- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 January 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 1 March 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is certain that the tender process for the Clyde and Hebrides ferry service is compliant with EU legislation.
Answer
Our key priority is thatthere should be no disruption to the lifeline Clyde and Hebridesferry services. The services are being tendered in a way that is fullycompliant with EU legislation.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 19 February 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 23 February 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the four EU regions, Catalonia, Baden-Württemberg, Lombardy and Rhône Alpes, which have signed an economic co-operation agreement known as the “Four Motors for Europe” have invited Scotland to be involved, or attend any of their events as an observer, as they have done for Wales and Flanders.
Answer
The Scottish Executive supportedthe Multi-Regional International Business Programme from 2002-05. This exchangeprogramme for business undergraduates was an initiative of the “Four Motors forEurope” network. Scottish involvement arose from the Co-operation Agreement betweenCatalonia and Scotland and our view continues to be that bilateral work is the mosteffective use of our resources.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 January 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 15 February 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it will take to investigate the reasons behind the decision of V Ships to withdraw from the tender to operate the Clyde and Hebrides ferry service.
Answer
It would not be appropriate tocontact V Ships at the present time while the tender process is on-going. However,once the contract has been awarded, officials will offer a debrief to V Ships. Thiswill provide an opportunity to discuss the reasons for the company’s withdrawaland this will inform the review that normally takes place at the end of tender processes.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 January 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 15 February 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to continue with the current Clyde and Hebrides ferry service and how it will assess the appropriateness of awarding the tender to Caledonian MacBrayne in the absence of any competitor.
Answer
The European Union’s maritimelegislation and state aid rules mean that we must complete the tendering process.A key priority as we do this is that there should be no disruption to the lifelineClyde and Hebrides ferry services. The new arrangement will, for thefirst time, introduce a robust contractual arrangementfor provision of the services.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 January 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 15 February 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to meet the European Commission to discuss the tender of the Clyde and Hebrides ferry service, any problems faced and the options available for the future provision of the service following the initial six-year contract period and, if so, when it expects such a meeting to take place.
Answer
The Executive, atministerial and official level, have met and will continue to meet the EuropeanCommission to discuss this and other transport matters.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 08 January 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 15 February 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any additional policing costs were incurred by Strathclyde Police in relation to policing and security in and around Oban from 24 to 26 November 2006 and, if so, what those costs were.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-30819 on 2 February 2007. All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website the search facilityfor which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 18 December 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 12 February 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what evidence it has to verify comments made by the Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform on Newsnight Scotland on 14 December 2006 about the relative number of people removed from social exclusion, in light of the numbers of people who are unemployed and economically inactive.
Answer
The Minister for Finance andPublic Service Reform was not on Newsnight Scotland on 14 December 2006 soI am unable to source the comments you refer to and therefore to directly addressthe matter you have raised.
However, the latest statisticsshow that since 1997 the number of individuals living in households in relativelow income (after housing costs) has been reduced by 320,000, from 25% to 18% -a reduction of 26%. On a before housing costs measure the number has been reducedby 210,000, from 20% to 16% - a reduction of 21%.
In addition, we now have recordnumbers of people in employment. The most recent figures (from September to November2006) show that the number of people economically active stood at 2,617,000 (up25,000 over the previous three month period and 12,000 over the year), giving aneconomic activity rate of 79.5%. Seasonally adjusted unemployment in Scotland overthe same period stood at 137,000, down 35% since March 1997 and by 23% since March1999.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 12 February 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what total number of vehicle kilometres on Scottish roads was accounted for by (a) vehicles in private use and (b) commercial vehicles in the most recent year for which information is available.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S2O-11967 on 8 February 2007. All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website the search facilityfor which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 January 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 8 February 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is considering providing ferry services with support through aid of a social character instead of direct subsidy and, if so, what stage its consideration has reached.
Answer
I refer to member to the answer to question S2W-30068 on 14 December 2006. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’swebsite, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 29 January 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 5 February 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how many Canadian citizens have used the Fresh Talent: Working in Scotland visa scheme in the past two years and, of these, how many are still living and working in Scotland.
Answer
Since the Fresh Talent: Workingin Scotland scheme was launched in June 2005, 47 Canadian citizenshave been accepted onto the scheme.
During the first year of FreshTalent: Working in Scotland Scheme there were 23 Canadian citizens accepted on thescheme, of these, seven responded to our monitoring questionnaire, and, at the timeof response, all were living and working in Scotland.
