- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 August 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 10 September 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what energy reductions will be achieved with the contract currently out for tender for the supply of electricity to the public sector.
Answer
The tender is focused on selecting the electricity supplier(s) for the national contract in accordance with the most economically advantageous tender. Energy reduction initiatives are defined, developed and monitored by individual public bodies and are carried out in line with their own policy and budget priorities. The national electricity contract aims to support these activities with input from suppliers.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 August 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 10 September 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive why it asked in its request for information from prospective electricity suppliers for information on premiums associated with green energy.
Answer
Market indicators have suggested that electricity generated from renewable sources often attract price premiums in excess of the Climate Change Levy. The request for information exercise was a structured process to gather information from the market to ascertain the extent of suppliers charging premiums and the likely levels of any such premiums.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 August 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 10 September 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how high a percentage of electricity supply from renewable sources a bidder will need to offer in order to be considered for the contract currently out to tender for the supply of electricity to the public sector.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-15736 on 10 September 2008. 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/wa.search.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 August 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 10 September 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how it will ensure that Network Rail is given sufficient resources, such as trackside pumps and drains, to cope with heavy or prolonged rainfall so that normal train services can continue despite severe rainfall.
Answer
The Scottish ministers'' high level output specification (HLOS) was published in July 2007 and specified ministers'' requirements for the rail network from April 2009 to March 2014. The HLOS makes clear that Network Rail require to pursue continued improvements to operational and financial performance, including improved resilience. The public funding available to support the HLOS includes an appropriate element for the continued maintenance of the Scottish rail network.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 August 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 10 September 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive why it specified in its request for information from prospective electricity suppliers only that one objective for suppliers was to secure the supply of a portion of green energy.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-15700 on 10 September 2008. 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/wa.search.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 August 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 10 September 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive to clarify what it means by “The contract will provide public bodies with access to energy management measures” in its news release of 18 August 2008 and whether it means consultancy, or retrofitting, provided free of charge across every public sector building.
Answer
The tender for the national contract has requested details from prospective suppliers for the energy management measures which they could provide to support the Scottish public sector. Examples given in the invitation to tender are:
Access to energy management information
On-line energy management tools
Energy efficiency audits
Site assessment for suitability of embedded generation.
Further clarification on what these measures could include will impact on the tender and subsequent evaluation processes. It is therefore inappropriate to comment further at this point in time.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 August 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 10 September 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will support the renewable energy industry by continuing to purchase 100% of its electricity from renewable sources.
Answer
The Scottish Government is already providing a tremendous incentive for the renewables industry to build new renewable generating capacity via our renewables obligation on all Scottish electricity suppliers. Recent information has highlighted that renewable or green electricity tariffs for renewable electricity do not lead necessarily to the production of additional electricity from renewable sources.
Rather than paying what is likely to be a significant price premium for green electricity within the current tight financial settlement, the Scottish Government will divert resources towards energy management measures for its own estate, which will help protect the environment while reducing costs in the medium term via reduced electricity consumption.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 August 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 8 September 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will conduct an assessment of the resilience of the transport networks to heavy or prolonged rainfall and what the timescale and funding will be for such an assessment.
Answer
In June 2005, the Scottish Government published the
Scottish Road Network Climate Change Study. This examined the potential impact of future predicted climate conditions on the operation of the Scottish road network. Rainfall was one of the six broad categories of weather considered in the study. Transport Scotland is implementing the recommendations from the study, including changes to the design standard for surface drainage systems, which has now been modified to account for a 20% increase in rainfall intensity.
As the owner of Great Britain''s rail infrastructure, Network Rail is responsible for ensuring the continued resilience of the Scottish rail network.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 August 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 8 September 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what (a) steps it is taking and (b) funding it is providing to map and address pluvial flooding.
Answer
The forthcoming Flooding Bill will make provision for all types of flooding to be mapped by 2013 as required by the EC Directive on the Assessment and Management of Flood Risks. Funding to map and address these types of flooding will be considered at the next spending review.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 August 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 8 September 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide sufficient revenue to fund the increasing maintenance required in the transport networks to cope with heavy or prolonged rainfall.
Answer
Transport Scotland will continue to ensure that suitable adaptation measures are built into its annual trunk road maintenance programme within the constraints of the current Scottish Government financial settlement.
As the owner of Great Britain''s rail infrastructure, Network Rail is responsible for ensuring the continued resilience of the Scottish rail network.
