- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 August 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 20 August 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what its (a) revenue and (b) capital budget allocation to Highlands and Islands Airports Limited was for (i) 2009-10 and (ii) 2010-11 and what the proposed equivalent budget allocations are for 2011-12.
Answer
The figures requested are as follows:
| Financial Year | Revenue | Capital |
| 2009-10 | £19.2 million | £7 million |
| 2010-11 | £18.1 million | £7 million |
The budget allocation for 2011-12 has yet to be determined.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 July 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 20 August 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what procedures are in place to help probationer teachers obtain a probationary post in a local authority area of their choice and what role it or any of its agencies play in the setting up and supervision of any such procedures.
Answer
Student teachers are invited to indicate the five local authorities in which they would prefer to serve their probationary year and are subsequently allocated to one of those authorities. Alternatively they can select the ˜preference waiver'' option (and receive financial recompense for so doing) in which case they will be allocated to any Scottish local authority.
The allocation process is jointly administered by the Scottish Government and the General Teaching Council for Scotland.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 July 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 20 August 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what funding it provided or has provided to Shetland Islands Council for probationer teaching posts in (a) 2008-09, (b) 2009-10 and (c) 2010-11 and how many posts this allocation has fully funded or will fully fund.
Answer
The following table shows the numbers of probationer teachers working in Shetland Islands Council''s schools and the amount of funding distributed to the council in the relevant academic years.
| | 2008-09 | 2009-10 | 2010-11 |
| Primary probationers | 10 (including 3 on a fully funded basis) | 14 (including 7 on a fully funded basis) | tbc |
| Secondary probationers | 5 (including 2 on a fully funded basis) | 6 (including 2 on a fully funded basis) | tbc |
| Funding (including ˜preference waiver'' and ˜distant islands'' payments | £170,194 | £380,518 | tbc |
Tbc = to be confirmed - probationer numbers will be confirmed once term has started and funding will be calculated thereafter.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 July 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 20 August 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what funding Shetland Islands Council bid for or has bid for to fund probationer teaching posts in (a) 2008-09, (b) 2009-10 and (c) 2010-11 and how many posts this would have fully funded in each of those years.
Answer
Rather than bid for specific levels of funding in relation to the teacher induction scheme, local authorities offer teaching posts that are suitable for probationer teachers. The following table shows the number of probationer posts that Shetland Islands Council offered in each of the relevant years. Not all posts offered by local authorities are filled by the allocation process.
| | 2008-09 | 2009-10 | 2010-11 |
| Vacant primary posts | 7 | 7 | 5 |
| Fully funded primary posts | 11 | 3 | 10 |
| Vacant secondary posts | 4 | 5 | 3 |
| Fully funded secondary posts | 2 | 6 | 8 |
The amount of funding that local authorities receive depends upon the number of probationers that are allocated to the posts offered in May and subsequently take up their allocations in August.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 July 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 20 August 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what instructions it has given to the Crofters Commission regarding applications to install a wind turbine on land held under crofting tenure where the proposed installation has been granted planning permission by the local authority.
Answer
The Scottish Government has given the Crofters Commission no instructions regarding applications to install a wind turbine on land held under crofting tenure. The Crofters Commission has made available, since May 2008, a leaflet on its website on wind farm development on croft land and common grazing.
http://www.crofterscommission.org.uk/documents.asp?intent=details&did=124.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 June 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 23 July 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive whether oral and written evidence to the Accounts Commission public inquiry into Shetland Islands Council, which is holding its public hearing in Lerwick on 28 and 29 June 2010, is protected by privilege.
Answer
The inquiry referred to was held under the terms of section 103B of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973. The act does not address the legal status of evidence given at such inquiries, nor the extent to which witnesses at such inquiries are protected by privilege. It is not for the Scottish Government to provide legal advice to others. It would be for the courts to determine the extent to which the common law principles of qualified or other privilege give protection in the circumstances of a particular case. Where witnesses have concerns about such matters of law, they need to seek their own appropriate legal advice.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 June 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 1 July 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S3W-33959 and S3W-33960 by Richard Lochhead on 18 June 2010, when it instructed the provision of the IT reports to provide a regional breakdown of Rural Development Contracts - Rural Priorities scheme payments and contracts; when the information on the regional breakdown will be made available to it, and when the information will be made available to the public.
Answer
The request for a suite of IT reports, including the regional breakdown of Rural Development Contracts - Rural Priorities scheme payments and contracts, was issued on 26 November 2009.
IT staff have been developing and testing the first batches of these reports, with a number already in production. The regional breakdown information will be available in two stages. Initial reports on contract awards are scheduled to be in production from 16 August, and publically available on the SRDP website by 31 August. Reports on claims paid are scheduled to be published on the SRDP website at the end of each financial quarter for the previous financial quarter, commencing on 30 September.
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- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 June 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 29 June 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has a policy to encourage the development of data centres powered by renewable energy sources and, if so, what the policy is.
Answer
The Scottish Government''s commitment to renewable energy is one of the factors providing a strong incentive for the development of data centres in Scotland, while Scottish Planning Policy (SPP) states that building design will make a significant contribution to reducing emissions and that microgeneration and decentralised renewable energy systems will be aspects of reducing emissions.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 June 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 29 June 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the grants or loans made for the construction or development of data centres in the last five years for which records are available, showing the (a) company receiving the grant or loan, (b) value, (c) government agency handling the grant or loan and (d) location of the data centre.
Answer
Specific information on financial assistance to data centres is not collected. However, from scrutiny of published information on RSA grants made and accepted over the last five years and available on the RSA website, there has been one offer where the project activity specifically refers to provision of data centre services. The company involved was Onyx Group Limited who received £100,000 from Scottish Government and are located in Edinburgh.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 June 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 29 June 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all of its and its agencies’ data management contracts with a value of £10,000 or more per annum, showing the (a) company awarded the contract, (b) annual cost of the contract, (c) start and end dates of the contract and (d) location of the data centre providing the service.
Answer
The Scottish Government has no existing or planned contracts classified as data management.
The contracts and tendering plans of the Scottish Government''s agencies are not held centrally.
