- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 24 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 15 December 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many new jobs have been created in each year since 1997 where the contribution per job from public funds was (a) up to £10,000, (b) between £10,000 and £99,999, (c) between £100,000 and £499,999, (d) between £500,000 and £999,999, (e) between £1 million and £1,999,999 and (f) £2 million and above.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is committedto securing a more dynamic economy and recognises that public expenditure impactsboth directly and indirectly on economic performance, including positive effectson the labour market. Employment in Scotland has increased by nearly 220,000 since 1997.
Information on the directcontribution of public funds to job creation is available through the RegionalSelective Assistance (RSA) scheme. The RSA is the Scottish Executive’s mainnational scheme of financial assistance to industry, helping create andsafeguard jobs and encourage investment in the Assisted Areas (AAs) of Scotland.
The table below providesdetails of the number of planned jobs (created and safeguarded) where thecontribution per job is in the categories requested.
| Calendar Year | No. of Planned Jobs |
| Up to £10k per job | £10k-£100k per job | £100k-£500k per job | £500k-£1m per job | £1m-£2m per job | Over £2m per job |
| 1997 | 7,564 | 3,320 | 6,893 | 871 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1998 | 7,672 | 3,141 | 2,743 | 153 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1999 | 6,999 | 2,806 | 2,869 | 1,087 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2000 | 8,140 | 5,024 | 3,022 | 941 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2001 | 4,134 | 1,221 | 1,163 | 77 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2002 | 3,733 | 2,539 | 788 | 1,525 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2003 | 2,568 | 3,036 | 714 | 399 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2004 | 5,369 | 1,677 | 802 | 1,264 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2005 | 6,094 | 1,605 | 897 | 612 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 December 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 15 December 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, in relation to the Suckler Cow Premium Scheme 2003, on what date it received the European Commission Agriculture Directorate General’s Guidance Note 6, on the application of article 36(1) - calculation of the number of animals eligible in the event that the foreseen split between cows and heifers is not respected.
Answer
The guidance note itself isnot dated but the European Commission’s covering letter is dated 21 November 2002. Memberstates would have received this guidance shortly after that.
- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 04 December 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by George Lyon on 14 December 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of the population lives in a rural area, broken down by local authority area and parliamentary constituency.
Answer
Information on the proportionof the population living in a rural area, for local authority area and parliamentaryconstituency, is available in tables 1 and 5 in the
Scottish Executive UrbanRural Classification 2004-2006 publication. This is available from the ScottishExecutive website through the following link
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/07/31114822/5.
- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 04 December 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 13 December 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive which departments were involved in determining the structure and location of intermediary delivery bodies prior to the publication on 24 October 2006 of the draft operational programme for the delivery of structural funds in Lowlands and Uplands Scotland.
Answer
The decisions relating to theproposed Intermediate Delivery Bodies (IDBs) for the delivery of future StructuralFunds in Lowlands and Uplands Scotland were settled collectively. The Executiveoperates on the basis of collective responsibility, which ensures that issues thatare of interest to more than one department are properly discussed and that theviews of ministers are considered.
- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 04 December 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 13 December 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what definition of rural has been used in planning for the 2007-13 European Structural Fund programme.
Answer
No definition of “rural” hasbeen fixed for the 2007-13 Structural Funds programmes. Under the proposed Priority3 of the Lowlands and Uplands Scotland European Regional Development FundProgramme, which focuses on rural development, there will need to be spatial targetingof the funding on the rural areas of the region. One of the questions posed in thecurrent consultation on this programme is how such areas should be defined. Afterthe consultation closes – on 8 January – the Executive will consider the responsesand publish a definition of rural areas before the end of February 2007 throughits Structural Funds website (
www.scotland.gov.uk/structuralfunds).
- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 23 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 13 December 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how much it has spent on external media trainers in each year since 1999, broken down by supplier.
Answer
The breakdown of Scottish Executivespend by supplier on media trainers since 1999 is:
| Paddy Christie | Christina McIntyre Media |
| 1999: £4,650 | 1999: £1,560 |
| 2000: £2,500 | 2000: £1,040 |
| 2001: £3,200 | 2001: £2,080 |
| 2002: £8,775 | 2002: £1,045 |
| 2003: £825 | 2003: £1,695 |
| 2004: £1,975 | 2004: £1,300 |
| 2005: £3,450 | 2005: No spend |
| 2006: £1,000 | 2006: £650 |
- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 23 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 13 December 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many value-for-money exercises on the use of (a) management consultants and (b) professional advisers it conducted in each of the last five years.
Answer
The Scottish Executive does nothold this information centrally and therefore could only provide this informationat disproportionate cost.
- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 8 December 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many posts in prisons at (a) governor or (b) deputy governor level are occupied on a (i) permanent or (ii) temporary basis by personnel who have not met the internal Scottish Prison Service competence level for that post.
Answer
I have asked Tony Cameron,Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is asfollows:
I am content that allgovernors and deputy governors in post are competent to carry out their duties.
- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 7 December 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what programmes, schemes or similar initiatives will be operated by its Environment and Rural Affairs Department to distribute public funds to third parties in 2007-08.
Answer
The information requested isgiven in pages number 11 to 28 of the Scottish Executive Draft Budget 2007-08 published by the Scottish Executivein 2006, a copy of which is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre(Bib. number 40353).
- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 7 December 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what process was undertaken and who was involved in selecting the new Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service.
Answer
The Scottish Prison Service(SPS) is an established Scottish Executive agency. In line with standardprocedures, Senior Civil Service posts within the Executive, and its agencies,can be filled through external recruitment, internal promotion or managed movedepending on the skills required and the availability of staff. On thisoccasion it was decided to fill the SPS Chief Executive post through a managedmove and no external candidates were considered.
In keeping with anappointment of this level, a decision on the succession arrangements was takenwell in advance and an announcement was made as soon as ministers had beeninformed. The Nolan principles apply specifically to public appointments ratherthan Senior Civil Service appointments. All those involved in the managed moveprocess were civil servants bound by the Civil Service Code.
