- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 December 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 3 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-31010 by Ross Finnie on 7 November 2002, how many fishing licenses have been allocated by its Environment and Rural Affairs Department (SEERAD) to boats (a) owned by non-UK nationals and (b) for which the port of registration is outwith Scotland.
Answer
SEERAD currently license 33 fishing vessels owned by non-UK nationals. Of these, 12 have a port of registration outwith Scotland.
- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 24 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-30633 by Nicol Stephen on 18 November 2002, whether the total costs given for the National Grid for Learning (Scotland) website are inclusive of VAT and whether the cost given for 1999-2000 includes all development work.
Answer
The Scottish Executive provides a grant to Learning and Teaching Scotland to develop and manage the National Grid for Learning (NGfL) Scotland web services. This grant is outwith the scope of VAT. The NGfL Scotland web services are continually being expanded and updated, and therefore activities that might be characterised as "development work" are going on all the time. The cost given for 1999-2000 in the answer to question S1W-30633 includes all development work carried out in that financial year.
- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 24 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-30633 by Nicol Stephen on 18 November 2002, for how many years the site is projected to be operational and what the budgeted cost is for each of those years.
Answer
The National Grid for Scotland web services will continue to operate for the foreseeable future. Over the next few years they will evolve into an important part of the services of the Scottish schools intranet. Detailed budgets depend on progress with the Scottish schools intranet.
- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 24 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-30633 by Nicol Stephen on 18 November 2002, whether the costs incurred in respect of the National Grid for Learning (Scotland) website were met from (a) the existing department budget and, if so, from what part of the budget, (b) new money allocated by the Executive or (c) a central advertising budget.
Answer
The National Grid for Learning Scotland web services provides a range of resources, information and facilities for teachers, learners, parents, community groups and other stakeholders in education. Expenditure comes from the Education Department's budget. In the most recent budget publication,
The Scottish Executive Draft Budget 2003-04 (
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/finance/dbd03-00.asp), the expenditure is included in the "New educational developments" line in Table 3.03.
- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 24 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-30633 by Nicol Stephen on 18 November 2002, whether it will give a breakdown of the expenditure incurred on the National Grid for Learning (Scotland) website.
Answer
The National Grid for Learning Scotland web services are not a single website, but a complex collection of resources and services accessed through the single
www.ngflscotland.gov.uk address.The budget for 2002-03 includes provision of the following services:
| Core NGfL web services(including Scottish Virtual Teachers Centre and the Communities Channel) | £450,000 |
| Early Years Online | £130,000 |
| 5-14 Online | £140,000 |
| NQ Online | £130,000 |
| Total | £850,000 |
- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 December 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Frank McAveety on 24 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to questions S1W-30639 and S1W-31818 by Mr Frank McAveety on 31 October and 5 December 2002 respectively, what sums from existing departmental running costs were used to develop and maintain the Older People's website.
Answer
The Older People's web section is an integral part of the Executive's website. The work to develop and maintain it is being carried out by staff in the Older People's Unit and is a routine part of their on-going work. It is not possible separately to identify costs for the Older People's section.
- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 December 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 23 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-31817 by Mr Andy Kerr on 5 December 2002, why figures for value or price are not recorded on the Property Pages website on the conclusion of a transaction on property advertised by it.
Answer
The Executive does not get involved in the contents of property deals and when the transaction is concluded the organisation advertising a particular property removes the property details from the site. The Scottish Executive property pages provide a site for public sector organisations, on which to provide information on available properties.
- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 December 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 23 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-31817 by Mr Andy Kerr on 5 December 2002, what methods have been used to assess the business value of the Property Pages website.
Answer
The effectiveness of the Scottish Executive public sector property website is assessed by monthly examination of the volume of business on the site and meetings approximately half-yearly with officials from the Scottish Property Network who run the site for the Scottish Executive and deal with the users directly.Towards the end of the three-year project in 2004-05, there will be a survey of users to assess how effective a service they find it to be.
- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 28 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 18 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether Faulds Advertising won the Learn To Let Go advertising account and whether the evaluation research debrief presentation of 14 December 2001 by Faulds placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre is the only research carried out into the effectiveness of the Learn To Let Go campaign.
Answer
All Scottish Executive advertising is fulfilled through the advertising roster rather than being tendered separately. When the Learn to Let Go campaign was being developed, Faulds were one of two agencies on the Scottish Executive's advertising roster, having been appointed in 1996 following a competitive tender. Faulds were re-appointed to the Scottish Executive's advertising roster in August 2001 as a result of a competitive tender following the end of the previous contract term. The agency's appointment is for an initial three-year period with a provision for two further one-year extensions. As well as the research debrief provided by Faulds, the Scottish Executive commissioned research in 2001 prior to the launch of the Learn to Let Go campaign to establish a national baseline position of public awareness and perceptions of travel awareness. This research relates to travel awareness generally rather than to the Learn to Let Go campaign specifically and is about to be repeated.
- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 28 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 17 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the contract documents issued to the three contractors in connection with the work to straighten the Midmill Bends at Hatton Cruden on the A90 have been withdrawn and what the reasons are for the position on the matter.
Answer
The contract documents for the A90 Hatton Bends Improvement scheme have been withdrawn for the reason given in the answer to question S1W-32124 on 12 December 2002. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.
