- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 December 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 7 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the annual report of the Forestry Commission will be published soon; whether it will be published during the parliamentary recess, and, if so, whether any decision was taken specifically to delay publication until during recess.
Answer
The annual report for the Forestry Commission in Scotland was placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 25806), on Monday 23 December 2002. No decision was taken specifically to delay publication until during recess.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 December 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 7 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-31113 by Ross Finnie on 11 November 2002, whether it has received a response from European Commission officials with regard to the UK obtaining a contribution from the EU to the 2003 transmissible spongiform encephalopathies surveillance programme costs and whether any such response will be made public and a copy placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.
Answer
I can confirm that the European Commission responded on 11 November to the UK Government's request to submit a late application for co-financing of its TSE monitoring programme for 2003. The Commission rejected that request on the grounds that it would be illegal to grant such assistance where an application was submitted after the deadline of 1 June. It is not the policy of the UK Government to publish correspondence with the Commission.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 20 December 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 6 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1O-2748 by Mr Tom McCabe on 11 January 2001, whether it is still its position that there is no need to make representations to Her Majesty's Government regarding disciplinary action against the Permanent Secretary in relation to any adverse impact of his actions on the Holyrood project.
Answer
The position remains the same.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 13 December 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Elaine Murray on 3 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive when a decision will be taken on the distribution of national lottery funds, given that the consultation period on Review of Lottery Funding - A consultation paper on Lottery distribution policy, issued jointly by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the Executive, the National Assembly for Wales and the Northern Ireland Assembly, has ended.
Answer
Ministers are currently considering options in the light of the responses to the consultation which closed on 30 October. I expect that the final conclusions of the review of lottery distribution policy will be announced by the late spring or early summer.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 December 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 3 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what target it has set for the number of jobs to be relocated to rural areas in each of the next five years and, if no such target has been set, whether it has any plans to do so.
Answer
We have no such plans. However, in the answer given to question S1W-30915 on 25 October 2002, my colleague Mr Andy Kerr announced additional reviews which will provide further opportunities for rural areas. Organisations covered by the relocation policy will be required to identify small units of work which, following more detailed appraisal, might prove suitable for relocation to more remote areas without compromising efficiency. Circumstances of individual organisations vary and it would therefore be inappropriate to set specific targets for the number of jobs to be relocated to rural areas following these appraisals.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: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 December 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Iain Gray on 3 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it supports the establishment of a competitiveness council.
Answer
I recently attended a meeting of the European Competitiveness Council with the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. The Scottish Executive has no plans at present to set up a Scottish competitiveness council.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 December 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Hugh Henry on 3 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make representations to Her Majesty's Government about increasing the number of inquiries undertaken by the Inland Revenue into the financial affairs of any person convicted of supplying drugs under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and about whether such inquiries could consider obtaining an explanation from such people about whether their assets had been lawfully acquired.
Answer
Under the Proceeds of Crime (Scotland) Act 1995 where a person is convicted of a drug trafficking offence (which includes supplying drugs) under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, the court can order the confiscation of all assets obtained by him over the previous six years. Where the court does not make such an order, the Inland Revenue could make an appropriate investigation. Similar provisions are contained in the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 which will be implemented over the next few months. In addition that act introduces significant new powers for the Director of the Assets Recovery Agency to tax the suspected proceeds of unlawful conduct even where a person has not been convicted of a criminal offence.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 December 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Iain Gray on 3 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it supports the creation of a gap year travel fund initiative for school leavers as a means of stimulating the economy.
Answer
Whilst I support and encourage young people to travel to broaden their horizons it is an individual's responsibility to fund his/her own travel. Young people may wish to take up one of the many volunteering opportunities, where volunteer engaging agencies may meet some of the expenses incurred by volunteers.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 December 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Iain Gray on 3 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether Scotland should be promoted to prospective students from overseas as a place to study and whether such students should be encouraged to stay following completion of their course.
Answer
Yes.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 December 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Iain Gray on 3 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether financial support should be provided to enable people wishing to return to university following redundancy.
Answer
Financial support is provided to enable people to return to university, irrespective of their reasons for doing so.Tuition fee support is not generally available to students to undertake a higher education course leading to a qualification at a level which they have already achieved. The purpose of this rule is to ensure that student support resources are used to help as many people as possible to attain higher education qualifications. Student loans and supplementary grants are, however, available regardless of previous study.The Executive's Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE) provides a framework for partnership working across key public sector agencies in the event of large-scale redundancies.