- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 December 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 20 December 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive how many staff are currently employed in the Energy Division of its Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Department, specifying the number of staff at each grade, what the equivalent figures were in each year since 1997 and, of these staff, how many in each year had or have duties relating (a) solely and (b) partially to the offshore oil and gas industry.
Answer
Since 1997, the staffing levels of the department's Energy Division, which includes the six staff of the Scottish Energy Efficiency Office, have been as follows:
| Grade | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 |
| Head of Division | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Head of Branch | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| B3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| B2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| B1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| A3 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.6 | 2.6 |
| A1 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1 | 1 |
Since 1997, work relating to the offshore oil and gas industry has been part of the duties of the head of Division, one of the Branch heads, one B2, one B1 and one A3.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 November 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 20 December 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there have been any increased costs to Scottish ports or harbour boards caused by light dues levied on visiting cruise liners and ships using cargo freight who call at Scottish ports and harbours and whether it will detail any representations made regarding this.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has no responsibilities in relation to light dues. This is a reserved matter and the responsibility of the Department of the Environment Transport and the Regions. The Executive has received no representations on this issue.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 November 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Alasdair Morrison on 20 December 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive how many staff are involved in the marketing of Scotland in trade and tourism, broken down by grade and remit.
Answer
Scottish Trade International promotes trade and exports from Scotland through development assistance to companies at an individual level. It does not undertake the generic marketing of Scotland in terms of trade.
The Scottish Tourist Board has 50 staff, from Director level to clerical support, directly involved in marketing Scotland as a tourist destination to the UK and internationally. They are supported by the remaining 160 staff who are indirectly involved in marketing-related activities.All of the British Tourist Authority's 506 staff are directly or indirectly involved with the promotion of Scotland as part of the "United Kingdom" as a tourist destination.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 04 December 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 18 December 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria it is using to measure the level of success in widening access to higher education.
Answer
There is a variety of sources of data which we are monitoring to gauge progress on widening access. These include socio-economic data provided by UCAS on applicants and accepted applicants to higher education institutions; the annual Performance Indicators published by the funding councils which provide data on entrants from socio-economic groups IIIM-V, low participation neighbourhoods and retention; the Age Participation Index and the numbers and characteristics of people participating in higher education from statistics collected by the Higher Education Statistics Agency. We have included a milestone in the Social Justice Plan relating to the Performance Indicators.
We have also commissioned a piece of research on widening access to higher education which is due to report in the spring of 2001.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 04 December 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 18 December 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive, for each of the first five years of the initiative, what the budget is for Individual Learning Accounts, what the financial headings within the budget are and how much is allocated under each heading.
Answer
The budget for Individual Learning Accounts for this and the next three years is given below. The budget for 2004-05 has yet to be set.
| | 2000-01 (£ million) | Each of the following 3 years (£ million) |
| Grants (incentives and discounts) | 6 | 10.5 |
| Customer Services Provider | 2 | 2 |
| Field testing, marketing, research and evaluation | 1 | 1.5 |
| TOTAL | 9 | 14 |
The split of the budget for 2001-02 onwards will be reviewed in the light of experience of the initiative in its first year of operation.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 04 December 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 18 December 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make representations to the Department of Trade and Industry in support of licences for North Sea exploration being withheld from companies who are choosing not to develop, or free up, "fallow field" sites.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-10861 on 17 November 2000.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 13 October 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 18 December 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive in what ways the British Tourist Authority seeks to promote Scotland as an arrival and gateway destination for the rest of the UK.
Answer
I will ask the Chairman to write to you.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 November 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sam Galbraith on 11 December 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive how the additional #50 million allocated for flood prevention, coastal protection, access to the countryside, air quality and to deal with waste and contaminated land will be allocated to each of these issues, broken down by local authority.
Answer
The increased local authority resources for the environment, announced by Sarah Boyack on 22 September, comprised £20.4 million for capital expenditure on flood prevention and coast protection, air quality monitoring and contaminated land, and £29.2 million for revenue expenditure on access to the countryside and waste.Revenue resources will be distributed through the local government finance settlement. Additional resources for contaminated land will be distributed as part of the section 94 capital consent allocations issued to local authorities. However, it is a matter for local authorities to determine their spending priorities and allocate resources accordingly.It will be for authorities to submit suitable schemes to take up the additional capital resources available for flood prevention and coast protection and air quality monitoring. Therefore, it is not possible to state, at present, how the additional resources would be allocated to these issues by individual authorities.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 November 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 7 December 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive on what basis it proposes to allocate funding announced in August 2000 for the Powershift programme.
Answer
A total of £125,000 has been made available for vehicle conversions in urban areas, and £265,000 for this purpose in rural areas. The latter have been defined as areas over 30 minutes drive from places with 10,000 of a population. Funds for vehicle conversions in urban areas will be increased if the allocation for rural areas is not fully taken up.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 06 October 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 5 December 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive how many tourists arrive directly in Scotland from the USA and Canada each year, in total and broken down by the airport of arrival, and what proportion of the total number of tourists arriving in the UK from the USA and Canada each of these figures represents.
Answer
The last year for which information is available is 1998. It is as follows:
Entry | USA visitors | as a % of tourists arriving in the UK from USA | Canadian visitors | as a % of tourists arriving in the UK from Canada |
| Edinburgh Airport | 13,000 | 3% | 4,000 | 3% |
| Glasgow Airport | 109,000 | 23% | 68,000 | 50% |
