- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 June 2003
-
Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 21 July 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what the capital costs will be of each infrastructure project referred to in the transport section of A Partnership for a Better Scotland.
Answer
The capital costs of projects will depend on the prices achieved through tendering and these will be affected by both the market at the time and the type of contract awarded. For a number of the projects proposed in Partnership for a Better Scotland it may be some time before tendering exercises begin.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 23 June 2003
-
Current Status:
Answered by Frank McAveety on 14 July 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-680 by Mr Frank McAveety on 17 June 2003, what duty VisitScotland has to discuss an annual business plan for the visitscotland.com venture; how stakeholders in the sector may participate in, and comment on, the running and operation of the venture and its performance in relation to the annual business plan; what commercially sensitive information the venture (a) must provide to and (b) may withhold from VisitScotland; what information VisitScotland receives on a privileged and commercially confidential basis, and what powers VisitScotland has to oppose, or change, any aspect of the plan.
Answer
An annual business plan is produced by visitscotland.com. It is agreed by the board and any changes to the plan require a unanimous decision by all board members. The business plan is not publicly available for reasons of commercial confidentiality.Both VisitScotland and the area tourist boards are represented on the board and stakeholders in the sector may therefore participate in, and comment on, the running and operation of the venture through this representation. In addition, visitscotland.com has an Industry Advisory Group, with broad representation across the tourism industry, which provides advice and input from an industry perspective.The visitscotland.com venture is a partnership and VisitScotland as a shareholder has access to a full range of shareholder information. However, the majority of this information is commercially confidential and will not be published in the public domain.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 23 June 2003
-
Current Status:
Answered by Frank McAveety on 14 July 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-680 by Mr Frank McAveety on 17 June 2003, whether it will give details of the performance standards set out in the service level agreement in respect of visitscotland.com and what reasons are for its position on this matter.
Answer
erformance standards are set out in Annex 1 of the Business Case which is available in the Parliament's Reference Centre.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 23 June 2003
-
Current Status:
Answered by Frank McAveety on 4 July 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-693 by Mr Frank McAveety on 19 June 2003, what detailed information was available on the costs for developing visitscotland.com (a) internally and (b) externally, as referred to in paragraph 1.5 of eTourism Joint Venture with VisitScotland, Area Tourist Boards, Partnerships UK, and SchlumbergerSema - Business Case; what revenues from these options were projected, and what revenues will be generated by the joint venture.
Answer
The information which is publicly available on the costs for developing the visitscotland.com venture is contained within the Public Sector Business Case, a version of which was placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre in October 2002. Any other information, including projected revenues, is commercially confidential and is therefore not available to the public.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 23 June 2003
-
Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 4 July 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what advice it has given to the Strategic Rail Authority within the east coast main line capacity utilisation study and whether this advice concentrated solely on the London to Edinburgh route or referred also to the Edinburgh to Aberdeen route.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is in contact with the Strategic Rail Authority regarding the east coast main line route utilisation strategy. As the Strategic Rail Authority's work is at an early stage, it would be premature for the Scottish Executive to provide advice on this matter at this stage.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 June 2003
-
Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 4 July 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what the last date is for the commencement of the Larkhall to Milngavie rail line before powers for the line's establishment lapse and what the current situation is regarding commencement of the project.
Answer
The Larkhall to Milngavie project is being promoted by Strathclyde Passenger Transport Executive. I understand that the current parliamentary powers lapse on 21 March 2004.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 May 2003
-
Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 2 July 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what (a) powers and (b) plans it has to introduce toll charges for all users on the rail route from Stirling to Kincardine.
Answer
There is no intention to impose toll charges on the Stirling to Alloa to Kincardine line.The Office of the Rail Regulator has the power under the Railways Act 1993, as amended by the Transport Act 2001, to approve access agreements that require a user of the infrastructure to pay incremental charges reflecting the costs of the enhanced infrastructure. It is for the promoter of infrastructure projects to ask the rail regulator for these powers to be used in relation to their particular project.In the case of the Stirling to Alloa to Kincardine rail link, the promoter of the railway has been considering the option of asking the Office of the Rail Regulator to approve an additional freight track access charge for the section from Alloa to Kincardine for companies that will benefit from the re-opening of the railway to freight traffic.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 June 2003
-
Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 2 July 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what intimation it received from Royal Mail regarding the proposed cessation of its contract with EWS; what action the Executive will take, or representations it will make on the matter, and what effect the cessation of the contract will have in respect of increased road journeys.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has not been approached by the Royal Mail on this issue. As I stated during the public transport debate in the Scottish Parliamentary Chamber on 12 June 2003, I intend to make representations to the UK Government to address the issues that led to the Royal Mail's proposal to end its contract with EWS.The information in respect of increased road journeys is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 June 2003
-
Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 2 July 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is still its intention not to impose tolling on the newly announced Stirling to Alloa to Kincardine rail line, as stated by the Minister for Transport in the debate in the Parliament on 12 June 2003 on public transport (Official Report, c743), and whether it will seek to obtain, either directly or indirectly, any additional revenue from the re-opening of the line.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-483 today. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, 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
-
Date lodged: Monday, 16 June 2003
-
Current Status:
Answered by Frank McAveety on 1 July 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what funds are available for developing Hampden Park, Glasgow, as a sports campus.
Answer
The Executive launched in March 2003 its national and regional facilities strategy. Sportscotland will shortly issue guidance and invite proposals from potential partners for the development of a suite of regional indoor training facilities for football and other sports.
