- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 12 December 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 13 January 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-19986 by Tavish Scott on 17 November 2005, when and where the discussions in respect of a Users Charter relating to the services provided by Western Ferries between Inverclyde and Cowal took place and which parties were present.
Answer
Representatives from Western Ferries discussed their proposals for a Users Charter for the Gourock to Dunoon route with Scottish Executive officials at meetings in June, July, November and December 2004. Representatives from Argyll and Bute Council attended the meeting in November 2004. The issue was also discussed at a meeting between the then Minister for Transport and Western Ferries in August 2004 and I was briefed on the background when I met the company in September 2005. All of these meetings took place in Edinburgh. Discussions on this issue at these meetings were brief and were overtaken by the Executive’s proposals to seek an operator willing to provide a service between Gourock Pier and Dunoon Pier on a commercial basis. The Users Charter proposals were not therefore developed to a stage where any decisions, actions or conclusions on this issue were relevant in moving matters forward.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 12 December 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 13 January 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-19986 by Tavish Scott on 17 November 2005, what decisions were made; what actions were agreed, and what conclusions were reached as a result of the discussions referred to in respect of a Users Charter relating to the services provided by Western Ferries between Inverclyde and Cowal.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-21597 on 13 January 2006. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, 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: Friday, 25 November 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 23 December 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-20644 by Nicol Stephen on 25 November 2005, what the most up-to-date data is in respect of the number of food retail premises operating in Scotland.
Answer
The latest available data isfor 2004.
I refer the member to the answerto question S2W-17428 on 30 June 2005. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for whichcan be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
Data for 2005 will be availablein autumn 2006.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 24 November 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 22 December 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the Ministerial Statement on the Local Government Finance Settlement on 23 November 2005 which referred to the desire to exert downward pressure on tax levels, how frequently it will publish the performance data for each of the outcomes it will use to measure the effectiveness of the Efficient Government initiative.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-21055 on 22 December 2005. All answers to written are available on the Parliament's website, 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: Thursday, 24 November 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 22 December 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the Ministerial Statement on the Local Government Finance Settlement on 23 November 2005 which referred to the desire to exert downward pressure on tax levels, when the Executive will specify the range of the baseline outcomes that have a direct beneficial impact on the people of Scotland against which the effectiveness of the Efficient Government initiative will be measured.
Answer
The definition of efficiency is the relationship between outputs and inputs. Of course outcomes are important, and as I have said before, the Executive pursues them across the whole range of its activities. However, it would be very difficult for us to separate out which improvements in outcomes were directly and solely attributable to our Efficient Government initiative. All progress towards our efficient government targets is being measured against the 2004-05 baseline.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 24 November 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 22 December 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the Ministerial Statement on the Local Government Finance Settlement on 23 November 2005 which referred to the desire to exert downward pressure on tax levels, when the Executive will publish the baseline outcomes against which it will measure the effectiveness of the Efficient Government initiative.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-21055 on 22 December 2005. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, 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: Thursday, 24 November 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 22 December 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the Ministerial Statement on the Local Government Finance Settlement on 23 November 2005 which referred to the desire to exert downward pressure on tax levels, whether it will publish the performance data for each of outcomes it will use to measure the effectiveness of the Efficient Government initiative in a time sequence that will enable performance over the entire course of the initiative to be monitored.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-21055 on 22 December 2005. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, 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, 05 December 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 19 December 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-20821 by Tavish Scott on 1 December 2005, what exact contractual conditions it would apply, or other measures it would use, to make a Users' Charter binding on any potential ferry operator.
Answer
As I explained in my answer to question S2W-20821, were the Executive to enter into an agreement with a ferry operator to introduce a Users’ Charter on a particular route, the detailed legal issues would be considered at that time. As the Executive has no plans to introduce a Users’ Charter on any of the routes currently operated by Caledonian MacBrayne, it would be premature to comment on what contractual conditions it would apply, or other measures it would use, to make a Users’ Charter binding on an operator.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 05 December 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 14 December 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of members of boards of non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) live in Scotland (a) in total and (b) broken down by NDPB.
Answer
Information on all regulated NDPB appointees’ place of residence is in the public domain via the Executive’s public bodies website at
http://194.247.95.101/Topics/Government/public-bodies/directory/Q/apptlist/true.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 November 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 13 December 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive how much was paid to the Confederation of British Industry by non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs), including Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Caledonian MacBrayne, Scottish Water, Scottish Natural Heritage, the Scottish Qualifications Authority and Historic Scotland, for subscriptions, advertising and fees in total and broken down by NDPB in each year since 1997.
Answer
The information is not held centrally. The use by non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) of services provided by the Confederation of British Industry is an operational matter for individual NDPBs to consider.
