Chamber and committees

I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

There have been no new contracts for the provision of prison places since 3 May 2007, however, the contract with Addiewell Prison Services Ltd signed in June 2006 will provide 700 new prison places and in August 2007 the Scottish Government announced that two new prisons will be built to meet the demand for prison places. These will be privately designed and constructed but publicly operated and will provide over 1,000 prisoner places.

Electricity generating developments (greater than 50Mw generally and 1Mw for water driven generating stations) are consented by Scottish ministers under Section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989. In considering an application made under Section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989, Scottish ministers would consult with statutory stakeholders including the local Planning Authority, Scottish Natural Heritage and Scottish Environment Protection Agency as well as non-statutory bodies and the public. Since May 2007, the following applications have been received by Scottish ministers under Section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989:

Application	Technology	Date Received	Current Status
Pairc	Windfarm	01-06-07	Awaiting additional information from the developer
Crystal Rigg Windfarm Phase IIa	Windfarm	13-06-07	Awaiting additional information from the developer
Strathy South	Windfarm	29-06-07	At consultation awaiting advice from planning authority
EMEC “ Orcadian Wave Project	Wave	29-06-07	Consented
Invervar	Hydro	25-07-07	At further consultation following additional information from developer
Loch Eilde Mor Hydro	Hydro	19-12-07	At consultation
Rothes Wind Extension	Windfarm	27-12-07	At consultation awaiting advice from planning authority
Blacklaw Extension	Windfarm	25-01-08	At consultation

 

The only change that has been made in these areas, other than changes to personnel, relates to catering arrangements. Catering for cabinet meetings and smaller events involving the First Minister is now carried out under the Scottish Government catering contract drawing on staff from St. Andrew''s House.

The only substantial item of expenditure incurred on the building in 2007-08 was £8,309.00 (excluding VAT) for the inspection, cleaning and maintenance of chimneys during the last week of August. Given the nature of Bute House, this included a cost for the protection of furniture and valuables. In addition, minor reactive and planned maintenance works totalled £1,968.43 (excluding VAT).

Section 3 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980, as amended, sets out the general principle that education authorities shall provide school education without payment of fees, but also the limited circumstances in which authorities may levy charges. Information regarding such charges is not held centrally.

Section 23 of the same act also provides for education authorities recovery of the costs of educating pupils belonging to areas of other authorities. Again, information relating to such matters is not held centrally.

inform

As stated in the answer to question S3W-10920 on 14 March 2008, planning and preparatory work for the inquiry is taking place under the guidance of Lord Justice Campbell. That work includes dialogue with the Scottish Government, in the context of which we will aim to take all reasonable steps to control costs in the inquiry, and Lord Justice Campbell will have due regard to the statutory requirement to avoid incurring unnecessary costs. It would be premature to provide an estimate before that dialogue has progressed further. In due course, however, as stated in the answer to question S3W-11621 on 15 April 2008, we will make appropriate statements about budgetary matters.

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