- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 26 January 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Jackie Baillie on 9 February 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make any representations to Her Majesty's Government in support of designating areas adjacent to the proposed M74 north extension as an enterprise 'one.
Answer
The designation of Enterprise Zones is a reserved matter. The M74 project is at an early stage, as is consideration for the development of the surrounding areas.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 8 February 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the report prepared by JMN Consultants on the cost of funding various departments of higher education will be published and, if so, when, or alternatively whether the evidence given to the consultants regarding the cost of funding language departments and students will be published, specifying the reason for the position on this matter.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has not commissioned such a report. The Scottish Higher Education Funding Council published a report it commissioned from JM Consulting on the costs of provision in higher education on its website on 19 December 2000 as part of its consultation on its Review of Teaching Funding.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 8 February 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any jobs are expected to be lost in Scotland in the event of a merger between the Bank of Scotland and (a) Abbey National plc or (b) Lloyds TSB; if so, how many will be lost in each case and, if it does not hold any such estimates, whether it will investigate the implications for jobs in Scotland of each of these potential mergers, and what the reason is for its position on this matter.
Answer
The Scottish Executive recognise that all three of these companies are important employers in Scotland. While the Executive has been noting developments there are no detailed figures available at this stage on what the possible consequences of any merger would be for employment in Scotland.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 8 February 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what the unit of teaching resource per full-time equivalent student has been in language departments in universities in each year from 1996 to date and what it will be for the coming academic year.
Answer
The Units of Teaching Resource are determined by the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council and are published in their Circular series each March. The information requested is included in the Funded Subject Group: Humanities, Languages & Mass Communication and is given in the table.
| 1996-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-99 | 1999-2000 | 2000-01 |
| £3,444 | £3,513 | £3,698 | £3,777 | £3,834 |
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 January 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 6 February 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what methodology will be used to evaluate and collate details of the socio-economic backgrounds of people participating in individual learning accounts through learndirect scotland and what types of courses these accounts will be used for.
Answer
A range of data is being collected to enable us to assess over time the use made of Individual Learning Accounts (ILAs) and the key characteristics of ILA holders, including age group, gender, occupation, area of residence and type, subject and level of learning undertaken.The data will reflect both the universal character of the scheme and its promotion, in particular, to the socially excluded and those in SMEs. Key statistics will be provided to the Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Committee during the review of the operation of the scheme in the autumn.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 January 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 6 February 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive how many individual learning accounts have been (a) applied for and (b) granted to date and what percentage of accounts have been paid for by credit card.
Answer
To the end of December 2000 a total of 34,361 applications from Scotland for an Individual Learning Account (ILA) have been received, of which 34,192 have been granted.Details of the method by which ILA holders pay their individual contribution to the cost of their learning are not collected.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 January 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 1 February 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive when it last met the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and what matters were discussed.
Answer
Nicol Stephen, when Deputy Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning, met the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on 13 July 2000 to discuss shipbuilding matters. I have recently had meetings with Patricia Hewitt, Minister of State at the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to discuss digital issues and with Helen Liddell when Minister of State at DTI to discuss energy matters. I plan to see The Secretary of State shortly.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 December 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 31 January 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what its estimate is of any net loss to the Scottish economy as a result of tobacco smuggling.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has not made an estimate of the effects of tobacco smuggling on the Scottish economy. Tobacco taxation is reserved to Westminster. However, data on the effects at the UK level of tobacco smuggling are available from Customs and Excise. Customs and Excise data show that for 1999 all forms of tobacco smuggling cost the UK Exchequer £2.5 billion in forgone tax revenues.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 14 August 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 31 January 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it regards the current tendering process for term contracts for the management and maintenance of trunk roads as a re-tendering process and, if so, what the reasons are for regarding the process in this way.
Answer
Most, although not all, of the work covered by the current tendering process is re-tendered.Until 1996 the majority of maintenance operations on trunk roads were managed and undertaken by local authorities. In 1995 competitions were held leading to the award of contracts in 1996 for three Operating Companies responsible for this work across the Central Belt of Scotland and five Managing Agents covering the management of the network over the rest of the country. The Managing Agent contracts were re-tendered in 1998 to provide this service over the period 1999-2001.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 January 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Jackie Baillie on 30 January 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether its social inclusion strategy takes account of the role played by independent advice services in tackling social exclusion through the provision of free and impartial advice and information; if not, what role it believes such independent advice services have in tackling social exclusion, and how it sees this role fitting in with its policies.
Answer
The Scottish Executive recognises the role played by independent advice services in tackling social exclusion. For this reason representatives from the sector are involved in our work to develop the national debtline and the community legal service which will ensure that free, impartial, legal and money advice will be available throughout Scotland.
