- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 23 October 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 18 December 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what communications it had with the organisers of The Gathering 2009 prior to the event taking place.
Answer
The First Minister met with the directors of The Gathering 2009 Ltd on 12 November 2008 and Michael Russell, the then Minister for Culture, External Affairs and the Constitution met with them on 28 April 2009.
In addition to this, EventScotland, the national events directorate of VisitScotland managing the Homecoming Scotland initiative on behalf of the Scottish Government, attended regular steering group meetings with The Gathering 2009 Ltd, the City of Edinburgh Council and Scottish Enterprise in the run up to the event taking place.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 23 October 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 18 December 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what losses have been taken on by the (a) City of Edinburgh Council, (b) Destination Edinburgh Marketing Alliance, and (c) Scottish Government in relation to The Gathering 2009.
Answer
A news release issued on 15 October 2009 by the City of Edinburgh Council, on behalf of Destination Edinburgh Marketing Alliance (DEMA), stated that DEMA was taking over The Gathering 2009 Ltd, citing the positive economic impact of the event and the potential of future events, and stating that DEMA would be taking on The Gathering 2009 Ltd''s remaining private sector obligations.
The Scottish Government did not take on losses incurred by the company but made the decision to write-off the public sector debts owed to them.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 23 October 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 18 December 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what lessons it considers need to be learnt from the financial loss incurred by The Gathering 2009, given that it met the ticket sales target set by the organisers.
Answer
Clearly it will be important for those delivering future Gathering events to take cognisance of the experience gained in the organisation and delivery of the 2009 event.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 23 October 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 18 December 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it received a copy of the business plan for The Gathering 2009 in advance of the event taking place.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-28304 on 18 December 2009. 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/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 23 October 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 18 December 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the creditors of The Gathering 2009, including for any debt written off or payment made by public agencies.
Answer
Information relating to the private sector creditors of The Gathering 2009 Ltd is commercially sensitive and, as such, it would be inappropriate to list these creditors.
Given the circumstances of the company, the judgement was taken that the debts were irrecoverable. As a result, the Scottish Government, Historic Scotland and the Scottish Ambulance Service took the decision to write off the amounts owed to them by The Gathering 2009 Ltd. Debt written off by the public sector totals £316,000.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 28 September 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 6 November 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) vacant and (b) underused buildings it and its agencies own.
Answer
There are presently two core Scottish Government office buildings that are vacant. Action is currently in hand with a view to their disposal. In terms of underused buildings, we are working to ensure that all parts of the Scottish Government have in place asset management plans which will identify any spare accommodation capacity which offer rationalisation and consolidation opportunities.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 October 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 26 October 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider reviewing its methodology for the carbon assessment of the draft budget 2010-11 so that it will encourage reduction of emissions through improved sustainability rather than by reducing job numbers.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-27904 on 26 October 2009. 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/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.
In addition, it was recognised at the time of publication that the carbon assessment reported on this year was a first, and to some extent experimental step, and that the methodology will continue to be reviewed and improved over time.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 October 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 26 October 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive in what way its carbon assessment of the draft budget 2010-11 will encourage more sustainable ways of working in the public sector.
Answer
The carbon assessment of the draft budget provides, for the first time, an estimate of the consequences of government spending in terms of carbon emissions. The assessment highlights in which sectors of the economy the emissions associated with our spending are taking place. Raising awareness of this pattern of emissions is a first step towards taking action to reduce the carbon attributable to public sector expenditure and thereby more sustainable ways of working.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 October 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 26 October 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considered the impact on jobs when devising the methodology for its carbon assessment of the draft budget 2010-11.
Answer
I refer the member to questions S3W-27904 and S3W-27905 answered on the 26 October 2009. 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/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.
In addition, the methodology adopted for carbon assessment does not provide a direct analysis of potential impacts on employment, but reflects the emissions associated with the spending proposals in the draft budget.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 October 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 26 October 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that the inclusion of induced emissions resulting from increases in employment and salaries in the carbon assessment of the draft budget 2010-11 creates an incentive for Scottish Government departments to reduce projected emissions by reducing job numbers and paying lower wages rather than by finding more sustainable ways of working.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-27906 on 26 October 2009. 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/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.
In addition, reducing expenditure in the budget will reduce the associated projected emissions in the carbon assessment. However, in order to genuinely reduce emissions a real reduction in the carbon intensity of the goods and services used by the public sector is required. This cannot be achieved simply through cuts in expenditure but must result from a progressive decoupling of emissions from economic activity over time.
