- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 11 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what funding or other support will be made available to Smyril Line, Forth Ports plc and any other appropriate organisation seeking to create a ferry link between Lerwick, Rosyth and Norway.
Answer
No organisations haveapproached the Scottish Executive seeking funding or support for such a service.Otherwise, I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-3445. Allanswers 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/search_wa.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 11 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to promote a second direct ferry link with the continent from Rosyth and, if so, what funding or other support will be made available for any such link.
Answer
A Partnership for aBetter Scotland commits the Executive to improving Scotland'sferry links to mainland Europe. The objective will be to identify operators willingto offer services on a commercial basis taking into account the support available.While European State aid rules restrict the range of support we can offer, we shall be considering all possible means ofencouraging new developments, including the possibility of a freight grant,were it can be demonstrated that a new service would reduce lorry miles in Scotland.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 11 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how many civil service jobs have been, or are due to be, relocated from Edinburgh.
Answer
Since 1999, approximately 500civil service posts in the Scottish administration have been, or are due to be,relocated from Edinburgh across Scotland.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 5 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how many, and what percentage of, civil service jobs there are in (a) Edinburgh, (b) Glasgow, (c) Aberdeen, (d) Dundee and (e) Inverness.
Answer
The majority of civil servantsin Scotland are employed by UK Departments. Detailed informationon the location of staff employed by other government departments is, however, notheld centrally.
The information in thefollowing table is based on the full-time equivalent number of permanent staffemployed in the core departments of the Scottish Executive, executive agencies and associateddepartments as at 1 September 2003. These figures do not include non civil servantsfunded by the Executive such as non-departmental public bodies staff.
Number and Percentage of Full TimeEquivalent (FTE) Staff by City
| City | Number of FTE Staff | Percentage of SE Total |
| Aberdeen | 572.0 | 3.7 |
| Dundee | 153.3 | 1.0 |
| Edinburgh | 7,510.6 | 48.7 |
| Glasgow | 1,813.7 | 11.8 |
| Inverness | 224.0 | 1.5 |
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 5 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how much expenditure has been incurred on fuel duty rebate and bus service operators grant in each year since 1997.
Answer
Fuel duty rebate wasreplaced by bus services operators grant in 2002. The information sought is asfollows.
Expenditure on Bus ServiceOperators Grant/Bus Fuel Duty
| Financial Year | (£ million) |
| 1997-98 | 32.130 |
| 1998-99 | 37.867 |
| 1999-2000 | 45.196 |
| 2000-01 | 49.262 |
| 2001-02 | 49.641 |
| 2002-03 | 49.640 |
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Hugh Henry on 28 October 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what the fuel costs for each fire brigade have been in each year since 1997, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
This information is not heldcentrally.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 27 October 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what the fuel costs for ambulance services in each health board area have been in each year since 1997.
Answer
The ambulance service doesnot collect this information by health board area, but by operating divisionwithin its service. Health board area boundaries are not relevant to the ambulanceservice as they provide a national service.
Ambulances also get moved fromone division to another to ensure that they are utilised effectively and toeven out the mileage over the fleet.
The figures by operatingdivision are laid out in the following table:
Fuel Costsby Division 1997-2002
| Division | 1997-98 | 1998-99 | 1999-2000 | 2000-01 | 2001-02 | 2002-03 |
| | (£000) | (£000) | (£000) | (£000) | (£000) | (£000) |
| North East | 289 | 298 | 326 | 353 | 328 | 348 |
| North West | 273 | 267 | 301 | 305 | 305 | 313 |
| East Central | 577 | 597 | 674 | 691 | 718 | 729 |
| West Central | 554 | 585 | 671 | 716 | 685 | 697 |
| South East | 405 | 417 | 452 | 490 | 483 | 486 |
| South West | 637 | 655 | 758 | 787 | 749 | 754 |
| Other | 30 | 30 | 27 | 34 | 38 | 45 |
| Total | 2,765 | 2,849 | 3,209 | 3,376 | 3,306 | 3,372 |
Source: Allfigures supplied by SAS 2/10/03.
Theestimated figure for 2003-04 is £3,700,000.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 06 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Frank McAveety on 22 October 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how many staff employed by VisitScotland are involved in marketing Scotland in Canada; where such staff are located, and whether any premises are utilised or occupied in Canada.
Answer
This is an operationalmatter for VisitScotland. However, the VisitScotland long haul team, whichcovers North America as well as other long haul tourism markets, is basedin Edinburgh. VisitBritain has an office in Toronto andVisitScotland staff utilise this when appropriate.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 06 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Frank McAveety on 22 October 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how much VisitScotland has spent marketing Scotland in Canada in each year since 1997; what form of media has been used, and how much it will spend in the next three years.
Answer
Although this is anoperational matter for VisitScotland, I can confirm that the following amountshave been spent by VisitScotland in promoting Scotland in the Canadiantourism market:
| 1997 | £50,000 |
| 1998 | £50,000 |
| 1999 | £50,000 |
| 2000 | £50,000 |
| 2001 | £100,000 |
| 2002 | £100,000 |
| 2003 | £150,000 |
It is anticipated that thesum of £150,000 will be spent in each of the next three years.
The media used for Canadian marketingactivities includes press visits, travel trade events in Canada, touroperator buying trips to Scotland and a rolling programme of print and onlineadvertising. Since 2001, there has been an increasing focus on raising interestin Scotland among Canadians with Scottish forebears, usingancestralscotland.com.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 06 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Frank McAveety on 22 October 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what the roles and remits are of VisitScotland and VisitBritain in marketing Scotland in Canada.
Answer
Although this is anoperational matter for VisitScotland, I am informed that VisitScotland shareresponsibility for the promotion of Scotland in the Canadian market with VisitBritain. A team ofstaff based in VisitBritain’s Toronto office carries out a full programme of consumer andtrade activities in relation to the promotion of Scotland.
