- Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 31 July 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 8 September 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive which Ministers have been allocated questions S1W-2735, lodged on 23 November 1999, S1W-3953, lodged on 25 January 2000 and S1W-4675, lodged on 24 February 2000, and why no responses have yet been given to these questions.
Answer
I have today answered questions S1W-2735, S1W-3953 and S1W-4675.
- 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 8 September 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive how many of its staff at each location within the City of Edinburgh and at each salary grade receive payments or any form of financial assistance towards owning, leasing and using cars in relation to their duties.
Answer
The information requested is provided below:
| | Salary Band | Location |
Owning a car | 1 x B1 | Pentland House |
Leasing a car | 2 x Senior Civil Service | St Andrew's House |
In only the most exceptional circumstances is financial assistance given towards owning or leasing a car.
Where it is necessary for SE staff to travel on official business, the use of public transport is encouraged. Where travel by car is necessary, staff are entitled to claim the standard mileage rate of 39 ppm, or should use a hire car where this is more cost effective.
In the case of staff using their own car for official business no records are kept centrally by salary grade or location in which they work.
- 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 8 September 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what notification procedures were followed by City of Glasgow Council in relation to proposals for a retail and leisure development at Auchinlea Park, Easterhouse and what response it made to any such notification.
Answer
This planning application is under consideration by Glasgow City Council and has not been notified to the Scottish Ministers.
- 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 8 September 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-1943 by Sarah Boyack on 22 November 1999, what percentage of its staff at Victoria Quay share cars and what steps it is taking to encourage further car sharing.
Answer
A study carried out in 1997 found that 10% of staff based at Victoria Quay share cars for their journeys to and from work.
The Scottish Executive is committed to encouraging its staff to consider using more sustainable transport modes in getting to and from work, and published a Green Travel Plan for Victoria Quay in June 1999. Specific initiatives include an intranet-based car-sharing scheme, and periodic staff awareness campaigns. Further measures are currently being considered.
- Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 January 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 8 September 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any outstanding parliamentary questions lodged by Ian Welsh and whether these will still be answered and published.
Answer
Any outstanding parliamentary questions lodged by Ian Welsh were treated as withdrawn following his resignation.
- Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 August 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 8 September 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether, in assessing tenders for contracts for the management and maintenance of the trunk road network, it will take into account all the costs which may be incurred by the public sector in the event that the contracts for trunk road maintenance are awarded to contractors other than local authority consortia, including all costs for local authorities, in particular, the potential costs of redundancy payments and diseconomies of scale in disaggregating the current integration of trunk and non-trunk road maintenance by local authorities.
Answer
No. Under the terms of the competition, award of the contracts will be based on the Scottish Executive's assessment of the prices and rates offered by the tenderers. Under EU procurement regulations and competition law, the Scottish Executive treats all bids on an equal basis.
- Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 August 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 8 September 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what advice it has received about the applicability of the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 1981 (as amended) to the current voluntary tendering exercise for the management and maintenance of the trunk road network and whether, in conducting this tendering exercise, it has done everything within its power to safeguard the employment rights of local authorities' existing workforces.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has taken advice from the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury, and is continuing to consult with these bodies.
The requirements we are introducing into the competition to safeguard the employment rights of existing work forces is explained in my answer to question S1W-8984 and meets fully the requirements of employment rights legislation. This applies equally to existing local authority and private sector workers.
- 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 8 September 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-1943 by Sarah Boyack on 22 November 1999, what effect its Green Transport Plan has had on the transport modal split for its employees at Victoria Quay and what further initiatives it plans to take to reduce car use.
Answer
The Executive intends to assess the effectiveness of its Green Travel Plan following the completion of the Ocean Terminal development and the associated public transport improvements.
A range of initiatives are underway or planned to encourage more sustainable travel practices by Scottish Executive staff, including:
- an intranet-based Green Travel website, which has areas for car-sharers and bicycle users, public transport timetable information and links, and other information of practical use for members of staff;
- interest-free loans for purchasing annual travel tickets and bicycles and cycling equipment;
- enhanced bus services direct to Victoria Quay, including Lothian Buses' no 22 service, and the recently introduced Stagecoach service from Kirkcaldy, the X50;
- discounted annual travel tickets for Lothian Buses services; and
- the provision of pre-paid books of bus tickets for business travel.
- Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 10 August 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by John Home Robertson on 7 September 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Environmental Impact Assessment (Forestry) (Scotland) Regulations 1999 (SSI 1999/43) have now been fully implemented and whether the doubling of forestry planting envisaged in its draft Scottish Forestry Strategy will be the subject of an environmental impact assessment on a Scottish or regional scale, or whether it intends that each plantation will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-9102.
- Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 10 August 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by John Home Robertson on 7 September 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether its finalised Scottish Forestry Strategy will set out a strategic approach for the transportation of timber in those areas where neither rail nor coastal shipping are available options.
Answer
We expect to publish our Scottish Forestry Strategy in the autumn. We are still working on the strategy, taking account of all the points that have been raised during the consultation process, and so it is not possible to give precise details about the content of the final version. The strategy will be our framework for taking forestry forward in Scotland. It will therefore not include detailed implementation plans or mechanisms for any particular aspects, but it will include indicators of progress. Our achievements will depend, in part, on the resources that are available, but specific commitments will be given in other documents, such as the Forestry Commission's Corporate Plan and the action plan for the forestry industries' cluster that is being developed by Scottish Enterprise and the Forest Industries Development Council, as well as individual forest plans.
Nevertheless, our draft strategy, which I issued for consultation earlier this year, covered all these issues. Indeed, the draft specifically identified developing the timber transport infrastructure, developing products that meet market needs, the expansion of well designed production forests, securing investment in wood processing, creating wider employment opportunities, and tackling deer problems as priorities for action. The draft also recognised the importance of protecting archaeological sites and transforming plantation forests; the Forestry Commission already provides detailed guidance on both of these issues in its publications.
