- Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 August 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by David Steel on 14 September 2000
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body why answered parliamentary questions are initially made available only on the Scottish Parliament Electronic Information Resource rather than on the main, publicly accessible, website.
Answer
There is no daily cut-off time by which answers to written questions have to be made and in practice most answers are received by the Chamber Desk at the end of the working day. It is then necessary for the Chamber Desk to group questions by subject matter for the daily written answers report, prior to sending the answers to the Central Distribution Office (CDO) so that they can appear on the website. In practice, therefore, the daily written answers report cannot appear on the website until the day after answers are received.
Exceptionally, some answers are received by the Chamber Desk earlier in the day and these include answers through which the Executive chooses to make an announcement by means of an answer to a written question. In response to concerns that MSPs were not alerted to such announcements the day they are made, the Parliamentary Bureau agreed the current arrangement whereby written answers are placed on the Intranet (SPEIR) when they are received, enabling MSPs and their staff to have access to Executive announcements given in answers to parliamentary questions as soon as practically possible. This arrangement has given rise to some duplication of functions and parliamentary staff are reviewing current practice with a view to improving efficiency.
- Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 15 May 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 13 September 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether Scottish Borders Council has considered traffic calming or road stopping measures in Selkirk in the evaluation of the A7 Route Action Plan.
Answer
Consideration is being given to traffic calming measures within Selkirk as part of the A6091/A7 Route Action Plan study.
- Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 13 September 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive which organisations have responded to its consultation letter of 24 March 2000 on the European Commission White Paper on Environmental Liability and whether it intends to publish the response it forwards to the Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions.
Answer
The following organisations have responded to the Scottish Executive consultation on the European Commission White Paper on Environment Liability:
| Aberdeen City Council | Orkney Islands Council |
| Accounts Commission | Renfrewshire Council |
| Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland | Royal Environmental Health Institute for Scotland |
| British Energy. | Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors |
| Clackmannanshire Council | Royal Town Planning Institute in Scotland Scottish Borders Council |
| Convention of Scottish Local Authorities | Scottish Borders Council |
| Crofters Commission | Scottish Centre for Infection & Environmental Health |
| Common Services Agency | Scottish Enterprise |
| Crown Estate Office | Scottish Environment Protection Agency |
| Defence Estates Scotland | Scottish Grocers Federation |
| Dundee City Council | Scottish Natural Heritage |
| Environmental Law Section of the Society of Public Teachers of Law | Scottish Power |
| East Ayrshire Council | Scottish Sports Council |
| East of Scotland Water Authority | Scotch Whisky Association |
| Faculty of Advocates | Stirling Council |
| Glasgow University | Writers to the Signet Society |
| Highland Council | West Dumbartonshire Council |
| Highlands & Islands Enterprise | West of Scotland Water Authority |
| Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland | West of Scotland Water Authority |
| Institute for European Environmental Policy | World Wide Fund for Nature Scotland |
| National Farmers Union of Scotland | United Kingdom Environmental Law Association |
| North Ayrshire Council | United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority |
| North Lanarkshire Council | United Kingdom Major Ports Group |
| North of Scotland Water Authority | University of Edinburgh Law Faculty |
Copies of all the responses received, together with a summary of the responses, have been lodged in the Scottish Executive library. A copy of this summary has been sent to the Department of Environment Transport and the Regions, and is also available at http:// www.scotland.gov.uk/library2/doc16/envliab.asp.
- Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 21 August 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 11 September 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether its commitment to implement the A1 special road extension from Haddington to Dunbar will stand in the event that any delays in finalising design details or obtaining statutory consents cause any slippage in the previously announced timetable for implementation and funding of the project.
Answer
Our commitment is to deliver the A1 scheme. Our plan is to start next year but as the Strategic Roads Review: Scheme Decisions states, this is subject to satisfactory completion of statutory procedures. If there are significant procedural delays, the situation will have to be reviewed when the statutory procedures are complete.
- Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 21 August 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 11 September 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what the total numbers and percentages of its staff based at Victoria Quay are who live within the City of Edinburgh and other local authority areas.
Answer
The information requested is set out in the table below, as at 1 August 2000.
| Local Authority (home address) | Number of Permanent Staff (headcount) | Percentage of all staff |
| Edinburgh | 713 | 59% |
| East Lothian | 124 | 10% |
| Midlothian | 94 | 8% |
| Fife | 74 | 6% |
| West Lothian | 70 | 6% |
| Glasgow | 33 | 3% |
| Borders | 15 | 1% |
| Perth & Kinross | 14 | 1% |
| Falkirk | 15 | 1% |
| Other/unknown | 56 | 5% |
| TOTAL | | 100% |
- Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 21 August 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 11 September 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive how many people were employed and at what cost in the Scottish Development Department's National Roads Directorate and how staffing was allocated in the Directorate in 1997; what the comparable complement and costs are in 2000, and what reallocation of duties there has been since 1997 in the light of any reduction in motorway and trunk roads construction since that date.
Answer
The number of staff employed in the National Roads Directorate in October 1997 was 93.5. The staff cost for the year 1997-98 was £2,376,726.
The staff deployment was:
Senior Management and support | 6 |
Project Design Division | 28 |
Project Construction Division | 27 |
Network Management Division | 32.5 |
In 1999, the Directorate was reorganised to provide two new divisions with the following deployment and the complement in March 2000 was:
Road Network Management and Maintenance Division | 51 |
Design and Construction Division | 44 |
The staff costs for this year 2000-01 is expected to be £2,591,757.
The changes reflect the priority now being given to redressing maintenance backlogs on the existing network and the investment targets set out in Travel Choices for Scotland, Strategic Road Review.
- Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 21 August 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 11 September 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received a request from Fife Council to abolish tolls on all estuarial bridges as part of its response to the consultation on the Transport (Scotland) Bill and what its position would be in relation to any such request.
Answer
Fife Council recognise the need to tackle congestion on the Forth Road Bridge and support legislation in the Transport (Scotland) Bill to establish a new Joint Board with wider powers.
- Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 21 August 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 11 September 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance it gives to planning authorities about the identification, excavation, conservation and presentation of battlefield sites and what advice it has given to Stirling Council either directly or through Historic Scotland in connection with current development proposals on land bounded by the Bannock Burn, Pelstream and Balquidderock Wood east of Stirling.
Answer
National Planning Policy Guideline (NPPG) 18 - Planning and the Historic Environment was published in April 1999. This guideline indicates that historic battlefields are a particularly significant element of Scotland's historic environment.
In addition, Historic Scotland is currently reviewing ways of pursuing the recognition and protection of Scotland's battlefield sites and a position paper has been prepared. This is sent to anyone seeking advice on battlefield protection. Stirling Council's archaeologist has received a copy.
I understand that no development proposals have been submitted to Stirling Council for the land to which you refer and, accordingly, no advice has been given in this respect by the Scottish Executive.
- Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 November 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 8 September 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive when it anticipates being in a position to issue substantive answers to parliamentary questions S1W-657 and S1W-658, lodged on 22 July, how many substantive answers to parliamentary questions by all MSPs remain outstanding from those lodged before the end of July, August and September and whether parliamentary questions S1W-657 and S1W-658 are the longest standing parliamentary questions still to be given substantive answers.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-4675.
- Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 February 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 8 September 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive when it intends to answer parliamentary question S1W-2735, lodged on 23 November 1999, and in view of this delay, whether, when it provides this answer, it will provide information relating to the number of substantive answers to parliamentary questions lodged before the end of December 1999 which are still outstanding, rather than questions lodged before the end of September 1999 as originally requested.
Answer
Questions S1W-657 and S1W-658 were answered by Sarah Boyack on 25 November 1999. We are currently investigating within our offices the number of parliamentary questions lodged before the end of December 1999 which have not yet received substantive answers, and will write to you with the details as soon as this has been conducted, placing copies of the response in the Scottish Parliament Reference Centre.
