- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 08 December 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 19 December 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether local authorities are obliged to publish annual reports on their services for adult literacy and numeracy and what action can be taken in the event of a local authority not publishing such reports.
Answer
There is no obligation on local authorities to publish annual reports on their services for adult literacy and numeracy.
- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 28 November 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 12 December 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive how it assesses business rates for new businesses and whether there are any reductions in rates for new business start-ups and, if not, whether it will consider including such reductions in the next spending review.
Answer
The rates liability for all businesses, including new ones, is determined by the Scottish Assessors, and is usually based on an estimate of the annual rent which a subject would command on the open market. New business start-ups do not receive any specific rates reductions, although, there are a wide range of rate reliefs available to all qualifying businesses, including new ones. We have no current plans to introduce a rates reduction for new business start-ups in the next spending review.
- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 25 November 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 6 December 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive when current funding for the Local Capital Grants Scheme for Community Facilities will end and whether it will be renewed or replaced with a new scheme that offers grants to community facilities.
Answer
The Executive will continue to fund projects approved in the final round of the Scottish Rural Partnership Fund (SRPF), but we have no plans at present to expand or replace this programme.
In 2004, a review and full consultation exercise was carried out on the SRPF. We are considering the outcome of that review and the fit of the SRPF in the context of our wider rural policy and range of support mechanisms. An announcement about future arrangements will be made in due course.
- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 17 November 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 1 December 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown of any subsidies it provides to rail freight services operated partially or wholly in Scotland.
Answer
We provide financial support to rail freight services in Scotland through our Freight Facilities and Track Access Grant schemes. These are open to any rail freight service in Scotland which is unable to compete on price with its road alternative.
Details of individual awards of grant can be accessed on the Scottish Executive website at:
www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Transport/FT/freightgrants1.
- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 17 November 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 1 December 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made to supermarkets which have abandoned the use of the EWS container rail service to Inverness.
Answer
We have discussed the rail option with the supermarkets who until recently had used EWS services to transport their goods to Inverness. They are aware of the merits of rail, and the availability of freight grant support, however, the choice of whether to use road or rail is a commercial decision for the individual companies concerned.
- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 17 November 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 30 November 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding has been awarded by its Health Department in respect of autistic spectrum disorders in the last six years, broken down by (a) individual award and (b) NHS board area.
Answer
The information requested is given in a table giving details of funding awarded by the health department in respect of autism spectrum disorders, a copy of which has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 38182).
- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 17 November 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 30 November 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding has been awarded by its Education Department in respect of autistic spectrum disorders in the last six years, broken down by (a) individual award and (b) local authority area.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has been making project grant awards to individual voluntary sector organisations in respect of additional support needs since April 1999. The awards are made on the basis of a two or three year cycle. The following table shows the amounts awarded to organisations for autistic spectrum disorder projects.
| Organisation | 1999-2002 | 2002-04 | 2004-07 |
| Scottish Society for Autism | £207,000 | £208,249 | |
| National Autistic Society | £254,000 | £359,475 | £378,265 |
| Parent 2 Parent Tayside | £42,000 | | |
| University of Strathclyde | £87,510 | | |
The information requested in relation to funding awarded to local authorities in respect of autistic spectrum disorders is not held centrally. The main Scottish Executive support for local authority net revenue expenditure on additional support needs, including autistic spectrum disorders, is provided through the Revenue Support grant. This is an unhypothecated grant and expenditure on individual areas is a matter for each authority taking into account local needs and priorities. For information on the latest allocations of grant to individual local authorities, I refer you to the Scottish Executive’s Finance Circular 8/2005 which can be viewed at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/local-government/17999/11203.
Previous Circulars dating back to 2002 are also available on this site.
- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 11 November 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 21 November 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of food consumed in Scotland was (a) home grown and (b) imported in the most recent year for which figures are available.
Answer
Figures available for 2004 estimate that 63% of the food consumed in the UK was home grown, indicating that 37% of food consumed in the UK was imported. Separate figures are not available for Scotland.
- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 24 October 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 2 November 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to increase the number of bee inspectors.
Answer
I have no plans to do this.
- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 24 October 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 2 November 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what its assessment is of the benefits of the bee-keeping and honey industry for the rural economy.
Answer
It is recognised that honey bees make an important contribution to the pollination of commercial grown crops and wild plants and flowers. This contribution is difficult to quantify; but I understand a study by Carreck and Williams in 1998 estimated that the value of the contribution that bees make to the UK economy to be in excess of £200 million per annum.
