- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 26 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 10 July 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is committing additional funding to combat alcohol abuse, given the percentage of violent crimes which involve alcohol abuse.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is committed to tackling alcohol misuse and has made an additional £2.5 million available over three years to support national strategic developments.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 26 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by David Steel on 7 July 2000
To ask the Presiding Officer when a fully searchable database of Scottish parliamentary questions, with the same functionality as is currently available for Westminster parliamentary questions, will be available to MSPs and their staff.
Answer
MSPs and their staff can already access a fully searchable database of Scottish parliamentary questions via staff in SPICe. This is currently the House of Commons Library's POLIS database, on to which SPICe staff are indexing Scottish Parliament proceedings. Unfortunately staffing and technical difficulties have caused a backlog in this work, which is being addressed.
The connection service from Westminster is insufficiently robust to make direct access to POLIS more widely available. However, this month we are launching an improved search facility on the Scottish Parliament website, which will enable information such as Scottish parliamentary questions to be retrieved more readily by users outside SPICe.
Work is also in progress on a strategy for data resources for the Scottish Parliament as a whole, and Phase 1 of this development will include Scottish parliamentary questions. We anticipate that a pilot system will be available for testing by the end of this year.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 6 July 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive when it last met the shadow Strategic Rail Authority.
Answer
I last met the Chief Executive of the Shadow Strategic Rail Authority on 26 June.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Henry McLeish on 4 July 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what the timetable now is for finalising the boundaries for Regional Selective Assistance and what impact the delay will have on local businesses in Scotland.
Answer
The Assisted Areas map is a reserved matter for the UK Government.
This matter is still under consideration by the European Commission and all concerned are seeking an early resolution.
Applications for Regional Selective Assistance are continuing to be made by businesses, though any resultant offers of assistance are being made conditional on confirmation by the Commission, of the new map. Thus the impact of delay has been significantly reduced.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 08 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 30 June 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what consultations have taken place with the Strategic Rail Authority with regard to funding the Borders Railway following the parliamentary debate on 1 June 2000 and what meetings have been arranged for the future.
Answer
Scottish Executive officials met officials from the Shadow Strategic Rail Authority on 12 June. A wide range of subjects was discussed, including the Scottish Borders railway line. I met the Chief Executive of the SSRA on June 2000.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 08 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 30 June 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what funding sources it is considering in relation to reinstatement of the Borders Railway.
Answer
A working group headed by the Scottish Borders Council has been established to explore practical options (including funding) for re-opening the Borders railway. Individual railway infrastructure projects are eligible for support from public resources, for instance the Public Transport Fund or the Railway Passenger Partnership fund. No application has as yet been received for support from either fund for the Borders railway.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 12 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Henry McLeish on 26 June 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has been consulted on the costs of implementation of the proposed Climate Change Levy to Scotland and whether it will publish these costs.
Answer
As a UK taxation measure, the Climate Change Levy is a reserved matter. The UK Government is not able to say with precision what the effects of the levy will be in specific areas, sectors or firms since this will depend upon many factors including take up of various incentives to improve energy efficiency.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 12 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Henry McLeish on 26 June 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is invited to attend meetings between the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions and the Gas Forum in order to ensure that the interests of Scottish business and the Scottish consumer are protected and, if so, whether it will report the progress of any such meetings to the Parliament.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has no function in respect to gas production and gas safety. These are reserved matters. However, the Scottish Utilities Forum was formed earlier this year to provide a means for the Executive and the Scottish Parliament to maintain and develop contact with the utility companies in Scotland, including the gas industry.
The interests of Scottish gas consumers will be protected by a new Gas and Electricity Consumer Council, which is expected to set up an office in Scotland.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 12 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Henry McLeish on 26 June 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it intends to take to advise businesses which are likely to be exempt from the Climate Change Levy to apply for licences.
Answer
There are no proposals for a system of licences to enable organisations to gain exemption from the Climate Change Levy. To obtain exemption, they will simply need to contract with their suppliers to purchase electricity from qualifying renewable sources, or invest in good quality combined heat and power generation. Larger energy-intensive companies may also enter into sectoral energy efficiency agreements to obtain discounts on their levy payments. Information on these opportunities is being disseminated to Scottish businesses by the Scottish Energy Efficiency Office.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 08 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Henry McLeish on 22 June 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what action has been taken to alert businesses to the rise in fuel costs which will result from the introduction of the climate change levy on 1 April 2001 and enable them to adjust their budgets accordingly.
Answer
The climate change levy is a UK taxation measure, and the principal sources of information are DETR and HM Treasury, which have publicised it through a consultation document and communications with UK trade associations.
In Scotland, information has been made available to businesses over the Internet, including the website of our Scottish Energy Efficiency Office (SEEO). In addition, the SEEO is currently engaged in a series of regional and sectoral events to explain to businesses how the levy will affect them and what they can do to mitigate its impact; several such presentations have already been made.
