- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 January 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 31 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what publicity it has funded, or intends to fund, on tackling litter and fly-tipping.
Answer
The Scottish Executive provides annual core funding of £234,000 to Keep Scotland Beautiful, which runs a number of anti-litter initiatives. Over the last year, additional funding of £900,000 has been secured to bolster this programme, including the Have Some Pride anti-litter poster campaign, launched in March 2002.As part of the Executive's Quality of Life Initiative, in addition to the £95 million allocated to local authorities this year, a further £180 million has been provided over the next three years to fund local initiatives that will improve the local environment and quality of life. Around £3 million of this year's allocation has been committed to litter reduction schemes and councils can use this money to raise awareness through publicity campaigns.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 January 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 31 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-30207 by Ross Finnie on 16 October 2002, when the report by Environment Resources Management into litter legislation will be published.
Answer
The report submitted by Environmental Resources Management will be published when the Scottish Executive has fully considered the recommendations. The report was somewhat delayed from initial plans, in order to take account of comments from the advisory group, which included representatives from local government, Keep Scotland Beautiful and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 January 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 31 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what funding sources are available to local authorities to reduce littering and fly-tipping.
Answer
Local authorities fund environmental initiatives from monies distributed by the Executive and from their own resources. As part of the Executive's Quality of Life Initiative, £95 million was allocated to local authorities this year, and a further £180 million has been provided over the next three years, in addition to regular annual funding. These additional resources were made available to fund local initiatives that will improve the local environment and quality of life. Around £3 million of this year's allocation has been committed to litter reduction schemes. In addition, the Executive has made £20 million available over the next three years to put in place a network of community wardens, one of whose tasks will be to combat littering.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 January 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 31 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive which local authorities have formal litter plans in place.
Answer
Aberdeen City Council, Stirling Council and Shetland Islands Council currently have formal litter plans.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 20 January 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 30 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are in place to ensure the continued administration of the South of Scotland Pathfinder project when the posts of project manager and assistant fall vacant in March 2003, given the procurement process set out in section 4 of Connecting Scotland: our broadband future: Making it Happen.
Answer
Plans for the Pathfinder procurement in the south of Scotland envisage the continued involvement of these posts.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 20 January 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 30 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the final contracts for the pathfinder procurement process referred to in section 4 of Connecting Scotland: our broadband future: Making it Happen will be awarded on the basis of cost only or whether guarantees of overall service provision will also be taken into account.
Answer
Contracts will be awarded on the basis of best value for money, which takes account of quality as well as cost. The contracts will require guaranteed minimum standards of service. Bids which fail to meet those required minimum standards will not be accepted.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 06 December 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 29 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will seek legal advice on the European Union Council Framework Decision 2002/584/JHA on the European arrest warrant and the surrender procedures between member states with regard to its implementation in Scots law and the powers it has with regard to the implementation of the Decision.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-32395 on 9 January 2003. 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/search_wa.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 20 January 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 29 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has had any discussions with the Borders Railway Forum on whether any private bill on the Borders railway will contain provisions that charge expenditure on the Scottish Consolidated Fund; what agreement it has given to any such expenditure; what advice it has given the forum on the bill not progressing beyond its Preliminary Stage in the Parliament if no such funding is made available, and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to S1O-6230 on 16 January 2003, which is available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/search.htm.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 January 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 29 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to my supplementary question during the ministerial statement on fisheries on 8 January 2003 (Official Report, c 16700) that fishermen will have 15 days at sea if no further decommissioning takes place, what the current position is regarding the decommissioning of fishing vessels in the light of the recent correspondence from EC Commissioner Hans Fischler to the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Elliot Morley, and the views of the Scottish Fishermen's Federation and whether compensation for decommissioning will be met by HM Treasury.
Answer
Under the terms of Annex XVII of Council Regulation (EC) 2341/2002, member states are required to report progress on decommissioning to the Commission during 2003. The number of days at sea available to vessels is subject to review by the Commission in the light of that. Regulations on a Scottish decommissioning scheme will shortly be laid before the Parliament. We are aiming to open the scheme to applications during February. Expenditure cover for the scheme will be met by the Scottish Executive.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 20 January 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Iain Gray on 28 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how many asymmetrical digital subscriber line enabled exchanges there are given the figures of 67 and 54 quoted respectively in Connecting Scotland: our broadband future: Making it Happen and BT Scotland's submission to the Rural Development Committee's inquiry into integrated rural development; what percentage of these exchanges are in the Pathfinder areas, and what steps are being taken to encourage greater pre-registration of interest to speed up rural penetration of broadband access.
Answer
There are currently 67 exchanges that are ADSL-enabled in Scotland and 4% of these are in Pathfinder areas. There are a number of measures already under way to increase interest in broadband, including a broadband information website and a network of broadband demonstration centres across Scotland. We also recently announced a new initiative, worth up to £24 million, to accelerate and widen the reach of broadband across Scotland. As part of this, we plan to undertake a technology-neutral marketing campaign with the private sector to promote awareness of broadband.
