- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Friday, 31 March 2006
-
Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 1 June 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what level of reserves are held by Scottish Enterprise; where they are held, and what the process is for enabling Scottish Enterprise to access these funds.
Answer
Details of Scottish Enterprise’s2004-05 reserves are published in their annual accounts (Scottish ParliamentInformation Centre Bib. number 37329). The level of their 2005-06 reserves willbe reported in this year’s annual accounts.
Scottish Enterprise can accessreserves at any time, although not all are immediately accessible. In doing so,Scottish Enterprise is required to remain within its total resource budget.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Friday, 12 May 2006
-
Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 25 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what mechanisms are in place to ensure maximum take-up of the small business rate relief scheme.
Answer
The Scottish Executive publishesa targeted annual leaflet about the scheme for ratepayers, which is distributedthrough local authorities. This information is also available electronically throughthe local taxation pages of the Scottish Executive website.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Friday, 12 May 2006
-
Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 25 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to monitor the take-up of the small business rate relief scheme.
Answer
The Small Business Rates ReliefScheme has been regularly monitored since the introduction of the scheme on 1 April 2003. Councilsare required annually to return information on the scheme to the Executive givingdetails including all gross rates relief granted by valuation banding. The schemewas also independently evaluated for the Executive in 2004 by DTZ Pieda Consultingand the report published (available at
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2004/12/20357/47854).
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Friday, 12 May 2006
-
Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 25 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what the latest estimates are of the (a) number of businesses eligible for and (b) percentage of eligible businesses claiming relief from the small business rate relief scheme and (i) how and (ii) when these estimates were prepared.
Answer
At April 2005, figures providedby the Scottish Assessors show that there were 137,934 non-domestic subjects onthe valuation rolls for Scotland eligible to claim Small Business Rate Relief. At 30 September2005, figures provided by councils to the Scottish Executive on the number of eligiblesubjects claiming relief (excluding Angus and South Ayrshire Councils who have stillto provide final figures) show that 119,639 subjects were claiming relief. ExcludingAngus and South Ayrshire from the total number of subjects, the resulting percentageis 91 per cent.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 May 2006
-
Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 25 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will meet Western Ferries to discuss the reasons for its withdrawal from the tendering process for the Clyde and Hebrides ferry services.
Answer
We would be interested to learnof Western Ferries’ specific reasons for their decision.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 May 2006
-
Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 25 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it maintains the position that the Clyde and Hebrides ferry services should be tendered for as a bundle and whether it is committed to ensuring that they remain as a bundle.
Answer
Yes.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 May 2006
-
Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 25 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to match the UK Government¿s proposals to entrench statistical independence in legislation, introduce direct reporting and accountability to the Parliament, adhere to a statutory code of practice and ensure that funding and appointments to any governing board are not subject to ministerial control.
Answer
As discussed in the Members Debateon 11 May, ministers have a strong commitment to the integrity of official statistics,are fully supportive of independent scrutiny against a clear set of standards andwelcome interest from the Parliament in strengthening accountability. However, wedo not consider that establishing independent production of statistics in Scotland is anecessary or beneficial step to take to deliver what is required here. We note thewide range of statistics, like crime and education, that are produced by statisticiansin Scotland and which will remain within government in WhitehallDepartments.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 08 May 2006
-
Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 19 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost was to it of the tender process for the Northern Isles ferry services contract.
Answer
The costs incurred by the ScottishExecutive in carrying out the current Northern Isles ferry tendering process includethe staff costs for the core work being carried out by a team based in the TransportGroup of the Scottish Executive Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning Department,the travel and subsistence costs incurred on the tendering exercise, the printingand web upload costs associated with the consultation exercise undertaken in preparationfor the tendering, the costs of external advisors appointed to assist in the processand the advertising costs incurred when the tendering process was launched. Thesecategories combined amounted to an estimated total of £370,100 (in outturn prices) up to 30 April 2006.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 08 May 2006
-
Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 18 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received any complaints regarding the way the tender process for the Northern Isles ferry services contract was run and, if so, who complained, what the complaint concerned and what action has been taken as a result.
Answer
The tendering process for theNorthern Isles ferry services contract has not yet been completed. No complaintshave been received by the Executive regarding the way the tender process for theNorthern Isles ferry services contract has been or is being run.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 April 2006
-
Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 18 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive why the latest quarterly GDP figures for Scotland are for the fourth quarter of 2005 while the latest figures for the United Kingdom are for the first quarter of 2006, given that both sets of figures were published on the same day.
Answer
The GDP figures published bythe Office for National Statistics (ONS) for Quarter 1, 2006 are the first preliminaryestimate of GDP growth. These figures are available with a 3.5 week lag, butare based on incomplete production data, limited retail sector data, andpublished at the broad industry level only. The second estimate is availablewith a lag of eight weeks, with a third estimate, based on fully balancedaccounts, available 12 weeks after the end of the quarter.
The Scottish Executivepublish one quarterly estimate of Scottish GDP around 17 weeks after the end of the relevant quarter.
Additional time is requiredto process Scottish extracts of UK survey data for the relevant quarter and to obtainadditional data for industrial sectors to produce robust estimates of GDP for Scotland.
