- Asked by: Mr Keith Harding, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 16 November 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 30 November 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will address the recommendation in page 31, paragraph 33 of The Report of the Renewing Local Democracy Working Group regarding a review of legislation to allow local authorities to use information and communication technologies to streamline the conduct of council business.
Answer
This and the other Kerley recommendations are currently being considered by the Ministerial Working Group.
- Asked by: Mr Keith Harding, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 15 November 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Iain Gray on 29 November 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what the total costs were of the publication, including the design, photocopying, printing, internet connection of text, distribution and launch of Benefits from the Warm Deal in Scotland 2000-01: A Report by the Scottish Executive and how many copies were distributed.
Answer
The cost was £1,800. Eight hundred copies were distributed and a further 200 are available to meet requests.
- Asked by: Mr Keith Harding, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 November 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 26 November 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to alter the geographical boundaries of local authorities.
Answer
Some minor boundary re-alignments may be implemented as a result of reports submitted by the Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland earlier this year. Under the provisions of section 14 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, the next statutory review of local authority boundaries is scheduled to be undertaken by the commission between 2004 and 2008.
- Asked by: Mr Keith Harding, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 October 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Jackie Baillie on 26 November 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive (a) what the full costs were of establishing Communities Scotland, including the costs of any external consultants for design purposes and (b) what the full costs will be of winding up Scottish Homes.
Answer
The full costs of establishing Communities Scotland, including the costs of employing external consultants, was £70,000. No date has yet been set for the winding up of Scottish Homes and therefore it is not at this stage possible to predict what costs, if any, will be incurred.
- Asked by: Mr Keith Harding, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 19 October 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 23 November 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what financial and other support it provides to the Association of Scottish Community Councils.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is providing funding of £81,000 over a three-year period from 2000-01 for the Association of Community Councils core activities.
- Asked by: Mr Keith Harding, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 08 November 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by David Steel on 21 November 2001
To ask the Presiding Officer, further to his answer to question S1W-19461 on 12 November 2001, what the total costs were of publishing, printing and distributing the Scottish Parliament Annual Report 2000 to 2001 in languages other than English.
Answer
A further 1,000 copies of the Annual Report were published in Gaelic. These were distributed among various Gaelic organisations as well as schools, colleges and universities who use the document as part of their teaching programme. The total cost of publishing and printing the Gaelic version was £14,093. (Distribution costs were included in the figure given for the English version).
- Asked by: Mr Keith Harding, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 19 October 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 16 November 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-16777 by Rhona Brankin on 9 August 2001, what attempts have been made to inform local authorities and others of the need to comply with the 31 December 2001 deadline for removing all o'one depleting substances from refrigerators prior to their disposal.
Answer
Following discussions at official level with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities over the Summer, the Environment and Rural Affairs Department wrote on 14 September 2001 to local authorities, electrical retailers, second hand goods retailers, charitable and voluntary organisations and waste metal recyclers to inform them formally of this requirement. The letter also advised them to consult the Scottish Environment Protection Agency if they proposed to ship waste refrigerators abroad for disposal or store them pending the availability of suitable disposal capacity in the UK. Guidance on storage and treatment standards is being prepared and will be issued in due course.
- Asked by: Mr Keith Harding, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 November 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 15 November 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to reduce the number of local authorities.
Answer
The next statutory review of local authority boundaries is scheduled to take place between 2004 and 2008.
- Asked by: Mr Keith Harding, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 November 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 15 November 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received any representations from organisations or residents of Fife regarding its consultation document Review of Strategic Planning.
Answer
Yes. We have received just over 150 responses from Fife on the proposals in the consultation paper Review of Strategic Planning.All letters are available for viewing in the Parliament's Reference Centre.
- Asked by: Mr Keith Harding, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 October 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 13 November 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what power local authorities have to make contributions to Nuclear Free Local Authorities and what information it has on the level of any such contributions made in each of the last three years.
Answer
It is for local authorities to satisfy themselves, and their auditors, that any expenditure they incur is within their powers. The Scottish Executive holds no information on any contributions made by local authorities to Nuclear Free Local Authorities in the last three years.
