- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 07 April 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 8 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what impact Norwegian takeovers of the Scottish farmed salmon industry have had on career opportunities and whether it considers these to have impacted on the “brain drain” from Scotland, in particular from the Highlands and Islands.
Answer
This information is not heldcentrally, however, the Scottish academic system and theindustry continue to turn out highly skilled personnel who are well resourcedto be competitive in the Scottish, UK, European and international job markets.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 07 April 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 8 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to ensure that the salmon farming industry will be able to utilise its physical and human resources, in light of the anti-dumping measures introduced by the European Commission in January 2006 and the announcements of the closure of 24 of Marine Harvest’s seawater sites and the redundancies of experienced and skilled personnel.
Answer
The Executive isimplementing the Strategic Framework for Scottish Aquacultureand through that is seeking to deliver a sustainable, diverse and competitiveindustry. However, individual companies will take actions to rationalise andensure they remain competitive in the global market.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 07 April 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 8 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what impact the level of Norwegian ownership of the farmed salmon industry in Scotland is having on Scottish exports, aquaculture operations and services overseas.
Answer
Norwegian owned companiescontrol over 80% of Scottish salmon production and therefore make a majorcontribution to Scottish exports and aquaculture operations.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 April 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 8 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what practical steps it will take to promote investment in, and the creation of, high value and highly skilled jobs in aquaculture.
Answer
The Executive providessupport in a number of ways to create high value and highly skilled jobs withinthe aquaculture industry. This is augmented through Executive support forscientific research.
Measures through which assistanceis given include the Financial Instrument For Fisheries Guidance (FIFG) which isexpected to be replaced by the European Fisheries Fund next year, the KnowledgeTransfer Partnership initiative and the Scottish Aquaculture Research Forum.
Highlands and Islands Enterprise, through funding from the Scottish Executive, also provides support to the aquaculture industry throughdirect financial assistance to businesses for capital investment and workforcedevelopment as well as providing funding for strategic research and development.
A key factor to securinghigh quality employment in the industry is to provide the right conditions tosecure international investment. The Executive, in successfully persuading theEuropean Union to introduce Minimum Import Prices, has helped create marketstability, which will assist investor confidence, which should lead to thecreation of further high quality jobs.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 April 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 5 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what practical steps it will take to maximise the opportunities for employees in the acquaculture industry to have rewarding careers.
Answer
The Executive identifies specific“Priorities for Action” through the Strategic Framework for Scottish Aquacultureto help maximise opportunities for employees in the aquaculture industry.
These include support for ScottishVocational Qualification levels II/III programme, the Scottish Progression Awardand Modern Apprenticeship in aquaculture established by LANTRA working with the Scottish Qualifications Authority and the Knowledge Transfer Partnership initiativewhich is being extended to aquaculture and will provide opportunities for industryto interact with academic institutions to provide graduate placements within companies.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 April 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 5 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what methods it applies, and will apply in future, to measure the progress of the acquaculture industry.
Answer
The Executive monitors the developmentof the aquaculture industry through the Ministerial Working Group for Aquaculture(MWGA) which is responsible for the implementation of the Strategic Framework forScottish Aquaculture.
In order to assist the process,High-Level Performance Indicators are being developed to measure progress towardsthe aspirations of the Framework and the delivery of a sustainable industry.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 31 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 5 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether Scottish Enterprise's £30 million overspend is the gross amount or net of the impact of other remedial steps that have been taken in 2005-06.
Answer
Scottish Enterprise estimatedin February that, following prioritisation, it would have an overspend of £30 million.The Executive engaged independent advisers to assess the accuracy of this figureand their report is available on the Executive’s website. The total resource overspendis now estimated to be £34 million, net of the impact of all steps taken to reducethe overspend.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 31 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 4 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been budgeted to pay the consultancy fees of KPMG for its work on confirming Scottish Enterprise's projected resource spend for 2005-06.
Answer
The Scottish Executive expectto pay KPMG approximately £60,000 for its work in relation to Scottish Enterprise’soverspend.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 31 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 4 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what methods are in place to measure the effectiveness of the performance of Scottish Enterprise and local enterprise companies beyond the assessment of best value.
Answer
The enterprise networks designtheir activities to achieve progress against the outcome measures tracked in theannual Measuring Progress Towards a Smart, Successful Scotland (SSS)reports published by the Scottish Executive. The resulting programmes and projectsare set out in Operating Plans and these contain output measures relevant to eachSSS priority. Performance is monitored throughout the year and reported on in thenetwork’s annual reports. The networks are required to evaluate programmes and projectsto assess their impact on economic performance, relating this to the outcome measuresreferred to above.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 31 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 4 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how the methods that are in place to measure the effectiveness of the performance of Scottish Enterprise and local enterprise companies compare with performance measures used elsewhere.
Answer
A recent Audit Scotland reportexamined performance measurement in Scottish Enterprise and as part of this comparedmethods with those of similar agencies. The report concluded that Scottish Enterprise’sapproach is “well advanced”.
