to the fact that it has also been raised in relation to the areas of Nairn (S1W-6456), Moray (S1W-6457) and Badenoch and Strathspey (S1W-6458) which, along with Inverness, are contained within the Inverness NUTS 3 area.

The Assisted Area map is a reserved matter.

The July 1999 Assisted Areas map proposals put forward the Highlands and Islands NUTS 2 area as a whole, for inclusion on the basis of its population sparsity. However, I understand that the European Commission would not accept this, on the basis the Inverness NUTS 3 area does not on its own meet the sparsity criterion.

Question reference: S1W-06454

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 May 2000
Current Status: Answered by Henry McLeish on 16 May 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it will be making to The Scotland Office on the proposed assisted area status map and whether it will place a copy, and any response, in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.

The Scottish Executive maintains regular contact with The Scotland Office on a range of matters affecting the development of the Scottish economy, including the proposals for a new Assisted Areas map. A number of representations were made to The Scotland Office during the consultation period following the 10 April announcement of revised map proposals. Copies of such representations are available on a public file held by The Scotland Office. The Secretary of State will place a copy of the public file in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre for members' convenience. I shall in addition place there, a copy of another public file, including copies of representations received during this period by the Scottish Executive.

Question reference: S1W-05993

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 April 2000
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 12 May 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will amend the law in relation to ownership of landed estates in Scotland so that any non-resident owner, including all limited companies, may be required to appoint a mandatory, local agent to be legally responsible for performing the obligations of the owner.

We agree the importance of accessible local representation, but we see considerable difficulties with such a proposal for legislation. There would appear to be difficulties of regulation to ensure compliance by non-resident owners, and also of defining the legal responsibilities of such local agents.

Instead, the issue of local representation will be addressed, amongst other matters, in the Executive's development of a Code of Good Practice on Rural Landownership, which we plan to launch later this year.

Question reference: S1W-05711

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 March 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 12 May 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what estimate it has made of any impact which the aggregates tax will have upon employment in Scotland over each of the next three years.

The aggregates tax is unlikely to have any impact over the next two years, as it will not be introduced until April 2002. Thereafter, there may be small reductions in employment in the extraction of primary aggregates, but there could also be increases in employment in the recycling of aggregates. However, the short- term elasticity of demand for these products is low, so it would be surprising if there were major impacts.

In addition, there are likely to be increases in employment stimulated by the sustainability fund, and the reductions in employers' National Insurance contributions.