- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 31 July 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 25 August 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the role of public procurement in helping to stimulate business innovation.
Answer
The Scottish Government recognises the key role that public procurement has in encouraging innovation in business, leading to increased productivity and competitiveness and thereby contributing to sustainable economic growth.
We want to ensure that all public sector procurement activity reflects a growing understanding of market capacity and capabilities and that, where appropriate, requirements are specified in terms which encourage businesses to put forward innovative solutions to meet public sector requirements.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 31 July 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 25 August 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the practicalities of setting targets for small and medium-sized enterprises to win public sector business.
Answer
We are currently assessing the practicality of setting a target for the percentage of expenditure by the public sector in Scotland with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
We are continuing to develop the Scottish Procurement Information Hub, which provides detailed expenditure and supplier data from a significant number of high-spending public sector organisations in Scotland. Further development of the information hub will allow us to monitor the percentage of expenditure with medium, small and micro businesses and also to monitor average spending trends with SMEs in different sectors.
Data from the information hub shows that in the financial year 2005-06 (the most recent data available), just over 50% of public expenditure was with SMEs.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 26 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 31 July 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive when the specific details of the competition for the Saltire Prize will be available and when the competition will open.
Answer
The First Minister will announce details of the Saltire Prize challenge on St Andrew’s Day 2008. Details of the competition will also be published at this time.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 29 July 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how it defines a “public building” in complying with the EU directive on the energy performance of buildings.
Answer
Public building means a building with a floor area of more than 1,000 square metres, which is occupied by public authorities and institutions providing public services, and which can be visited by the public. Guidance is also provided in Clause 6.9.3 of the Scottish Building Standards Non-Domestic Technical Handbook.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 29 July 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it intends to take to raise public awareness about the requirement for an energy performance certificate at point of rental or sale of a property from January 2009.
Answer
Seminars are planned later this year for those involved in the sale/rental process and a range of guidance leaflets for different sectors is being developed at present.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 29 July 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether information from the energy performance certificates for new buildings will be incorporated into the Home Energy Efficiency Database and what its position is on the matter.
Answer
Information from energy performance certificates for new buildings is placed on the building standards register maintained by local authorities. There are no plans at present to record this information on the Home Energy Efficiency Database.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 26 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 29 July 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of legislation introduced to the Parliament of Australia on 18 June 2008 which will establish the world’s first comprehensive framework for carbon dioxide capture and geological storage; what contact it has held with the Australian Government regarding this legislation, and what lessons it considers Scotland might learn from the Australian example.
Answer
The Scottish Government is aware of the legislation introduced in Australia regarding carbon capture and storage (CCS). Specifically, under the sister state agreement between Scotland and the Australian state of Victoria, CCS is being considered as a potential area of collaboration and officials have been in contact with Victoria to discuss particular areas of interest.
The Scottish Government is playing a leading role in terms of co-assisting further research on CCS and ensuring that all opportunities are considered, including learning from other countries.
The Scottish Government is currently developing a legislative framework for the offshore storage of carbon dioxide as part of the UK Energy bill. We are currently consulting on this jointly with the UK government. We will also be responsible for implementing the EU directive for carbon storage in Scotland.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 17 July 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether copies of energy performance certificates will be available from the Land Registry and what its position is on the matter.
Answer
Copies of Energy Performance Certificates will not be available from Registers of Scotland, which is responsible for maintaining and administering the Land Register. The EU Directive that introduced Energy Performance Certificates does not require registration of that Certificate in the Land Register. The Land Register is a map-based register of title to land that contains information on ownership of land and related property rights and title conditions affecting the land. An Energy Performance Certificate does not affect the ownership of, or other legal rights, in the property to which it relates.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 26 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 17 July 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive when the Scottish Centre for Carbon Storage study into potential carbon storage sites will be completed.
Answer
The study, which is being co-ordinated by the Scottish Centre for Carbon Storage, with funding from the Scottish Government and a number of other partners, is due to be completed by the spring of 2009.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 17 July 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many farmers and crofters have submitted statements of intent to make applications for funding under the Scottish Rural Development Programme in the last year, broken down by SGRPID office area, and how many of the applications have so far received red light and amber light responses.
Answer
We are not able to identify the number of applicants to the Rural Development Contracts – Rural Priorities element of the SRDP who are farmers or crofters. The scheme is also open to a range of other land managers, rural businesses and community groups.
As at 30 June, 1,026 SoIs had been submitted, of which 232 had been awarded an amber rating and 258 awarded a red rating.
Applications can be submitted to any of the local offices of SGRPID, Scottish Natural Heritage or the Forestry Commission in Scotland. These cases are allocated to one of 11 Regions. The regional boundaries are shown on the SRDP website.
The breakdown of applications submitted by region is as follows:
Northern Isles – 64
Highland – 143
Grampian – 368
Outer Hebrides – 31
Tayside – 94
Forth – 78
Borders – 137
Ayrshire – 43
Clyde Valley – 19
Argyll – 47
Dumfries and Galloway – 96.
