- Asked by: John Swinney, MSP for North Tayside, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 29 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive on which dates between 30 November 2005 and 14 March 2006 ministers met representatives of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency to discuss Scottish Water's Business Plan.
Answer
Ministers did not meet representativesof the Scottish Environment Protection Agency to discuss Scottish Water’s delivery plan for 2006-10.They corresponded with the Scottish EnvironmentProtection Agency about the plan. Copiesof that correspondence can be viewed at:
www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Environment/Water/17583/resignation.
- Asked by: John Swinney, MSP for North Tayside, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 29 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive on which dates between 30 November 2005 and 14 March 2006 civil servants met representatives of the Drinking Water Quality Regulator to discuss Scottish Water's Business Plan.
Answer
Officials maintain regular contactwith representatives of the Drinking WaterQuality Regulator and discuss a range ofsubjects with them. The matter of Scottish Water’s delivery plan for 2006-10 wasraised in these discussions on various occasions.
- Asked by: John Swinney, MSP for North Tayside, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 29 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive on which dates between 30 November 2005 and 14 March 2006 civil servants met representatives of the Water Industry Commission for Scotland to discuss Scottish Water's Business Plan.
Answer
Officials maintain regular contactwith representatives of the Water IndustryCommission for Scotland and discuss a range of subjects with them. The matterof Scottish Water’s delivery plan for 2006-10 was raised in these discussions onvarious occasions.
- Asked by: John Swinney, MSP for North Tayside, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 February 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 13 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what deficiencies in the business plan of Scottish Water identified by the Water Industry Commission for Scotland contributed to the resignation of the Chair of Scottish Water.
Answer
Professor Alan Alexanderresigned as Chair of Scottish Water because he disagreed with the views thatthe Scottish Executive and Scottish Water’s regulators had formed of Scottish Water’s2006-10 delivery plan. The Water Industry Commission for Scotlandconsidered in particular that the plan failed to provide for delivery in fullof all of the outputs and performance funded by the Commission’s determinationof water charges for 2006-10.
Copiesof all of the correspondence between the Executive and the regulators on thismatter can be viewed on the Scottish Executive website at:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Environment/Water/17583/resignation.
- Asked by: John Swinney, MSP for North Tayside, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 February 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 13 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers it to be the responsibility of the Water Industry Commission for Scotland to approve the business plan of Scottish Water and, if so, on which date this requirement was made clear to the Water Industry Commission for Scotland.
Answer
When Professor AlanAlexander was re-appointed to the Chair of Scottish Water on 1 April 2005 he wasrequired, within eight weeks of Scottish Water having decided to accept theWater Industry Commission for Scotland’s determination of charges for 2006-10, to submit tothe Executive for its approval a delivery plan for 2006-10. Before the plan wassubmitted to the Executive Scottish Water was to ensure that its regulators(the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, the Drinking Water QualityRegulator and the Water Industry Commission for Scotland) agreed that the planconstituted a reasonable basis for delivering the Executive’s objectives forScottish Water in the period and that it contained milestones or other interimtargets by which progress towards achievement could be measured.
This requirement was set outin the letter of 1 April 2005 to Professor Alexander from the Deputy Minister forEnvironment and Rural Development that accompanied Professor Alexander’s letterof re-appointment. The letter was copied to the each of the regulators,including the Water Industry Commission for Scotland. Copies of the lettercan be viewed on the Scottish Executive web site at:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Environment/Water/17583/resignation.
- Asked by: John Swinney, MSP for North Tayside, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 February 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 13 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what deficiencies in the business plan of Scottish Water identified by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency contributed to the resignation of the Chair of Scottish Water.
Answer
Professor Alan Alexanderresigned as Chair of Scottish Water because he disagreed with the views that the Scottish Executive and Scottish Water’s regulators had formed of Scottish Water’s2006-10 delivery plan. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency considered inparticular that the plan’s phasing of the environmental quality enhancementprogramme did not allow it to confirm that the plan would achieve theobjectives that the Executive has set Scottish Water for 2006-10.
Copiesof all of the correspondence between the Executive and the regulators on thismatter can be viewed on the Scottish Executive website at:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Environment/Water/17583/resignation.
- Asked by: John Swinney, MSP for North Tayside, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 February 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 13 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether its recruitment personnel have taken any action to recruit a Chair of Scottish Water and, if so, on what date such employees were first instructed to take action.
Answer
Officials of the ScottishExecutive are working with the search consultants Odgers to identify potentialcandidates for appointment as interim Chair of Scottish Water. They were askedto commence this work on 2 February 2006, when it had become clear to the Executive thatthere were problems with Scottish Water’s delivery plan that might lead to thedeparture of Professor Alan Alexander as Chair of Scottish Water.
- Asked by: John Swinney, MSP for North Tayside, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 February 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 13 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps were taken to rectify any deficiencies in the business plan of Scottish Water identified by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency prior to the resignation of the Chair of Scottish Water.
Answer
Professor Alan Alexanderresigned as Chair of Scottish Water because he did not agree with the ScottishExecutive, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and the other regulators thatScottish Water‘s 2006-10 delivery plan fell short of their requirements for itin a number of material respects.
- Asked by: John Swinney, MSP for North Tayside, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 February 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 13 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers it to be the responsibility of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency to approve the business plan of Scottish Water and, if so, on what date this requirement was made clear to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.
Answer
When Professor AlanAlexander was re-appointed to the Chair of Scottish Water on 1 April 2005 he wasrequired, within eight weeks of Scottish Water having decided to accept theWater Industry Commission for Scotland’s determination of charges for 2006-10, to submit tothe Executive for its approval a delivery plan for 2006-10. Before the plan wassubmitted to the Executive, Scottish Water was to ensure that its regulators(the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, the Drinking Water QualityRegulator and the Water Industry Commission for Scotland) agreed that the planconstituted a reasonable basis for delivering the Executive’s objectives forScottish Water in the period and that it contained milestones or other interimtargets by which progress towards achievement could be measured.
This requirement was set outin the letter of 1 April 2005 to Professor Alexander from the Deputy Minister for Environment and Rural Development that accompanied Professor Alexander’s letter ofre-appointment. The letter was copied to the each of the regulators, including the Scottish Environment Protection Agency. Copies of the letter can be viewed onthe Scottish Executive website at:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Environment/Water/17583/resignation.
- Asked by: John Swinney, MSP for North Tayside, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 February 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 13 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has approved a contract or an operating basis for Scottish Water Solutions.
Answer
The Scottish Executiveapproved the arrangements underpinning the creation and operation of Scottish WaterSolutions Ltd for the delivery of Quality and Standards 2 in July 2003. the Executive is currently considering Scottish Water’s capital deliveryproposals for the delivery of Quality and Standard 3 but to date no decisionhas been taken.
