Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is in favour of reducing the unnecessary use of carrier bags but our preference at this stage is not in favour of an outright ban of products. In any event, an outright ban on a product might run contrary to Scotland’s EU obligations.

As part of its “Leading by Example” programme the Scottish Government is looking to all parts of the public sector to play an exemplary role in pioneering new greener behaviour, including the generation of renewable energy.

The Scottish Futures Trust will introduce innovative and more efficient ways of delivering and funding public infrastructure, and will encourage specifications which ensure that new public buildings are also green public buildings.

Changes to the Energy Standards of Scottish Building Regulations and SPP6: Planning Guidance encourage the use of renewable energy technologies in new public buildings to meet improved carbon emissions levels.

We are also promoting uptake by the public sector under the UK Government’s Low Carbon Buildings Programme which complements the increased funding under our own renewables grants programme for community projects.

We are introducing dedicated schools development officers to support the deployment of renewable technologies in Scotland’s schools.

We have also recently widened the Central Energy Efficiency Fund to allow public bodies to invest in renewables as well as energy efficiency.

Cross-border rail services are the responsibility of the Department for Transport. It is already in the commercial interests of the train operating companies to maximise revenue and, accordingly, we have no plans to seek a reduction in the costs of tickets on cross-border services operating below capacity.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-13639 on 9 June 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

The importance of the whisky/spirits industry to the Scottish and UK economies should not be underestimated. Scottish Government ministers share the concerns of the spirits industry and have written to the Chancellor of the Exchequer condemning the recent changes in alcohol duty as not only damaging to Scotland and the UK economy but also a potential blow to international competitiveness of the industry at a time when it has been investing significantly to meet global demand. This is particularly the case with the Scotch whisky industry and the premium products it makes.

Officials in Transport Scotland had regular dialogue with the Department for Transport (DfT) to achieve the new simplified structure. We recognise the need for the fares system to be easily understood by passengers and we supported the work by DfT to achieve this outcome.

Cross Border rail services are the responsibility of the Department for Transport. I understand it is already in the commercial interests of the train operating companies to maximise revenue and, accordingly, it has not proved necessary to impose mandatory requirements to maximise the uptake of underused services.

Information on the number and rateable value of vacant business premises is not held centrally. Information on premises liable for business rates is held on the Scottish Assessors Portal (www.saa.gov.uk), but the portal does not maintain reliable data on the vacancy history of individual properties.

Data on the number of visitors at local authority level is not held centrally. Data on the number of visitors to Ayrshire and Arran and Scotland is provided in the following table.

Ayrshire and Arran (000)

	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
Total UK	1,390	870	1,210	990	1,090	1,090	940	670
Origin
Scotland	848	418	593	426	*534	*534	461	369
Rest of UK	542	452	617	564	*556	*556	479	301
Overseas	100	90	80	70	80	80	**170	**170

 

Scotland (000)

	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
Total UK	18,530	18,960	17,540	18,530	17,520	17,520	14,870	13,280
Origin
Scotland	9,265	10,238	8,741	9,079	*8,650	*8,650	6,750	6,348
Rest of UK	9,265	8,722	8,799	9,451	*8,870	*8,870	8,120	6,932
Overseas	1,860	1,690	1,590	1,580	1,570	1,880	**2,390	**2,730

Source: ONS International Passenger Survey, and UK Tourism Survey (UKTS).

Note: *UKTS data for 2003 and 2004 are considered unreliable. Methodology changed from 2005 - earlier totals not comparable.

**ONS International Passenger Survey methodology changed from 2005 – Prestwick added as an interview point – so previous years not comparable.

Further data is available at:

Tourism in Ayrshire and Arran 2006

http://www.visitscotland.org/ayrshire___arran_2006-2.pdf.

Tourism in Scotland 2006

http://www.visitscotland.org/tourism_in_scotland_2006_national.pdf.

The information requested is not held centrally.