Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S1W-14951

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 April 2001
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 25 April 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made regarding any economic effect on tourist and business flights to Scotland from the USA of the Civil Aviation Authority's "sum of sector" policy; when and to whom any such representations were made; whether any such representations have requested an abandonment of this policy, and, if no such representations have been made, what plans it has to make any such representations.

Question reference: S1W-14926

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 April 2001
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 25 April 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make representations to Her Majesty's Government requesting that the Executive be represented at the discussions between the USA and the UK on the Bermuda II negotiations on international aviation in June 2001 in order to contribute regarding the potential impact on the economic prospects of Scottish airports, and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

No formal air service talks between the UK and the US are currently scheduled. Officials from the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) may, however, meet their US counterparts for informal talks within the next couple of months to discuss how best to make progress with the liberalisation of the UK-US market. Access for the US to all UK airports other than Heathrow and Gatwick has already been liberalised. The Scottish Executive will, nevertheless, be discussing other relevant issues with DETR as part of our ongoing regular contacts with the UK Government.

Question reference: S1W-14858

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 April 2001
Current Status: Answered by Angus MacKay on 25 April 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive how many hotels and guest houses, have a rateable value of less than #12,000 and what percentage this represents of the total number of hotels and guest houses, broken down by local authority.

The information requested is shown in the following table.

Hotels, Boarding Houses etc on the Valuation Roll as at 1 April 2000

Local Authority	Number of hotels, boarding houses etc on valuation roll with rateable value of £12,000 or less	As a percentage of all hotels, boarding houses on the valuation roll (%)
SCOTLAND	6,283	75
Aberdeen	113	67
Aberdeenshire	128	53
Angus	167	67
Argyll & Bute	1,014	88
Clackmannan	3	21
Dumfries & Galloway	194	73
Dundee	47	22
East Ayrshire	30	65
East Dunbartonshire	6	50
East Lothian	61	62
East Renfrewshire	0	0
Edinburgh	382	75
Eilean Siar	140	88
Falkirk	17	45
Fife	299	57
Glasgow	56	47
Highland	2,035	87
Inverclyde	5	38
Midlothian	13	45
Moray	75	69
North Ayrshire	260	86
North Lanarkshire	8	23
Orkney	169	90
Perth	504	74
Renfrewshire	22	59
Scottish Borders	90	62
Shetland	84	80
South Ayrshire	187	79
South Lanarkshire	54	60
Stirling	78	57
West Dunbartonshire	15	48
West Lothian	27	53

Source: Supplied by Assessors to Scottish Executive (revaluation database)

Question reference: S1W-14901

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 April 2001
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 25 April 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made and to whom to bring forward the possible introduction of direct flights from Edinburgh to the USA.

Question reference: S1W-14935

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 April 2001
Current Status: Answered by Wendy Alexander on 20 April 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive how many members of its staff are dedicated specifically to tourism.

Question reference: S1W-14928

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 April 2001
Current Status: Answered by Wendy Alexander on 20 April 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people took (a) sailing/cruising, (b) nature, (c) geneaology, (d) adventure, (e) golfing, (f) snow sports, (g) mountaineering/climbing, (h) fishing, (i) hunting/shooting, (j) walking and (k) coach holidays in Scotland in each year since 1995.

Exact details of the numbers of visitors who participated in these activities are not available. Visitscotland's estimates of the numbers participating annually are as follows:

sailing/cruising - sailing 300,000, cruising 90,000
nature - interpreted as wildlife watching, the number of participants is 100,000
genealogy - 400,000
adventure - interpreted as activity holidays. the number of participants is 2,000,000
golfing - 260,000
snowsports - number of skier days in 1999-2000 is 300,000
mountaineering/climbing - 100,000
fishing - 200,000
hunting/shooting - the data held is for all field sports, the number of participants is 210,000
walking - 1,500,000

coach holidays - 700,000

Question reference: S1W-14927

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 April 2001
Current Status: Answered by Wendy Alexander on 20 April 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what the value to the economy of people taking (a) sailing/cruising, (b) nature, (c) geneaology, (d) adventure, (e) golfing, (f) snow sports, (g) mountaineering/climbing, (h) fishing, (i) hunting/shooting, (j) walking and (k) coach holidays in Scotland was in each year since 1995.

Information for 1995-98 is not available. For 1999, visitscotland estimate that the spend was as follows:

sailing/cruising - £10 million sailing, £15 million cruising
nature - interpreted as wildlife watching, the figure is £57 million
genealogy - £80 million
adventure - interpreted as activity holidays, the figure is £240 million*
golfing - £100 million
snowsports/skiing - data available combines snowsports with skiing, which is worth £18 million
mountaineering/climbing - £25 million
fishing - £80 million
hunting/shooting - data available is for all blood sports, which are worth £53 million
walking - £40 million
coach holidays - £170 million

*1998 figure

Question reference: S1W-14865

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 April 2001
Current Status: Answered by Wendy Alexander on 19 April 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive how many employees of the Scottish Tourist Board and visitscotland attended Tartan Day in the USA in 2000 and how many are attending in 2001.

Question reference: S1W-14859

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 April 2001
Current Status: Answered by Wendy Alexander on 19 April 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made and to whom to secure new direct flights into Scotland to address the effect of the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak on the tourism sector.

Question reference: S1W-14857

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 April 2001
Current Status: Answered by Wendy Alexander on 19 April 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive how much was spent by the Scottish Tourist Board and visitscotland on (a) staff, (b) marketing and (c) accommodation in each year since 1995.