- Asked by: Jamie McGrigor, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 18 December 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how much it cost to produce the Homecoming Scotland 2009 advertisement for television and cinema, broken down by funding source.
Answer
The Homecoming advert cost just over £150,000 to produce. VisitScotland receives European Regional Development Fund funding to support its Homecoming Scotland 2009 marketing activity, and this source was used to cover some of the cost of the advert, with the remainder coming from VisitScotland''s own marketing resources.
- Asked by: Jamie McGrigor, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 17 December 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S3W-17875 and S3W-17871 by Michael Russell on 27 November 2008, whether it will place in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre information supplied by the Crofters Commission on how much it has spent on the Bull Hire Scheme for crofters in each of the last five years.
Answer
Information on the expenditure on the Bull Hire Scheme is supplied by the Crofters Commission in the Annual Reports for that public body. These are laid in the Parliament in compliance with section 2(4) of the Crofters (Scotland) Act 1993, as amended. Copies of the annual reports are available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.
The cash and resource accounting costs of operating the stud farm can be found in the annual accounts section of the Crofters Commission annual reports for 2003-04 (Bib. number 33883), 2004-05 (Bib. number 37580), 2005-06 (Bib. number 40519), 2006-07 (Bib. number 43711) and 2007-08 (Bib. number 46774).
- Asked by: Jamie McGrigor, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 December 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 17 December 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding it has given to Argyll and Bute Council for the provision of the Luing ferry service in each year since 1999, also expressed as a percentage of the overall cost of the service, and what funding it plans to provide in future years.
Answer
The Scottish Government has not provided any specific funding to Argyll and Bute Council for the provision of the Luing ferry service. The service is operated by the council with its own funds. While the Scottish Government has no plans to provide funding in future years, £1.564 million previously awarded from the former public transport fund to upgrade the ferry slips, has been ring-fenced and is now lodged with the Highlands and Islands Transport Partnership, for the purpose of improving links to Luing.
- Asked by: Jamie McGrigor, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 20 November 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 4 December 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how much support has been given to the crofting sector under the Crofting Counties Agricultural Grants Scheme (CCAGS) in each year since 1999 and what level of support it plans to make available under CCAGS in each year until 2011, broken down by crofting county.
Answer
The Crofting Counties Agricultural Grants Scheme (CCAGS) is demand-led and it is not possible to break down future support by crofting county. The Budget (Scotland) Bill Supporting Document for the Year Ending 31 March 2009 (Bib. number 44458) made £3 million available for CCAGS in 2008-09. The Scottish Budget Spending Review 2007 (Bib. number 44076) proposed that £3 million would also be made available for CCAGS in each of the financial years 2009-10 and 2010-11.
The information requested on the actual amounts disbursed through CCAGS in previous years is not held centrally. The Crofting Counties Agricultural Grants Scheme is administered on behalf of Scottish ministers by the Crofters Commission and I have asked the Chief Executive of the Crofters Commission to respond to you directly with the information you have requested.
- Asked by: Jamie McGrigor, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 20 November 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 4 December 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the current system for selection and operation of Crofters Commission area assessors is operating effectively and supported by crofters.
Answer
The Crofters (Scotland) Act 1993 empowers the Crofters Commission to appoint suitable persons resident in the crofting counties as assessors to assist in the local exercise of its functions. The appointment process and functions of the assessors were agreed between the commission and the Scottish Crofting Foundation and the commission considers the process to be operating effectively.
The Scottish Government has welcomed recent steps to reinvigorate the assessors network but believes that further reform is required to make the governance arrangements for crofting more transparent, democratic and accountable. We expect to consult on draft legislation during 2009.
- Asked by: Jamie McGrigor, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 20 November 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 4 December 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with crofting stakeholders on its plans to reform the Crofting Counties Agricultural Grants Scheme (CCAGS) and, in particular, its proposal to give support under CCAGS in future only to registered crofters.
Answer
The Committee of Inquiry on Crofting consulted extensively with crofting stakeholders prior to making its recommendations in respect of the Crofting Counties Agricultural Grants Scheme and other support measures.
The Minister for Environment spoke to many crofters and attended a number of meetings prior to preparing the government''s response to the final report of the committee of Inquiry.
- Asked by: Jamie McGrigor, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 20 November 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 4 December 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many individuals in the agricultural sector who are not registered crofters have received support under the Crofting Counties Agricultural Grants Scheme in each year since 1999, broken down by crofting county.
Answer
The information requested is not held centrally. The Crofting Counties Agricultural Grants Scheme is administered on behalf of Scottish ministers by the Crofters Commission and I have asked the Chief Executive of the Crofters Commission to respond to you directly with the information you have requested.
- Asked by: Jamie McGrigor, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 20 November 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 4 December 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what value it places on the work and role of Crofters Commission area assessors.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-18026 on 4 December 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament website, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.
- Asked by: Jamie McGrigor, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 20 November 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 4 December 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how it will respond to concerns that the role of the Crofters Commission area assessors will be diminished in any crofting legislation reform and what action it will take to prevent any such diminution.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-18026 on 4 December 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament website, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx
- Asked by: Jamie McGrigor, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 20 November 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 4 December 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what its response is to concerns among individuals in the agricultural sector who have crofting interests but are not registered crofters and have received or receive support under the Crofting Counties Agricultural Grants Scheme (CCAGS) that they will be disadvantaged in future if the CCAGS is available only to registered crofters.
Answer
In the light of the Committee of Inquiry on Crofting''s recommendations, the Scottish Government announced on 1 October 2008 that it would take forward proposals to re-orient support under CCAGS towards registered crofters whilst extending the scheme to the whole of the Highlands and Islands Enterprise Area and providing a 10% uplift in support to new entrants to crofting. The aim of the policy is to maintain and increase the amount of land held in crofting tenure, and to assist young people and new entrants into crofting.
Any non-crofter who wishes to continue to benefit from specific crofting support measures may wish to investigate the various avenues available for the conversion of their land to crofting tenure, thereby bringing that land within the scope of crofting regulation.
Other wide-ranging support measures under the Scotland Rural Development Programme are available to those who are not registered crofters.
