- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 17 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 28 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the decision at UK level to separate the census and registration functions of the General Register Office and to assign the census functions to the new non-departmental public body responsible for statistics will be replicated for the General Register Office for Scotland.
Answer
The proposal in the Statisticsand Registration Service Bill to separate the census and registration functionsof the General Register Office relates to England and Wales. No changes will be made to the General Register Officefor Scotland, which is already a non-ministerial department.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 17 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 28 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive which statistics, currently produced by the Executive, it expects to be produced in future by statisticians operating within the new non-departmental public body for statistics.
Answer
No statistics currentlyproduced by the Executive will be transferred to the new non-ministerialdepartment.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 17 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 28 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether economic statistics, currently produced by it, will fall within the responsibility of the proposed non-departmental public body for statistics.
Answer
No, economic statisticscurrently produced by the Executive will not fall within the responsibility of the new non-ministerial department for statistics.
The work of the Office forNational Statistics (ONS), which produces much of the underlying data forExecutive statistics on the economy, will transfer to the Statistics Board.
The new body can comment andgive advice on the economic statistics produced by the Executive but it willnot be responsible for their production though it will have a responsibility tosupply the Executive with economic statistics data in the same way that the ONSdoes now.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 17 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 28 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether its proposal to participate in the arrangements to be provided for by the UK Statistics and Registration Services Bill includes establishing a specific office in Scotland as a subsidiary of a UK office.
Answer
No, it is not intended that Scotland’sinclusion in UK Statistics and Registration Service Bill will lead to aspecific office in Scotland as a subsidiary of the new UK office.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 17 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 28 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the production of economic statistics by it will be affected by the UK Statistical and Registration Services Bill in any way other than with regard to oversight and guidance.
Answer
Subject to the passage of the necessary Legislative Consent Motion, the Statistics and RegistrationService Bill will give the Statistics Board a role in setting and monitoringthe standards of Scottish statistics (including economic statistics). Itsindependent scrutiny will help to ensure that Scottish statistics are producedto high standards.
The work of the Office forNational Statistics (ONS), which produces much of the underlying data forExecutive statistics on the economy, will transfer to the Statistics Board. Sothe new body will have a responsibility to supply the Executive with economicstatistics data in the same way that the ONS does now.
The Bill’s provisions on thesharing of information between the Statistics Board and other public bodies forstatistical purposes may also improvethe quality of economic statistics.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 27 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will instruct Caledonian MacBrayne to continue to operate the ferry service on the Gourock to Dunoon route and, if so, whether it will provide a subsidy to Caledonian MacBrayne for the provision of that service.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-29867 on 27 November 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: Tuesday, 14 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 27 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has prepared to ensure the continued provision of ferry services on the Gourock to Dunoon route currently operated by Caledonian MacBrayne.
Answer
CalMac Ferries Ltd will continueto provide its Gourock to Dunoon service until such times as an alternative arrangementis put in place.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 24 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had, and intends to have, with the operators of Caledonian MacBrayne, Western Ferries and V Ships in relation to the decision by each of the companies not to bid to operate the Gourock to Dunoon ferry service currently operated by Caledonian MacBrayne.
Answer
The Executive plans to inviteeach of the companies involved to meetings to discuss the outcome of the tenderingprocess.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 24 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is satisfied with the provision of financial and carrying information and the timescales in which this information was provided to Western Ferries during the tender process for the Gourock to Dunoon ferry service.
Answer
The Executive is satisfied thatit provided bidders for the Gourock to Dunoon ferry service tender with as muchinformation as was required to allow them to construct a robust bid. A considerableamount of detailed information was made available to bidders at the start of theprocess and the Executive sought to answer all questions raised by bidders duringthe tendering process as promptly as possible.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 24 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will suspend the tender process for the Clyde and Hebrides ferry services.
Answer
Arrangements for the tenderingof the services are continuing. The services are being tendered to bring them intocompliance with the European Union’s Maritime Cabotage Regulation and EU rules onstate aids. Proceeding with the tender will allow us to protect these lifeline routes.
