- Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 October 2012
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 2 November 2012
To ask the Scottish Government what infrastructure projects it has supported in West Lothian in each year since May 2007.
Answer
Since May 2007 the Scottish Government has provided funding for major projects within the West Lothian area, such as the Airdrie-Bathgate Rail Link (£375 million), which opened to passengers in December 2010, and the West Lothian Schools Public Private Partnership (£61 million) which became fully operational in August 2009. In addition, the Scottish Government allocated almost £86 million of capital funding to West Lothian Council between 2008-09 and 2012-13 through the local government finance settlement.
An overview of other projects and investments for which the Scottish Government has provided funding for in the West Lothian area is included in the following table.
Project/Investment
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Details
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Pumpherston and Uphall Station Community Primary School
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In February 2012 this became the first school to be completed under the Scottish Government’s £1.25 billion “Scotland’s Schools for the Future Programme”.
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Short Stay Elective Surgical Centre
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The £8.2 million state-of-the-art Surgical Centre at St Johns Hospital in Livingston opened in January 2011.
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West Calder Health Centre
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The multi million pound facility which has a range of healthcare professionals and services under one roof officially opened in September 2009.
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Affordable Housing Provision
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In the period 2007-08 to 2011-12, the Scottish Government spent £43.4 million on a range of affordable housing provision in West Lothian.
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- Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 October 2012
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 2 November 2012
To ask the Scottish Government what support package it offered Vion Food UK to retain the Hall's meat processing plant in Broxburn.
Answer
The Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise offered to buy the plant and lease it back to Vion Food Group along with a commercial loan in return for a long-term commitment from the company to provide employment at Hall’s of Broxburn.
- Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 11 October 2012
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Current Status:
Answered by Alasdair Allan on 31 October 2012
To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to take forward the recommendations of the One Planet Schools Working Group.
Answer
The One Planet Schools Working Group is concluding its report and recommendations, which are expected before the end of the year. The Scottish Government will consider the recommendations and take forward arrangements with partners to help build on the substantial progress that has been made in Scotland in embedding sustainability, global citizenship and outdoor learning in education.
- Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 October 2012
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 30 October 2012
To ask the Scottish Government how many meetings (a) ministers and (b) officials have scheduled with private ferry companies and what the topics for discussion will be.
Answer
I have no future meetings currently scheduled with representatives of private ferry operators. My officials have regular contract management meetings with Serco, the private company contracted by Transport Scotland to operate Northern Isles ferry services. Officials also have occasional contact with representatives of private ferry companies operating (or considering operating) in Scotland.
- Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 October 2012
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 30 October 2012
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the assertion made in Grasping the Thistle: How Scotland Must React to the Three Key Challenges of the Twenty First Century that (a) "profound differences in the economies of Scotland and England and the unsustainability of the prevailing UK monetary policy and currency mean an independent Scotland should have its own currency", (b) “public spending, which was once the oil that lubricated Scottish governance, has steadily become more viscous with every increasing dose, and has slowed the nations development to a standstill", (c) "the problems of Scotland’s NHS are but one symptom of a much wider disease – the disease of oversized government", (d) "Barnett, far from starving Scotland to death, as is often asserted, is actually fattening us to the point of dangerous obesity….. and that it may be the UK is actually killing us with kindness”, (e) "the Tories' problem is that their unionist ideology is overcoming their free market common sense", (f) the private sector in Scotland should be encouraged "to compete with the established NHS hospitals, clinics and other services”, (g) NHS management should be encouraged "to buy out existing NHS facilities and services under favourable terms and join the private sector"; (h) Scotland should “develop a voucher scheme for the NHS", (i) Scotland should "introduce compulsory health insurance", (j) “universality, as presently practised, robs the poor of resources which would be best in their hands...takes away from those who most need help and who most deserve support and rewards those who need neither...is unjust and indefensible", (k) Scotland should "develop a voucher scheme for schooling", (l) Scotland should be “freezing and cutting government expenditures, including the freezing of recruitment by government and quangos”, (m) Scotland should boost business growth "by reducing corporate and personal taxation", (n) government efficiency would be improved "by exposure to the free market economy”, (o) Scotland should facilitate "the transfer of civil servants to the private sector"; what its position is on the book's concept of a "new Union", and what it considers the economic impact would be of the book's suggestion that income tax rates should be reduced by 25%.
Answer
<>The Scottish Government’s position on public spending, monetary policy, public services and a range of other issues is a matter of public record. The Programme for Government is a recent statement of the Government’s position on these and a range of other issues, and can be found at
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/Performance/programme-for-government.
- Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 October 2012
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 30 October 2012
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it will take to ensure that any contractual provision for sub-contracting Clyde and Hebrides ferry services from 2016 does not lead to the unbundling of (a) profitable or (b) unprofitable routes.
Answer
Once work begins on the preparation of tender documents for the procurement of the Clyde and Hebrides ferry services, Transport Scotland will consider whether bidders can be encouraged to include small, community operators in their tender, possibly as sub-contractors. All of the ferry services supported by the Scottish Government require public subsidy to sustain them because none are currently profitable.
- Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 October 2012
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 30 October 2012
To ask the Scottish Government what definition of (a) unbundling and (b) sub-contracting it uses in relation to the provision of domestic ferry services.
Answer
Unbundling refers to the practice of tendering ferry routes individually, instead of or as well as a main group or package of routes. Sub-contracting refers to the common practice whereby a contracted operator contracts out part of their work (e.g. one or more ferry routes from a bundle) to another supplier.
- Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 October 2012
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 25 October 2012
To ask the Scottish Government whether a Scotland separate from the rest of the UK would keep (a) inheritance tax, (b) capital gains tax, (c) air passenger duty and (d) the aggregates levy.
Answer
This government believes that Scotland’s interests will best be served by all decisions affecting Scotland being made in Scotland. We therefore support taking full fiscal responsibility which would allow this Parliament to legislate for and set all taxes in the interests of stimulating economic growth, supporting the public services of Scotland and building social cohesion. Decisions about what taxes to apply in an independent Scotland, and at what level, would therefore be taken by the Scottish Parliament and government of the day.
- Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 22 October 2012
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 23 October 2012
To ask the Scottish Government what support it will provide to the West Lothian area following the announcement of the closure of the Hall’s meat processing plant.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 23 October 2012
- Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 September 2012
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Current Status:
Answered by Fergus Ewing on 2 October 2012
To ask the Scottish Government how it will use the findings of the James Hutton Institute's research into how people feel about local wind energy developments.
Answer
The findings will be analysed as part of a wider research programme on the provision and sustainability of land-based renewable energy.