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I am also announcing today that the preferred bidder for the Northern Isles Passenger Ferry subsidy contract from 2002 is NorthLink Orkney & Shetland Ferries, a joint venture of Caledonian MacBrayne and the Royal Bank of Scotland. S1O-02348
Some of the banks have already announced their support, and I hope that, through the discussions between the minister and the banks, that will continue.
A long time ago, I spent a couple of years at the Bank of England. I was chief economist at Midland Bank for six years and have been on the board of Scottish Enterprise, so I have had a bit of experience outside academe as well.
Do you accept that land will be held as an investment in the same way that stocks, shares and money in the bank are investments, and that land is freely alienable and can be sold by the council?
The final point is on regulation 2(b), in which references are made to the "specified date". We need to know to which date the first "specified date" refers.
Other important measures include the development of new models for low-cost home ownership and action to improve land supply for affordable housing through land-banking and the preferential use of land managed by Forestry Commission Scotland.
Questions and Answers
Date answered:
10 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether, in light of recently announced increased profits for Scottish banks, the Financial Services Strategy Group will look at any implications, in particular the impact on customers.