- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 20 May 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 7 June 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive who the members of the Tartan Day working group are; what objectives the group has; when it last met, and when it next plans to meet.
Answer
The Tartan Day Working Groupwas set up to take forward and co-ordinate the participation by the numerous Scottishpublic organisations interested in participating in the Tartan Day 2004 celebrations.The objectives of the group are to co-ordinate activity to maximise impact. Itscurrent members are:
The Scottish Executive (Chair)
The Scottish Parliament
Scottish Development International
VisitScotland
The Scottish Arts Council
National Museums of Scotland
The British Council
Edinburgh City Council
Glasgow City Council
The Royal Society of Edinburgh
Scottish Screen
University of Edinburgh
University of Dundee
The group met at regular intervalsfrom the autumn of 2003 through to March 2004. This approach to planning and co-ordinationproved successful and is one we shall repeat for Tartan Day 2005, ensuring the maximumpublic sector engagement and developing new links with the private sector.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 May 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 1 June 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive which invitations to Tartan Day events were declined by the Scottish Executive and its Scottish Affairs Office in Washington and on what grounds.
Answer
The Scottish Affairs Office inWashington liaised closely with the US-based organisers of Tartan Day events and wereable to advise them of dates that ministers would be in the US. The officeaimed to ensure that the Executive were represented at as many of these events aspossible. Where ministers were unable to attend Executive officials did so whereverpossible. The only Tartan Day events in New York that were not attended by the Executivewere for the Scots Heritage exhibition at Ellis Island and the American ScottishFoundation’s business seminar – both of these events clashed with other engagementsbut were attended by representatives of Edinburgh and Glasgow City Councils. the Executive had advised the organisers that attendance was not possible in advanceof any formal invitation being issued.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 May 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 25 May 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether its Scottish Affairs Office in Washington was instructed to pass on details of all invitations it received from organisations and legislatures in the United States of America inviting ministers, parliamentarians and officials to attend Tartan Day events this year.
Answer
The Scottish Affairs Office inWashington has lead responsibility for the co-ordination of the Executive’s participationin Tartan Day as well as liaising with Scottish-American organisations in the US. Any invitationreceived by the Scottish Affairs Office, or any other part of the Executive, invitingparliamentarians, parliament officials or representatives of other organisationswould automatically be passed on to the appropriate organisation for them to takea decision on.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 07 May 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 21 May 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it can confirm that William I, King of Scots, by royal charter declared a prohibition in perpetuity on tolling in Inverness-shire and Moray in 1180 and that this declaration is protected by the terms of Article 21 of the Act of Union 1707, concerning the rights of royal burghs, and has never been repealed.
Answer
The question of whether sucha charter is still in force and its effects, interpretation and application is amatter for the courts to determine.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 May 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by George Reid on 21 May 2004
To ask the Presiding Officer what plans it has to write to American and Canadian state and provincial legislatures in advance of Tartan Day 2005, specifying and quantifying any support that could be forthcoming from it to facilitate Tartan Day events.
Answer
Plans for Tartan Day 2005will be considered by the Parliamentary Bureau in due course.
The Parliament has made apoint of engaging with state and provincial legislatures during Tartan Day, andhas so far visited the National Assembly of Quebec and the Ontario LegislativeAssembly in Canada, and in the United States the state legislatures of New Hampshire,Massachusetts, New York and Maryland.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 May 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 19 May 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is a presumption that the owners of the publicly-funded new linkspan, being built as part of the new Dunoon pier breakwater, and the existing publicly-funded linkspan at Gourock Pier will have rights and obligations to give priority of access to any new operator, including Caledonian MacBrayne, in preference to Western Ferries (Clyde) Ltd, who already have their own existing berthing facilities at Hunters Quay and McInroys Point, if such a new operator wished to compete against Western Ferries (Clyde) Ltd by providing an unsubsidised vehicle-carrying ferry service between Gourock and Dunoon.
Answer
Argyll and Bute Council willbe the owners of both linkspans at Dunoon Pier and it will be for the Council asharbour authority to determine appropriate berthing arrangements for any shippingoperators that may wish to use them. The existing linkspan at Gourock will be ownedby CalMac VesCo and will be made available to the operator providing the Gourockto Dunoon service following the proposed tendering exercise.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 May 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 19 May 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to write to American and Canadian state and provincial legislatures in advance of Tartan Day 2005, specifying and quantifying any support that could be forthcoming from it to facilitate Tartan Day events.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has no such plans to do so at present. Plans for the Executive’s participationin Tartan Day will be taken forward in line with the ministerial priorities identifiedand in discussion with members of the Tartan Day Working Group in due course.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 25 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 18 May 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans there are to create a comprehensive computer-based model of the economy that can offer increased accuracy and a basis for testing the effects of government policy.The member has provided the following Gaelic translation:A dh' fhaighneachd de Riaghaltas na h-Alba dh na planaichean a tha ann gus modal cuimseach coimpiutaireachd a chruthachadh den eaconomaidh a bhios nas ceirte agus a bhios comasach air buaidh poileasaidh an riaghaltais a mheasadh.
Answer
the Scottish Executive produces a wide range of economic indicators which areused by a number of external organisations to develop models of the Scottish economy.We work closely with these organisations, and continually develop the range andquality of the information we produce and as a result, the accuracy of the modelsthey support. This approach is judged to make optimum use of the available resources,and to maximise the benefits of working with external experts to develop a sharedunderstanding of the effects of Government policy on the Scottish economy.
The Executive has provided the following Gaelic translation:
Tha iomadh comharra eaconamacha’ tighinn bho Riaghaltas na h-Alba a tha air an cleachdadh le grunn bhuidhneanair an taobh a-muigh gus modalan de eaconamaidh na h-Alba a chruthachadh. Tha sinn agobrachadh gu dlùth le na buidhnean sin, agus gu tric a’ leasachadh ìre agus inbhean fhiosrachaidh a tha sinn a’ cur a-mach agus mar sin, cothromachd nam modal dhambheil iad a’ toirt taic. Thathar den bheachd gu bheil an dòigh-obrach seo a’ dèanamhan fheum as fheàrr den stòras, agus a’ meudachadh nam buannachdan de bhith ag obaircòmhla ri eòlaichean bhon taobh a-muigh gus tuigse choitcheann fhaighinn mu bhuaidhpoileasaidh an Riaghaltais air eaconamaidh na h-Alba.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 April 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 11 May 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive who is responsible for the provision of access within a school that allows service providers to use a school for purposes other than education or associated services when Part III of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 comes into force on 1 October 2004.
Answer
Responsibility for the provisionof access within a school that allows service providers to use a school for purposesother than education or associated services depends on the facts and circumstancesof each individual case.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 April 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 11 May 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has for an information campaign to raise awareness of business and service provider obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA).
Answer
The DDA is reserved to Westminster andthe UK Government is working with the Disability Rights Commission to promote awarenessof the legislation throughout Great Britain. The Scottish Executive has no plans for a separate Scottishcampaign.
