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-09110

Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 August 2000
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 clear mechanisms to enable opportunities to be provided for people who live in well forested areas to take up forestry employment using modern, efficient equipment, and whether any such mechanisms will include proposals for training and for selling timber in ways which give sufficient continuity of work to allow local contractors to invest in machinery.

Question reference: S1W-09231

Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 August 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 6 September 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-7725 by Sarah Boyack on 9 August 2000, when it anticipates that sufficient consideration of the A65 (Dalkeith Bypass) scheme will have taken place to determine whether a multi-modal appraisal of the scheme will be carried out.

Following the Strategic Roads Review I announced on 4 November that the A68 Dalkeith bypass and two other schemes would be held in abeyance. The words in the document Strategic Roads Review- Scheme Decisions were "..these schemes should be held in abeyance so that they can be considered, alongside other emerging priorities, for inclusion in a future trunk road programme. It is envisaged that future appraisals will be conducted using a multi modal approach which will allow potential trunk road schemes to be considered alongside other potential transport improvements in the area."

The last comprehensive review of the trunk road programme was completed only nine months ago and no timescale has been set for a further review. The Executive is focusing on delivering the £444 million investment in trunk roads, which I announced on 31 March. This includes the five major schemes and the multi modal studies agreed following the Roads Review and the schemes at Soutra Hill and Drygrange Bridge on the A68.

Question reference: S1W-09163

Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 14 August 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 4 September 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-8807 by Sarah Boyack on 10 August 2000, whether it will calculate an estimate of the capital value of the non-trunk road networks in Scotland, both in aggregate and by road classification.

Question reference: S1W-07988

Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 June 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 30 August 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will commission a study into the impact on Scottish industry of an extension of industry's liability beyond compliance with environmental legislation, as envisaged in the European Commission White Paper on Environmental Liability.

Question reference: S1W-08984

Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 August 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 25 August 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what its policy is in relation to the Statement of Practice, issued by the Cabinet Office in January 2000 on Staff Transfers in the Public Sector and whether it has any plans to apply the Statement's principle to the tendering of contracts for the management and maintenance of the trunk road network.

The Scottish Executive will have regard to the Statement of Practice in any contract to be let by the Scottish Ministers, having regard to the particular circumstances of each contract.

For the contracting exercise for the management and maintenance of the trunk road network, the Scottish Executive will require, as a term of the contract, that contractors take into account obligations imposed by statutes, including TUPE. The Instructions for Tendering which define how the contracting exercise should be undertaken will seek from tenderers an appropriate undertaking of compliance. Staff transfers consequential to the legislation should take place.

Question reference: S1W-08804

Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 21 July 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 25 August 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-7182 by Sarah Boyack on 3 July 2000, whether ownership and entry to the land in question has now been taken; whether all necessary statutory consents are now in place; what progress has been made in establishing the viability of the proposed Public/Private Partnership, and when it now considers a start on site to be likely.

Ownership of the land covered by the Compulsory Purchase Orders for the M77 Fenwick to Malletsheugh scheme has been transferred to the Scottish Ministers and entry has been taken to the land. The exception is Eastwood Golf Club's land where entry will be taken in 2002 for the reasons explained in my answer to question S1W-7182. Compensation payments to the previous landowners are being negotiated as soon as additional works such as fencing and access arrangements are agreed.

Consultants are undertaking an audit of the design of the M77 on behalf of the Department to ensure that the design satisfies current road and environmental standards. This is likely to result in minor areas of additional land being required in addition to that covered by the Compulsory Purchase Orders. The results of that audit are expected in the Autumn.

Four orders remain to be made that have been through public inquiry and are not contentious. These orders are two de-trunking orders that return the existing A77 to the local authorities once the M77 is built and two minor road closure orders. A further minor order will be necessary to remove an anomaly at the junction of the M77 Fenwick to Malletsheugh scheme and the existing M77 Ayr Road Route.

Consultants are advising the Department on the likely viability of the proposed Public Private Partnership. This work is expected to be completed by the Autumn. It is intended that tender documents for the Public Private Partnership will be issued in the summer of 2001, with the award of a contract in 2002 and a start on site in 2002.

Question reference: S1W-09028

Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 August 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 24 August 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it will take in response to Lord MacFadyen's judgements in the Court of Session on the listed building application for 105-107 West Regent Street and 112 Wellington Street, Glasgow.

Question reference: S1W-09023

Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 August 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 24 August 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has been in consultation with Her Majesty's Government in connection with the proposed EC Directive on waste electrical and electronic equipment and what representations it has made on (a) whether any such Directive should come into force in Scotland and (b) whether retailers or local authorities should handle the retrieval of such goods.

We recently issued a consultation paper which was prepared jointly with the Department of Trade and Industry, on the European Commission's proposals for Directives on waste electrical and electronic equipment. We shall consult industry, local authorities, SEPA and other interested parties in order to assess the possible impact and benefits of the proposals in Scotland. Comments on the proposals will be taken into account during negotiations on the Directives.

We support the objectives of the Commission's proposals, namely the prevention, reuse, recycling and recovery of waste electrical equipment to reduce the disposal of waste and the restrictions on the use of hazardous substances in electrical equipment. These objectives also form part of the National Waste Strategy: Scotland. When agreement is reached on the final form of the Directives, and they are adopted, they will be brought into force in all areas of the Community - including Scotland.

Under the Commission's proposals, Member States would have to ensure that systems are set up to allow the final holders and distributors to return waste equipment from private households. Producers would have to provide for the collection of equipment from holders other than private households. The proposal does not stipulate which bodies must handle the retrieval of such goods. This is an issue which we would need to address before implementing the final Directive.

Question reference: S1W-09029

Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 August 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 24 August 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive, with regard to Lord MacFadyen's judgement in the Court of Session on the listed building application for 105-107 West Regent Street and 112 Wellington Street, Glasgow, what the wider implications of this are for the validity of notification and call-in procedures, where action by Scottish Ministers is seen to be founded on (a) representations by Executive Agencies or (b) its own interpretation of approved Structure Plan and Local Plan policies, Planning Advice Notes and National Planning Policy Guidelines, or any other guidance issued by Scottish Ministers under the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act.

Question reference: S1W-09078

Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 August 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 24 August 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive, with regard to Lord MacFadyen's judgement in the Court of Session on the listed building application for 105-107 West Regent Street and 112 Wellington Street, Glasgow, whether this judgement may create a basis for applicants or third party objectors to challenge planning decisions by councils, on the grounds that such decisions may be seen to be influenced by the possibility that councils' decisions might trigger call in procedures or appeals which would be determined by reporters who have been appointed by the Scottish Ministers and who must apply policies and guidance laid down by the Scottish Ministers.