- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 January 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 2 October 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will be co-operating fully with the National Audit Office in the latter's consideration of the written undertakings given by Lord Sewel on 18 February 1999 that all applications under the original and revised Agricultural Business Improvement Scheme would be accommodated; whether it has sought or will seek from Lord Sewel an explanation for his decision; and whether his decision was the correct one.
Answer
I refer Mr Ewing to the answer I gave to question S1W-3495 on 2 October 2000.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 18 September 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sam Galbraith on 2 October 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive on what dates the Scottish Executive/Scottish Qualifications Authority liaison group has met since its inception and whether minutes of its meetings will be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.
Answer
During the lifetime of this Parliament, the Scottish Executive/Scottish Qualifications Liaison Group met on 10 November 1999, 8 February 2000 and 10 May 2000. The minutes of these meetings have been passed to the Education, Culture and Sport Committee and the Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Committee.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 15 September 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Henry McLeish on 29 September 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether, further to its publication The Way Forward: Framework for Economic Development in Scotland, it will develop a structured plan for national partners on communications infrastructure to ensure that investments in the public and private sectors are complementary.
Answer
I refer Mr Ewing to the answer I gave in response to oral question S1O-2316 on 28 September.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 08 September 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sam Galbraith on 28 September 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown by subject of the appeals expected in relation to this year's exam results.
Answer
This information is not yet available, but I will ask the Chairman of the Scottish Qualifications Authority to reply to the member when the figures are available.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 08 September 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sam Galbraith on 28 September 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the Ministerial Statement by the Minister for Children and Education on 6 September 2000 and in particular his reference to contact with schools and colleges regarding the Scottish Qualifications Authority being behind schedule in collecting internal assessment data, on what date it was first made aware by any such school or college, and by which schools or colleges, of any difficulties in the collection of internal assessment data.
Answer
As I said in my statement of 6 September, I became aware in March of problems reported by schools and colleges with the electronic transfer of information to SQA. These problems related mainly to the transmission of course and unit entries for candidates. Difficulties with the Phoenix software used by some schools were reported in the Daily Mail on 9 March. At a meeting of the Higher Still Development Unit's education authority co-ordinators on 16 March there was discussion of the problems reported by schools and colleges using both the Phoenix and SEEMIS systems.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 08 September 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sam Galbraith on 28 September 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what remuneration is paid to those who mark appeals against exam results and what that remuneration is expressed as an hourly rate.
Answer
The payment of markers is an operational issue for the Scottish Qualifications Authority. I have asked the Chairman to reply to you and a copy of his reply will be placed in SPICe.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 08 September 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sam Galbraith on 28 September 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost will be of the report commissioned by it from Deloitte & Touche referred to in the Ministerial Statement by the Minister for Children and Education on 6 September 2000 and what their agreed rate of remuneration is per hour.
Answer
The value of the contract awarded to Deloitte and Touche is in the region of £80,000. As usual, the contract is based on the outputs which will be delivered, not the number of hours to be worked.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 14 September 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Henry McLeish on 28 September 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has made representations to the Chancellor of the Exchequer regarding the impact of taxation on fuel on the haulage industry in Scotland and, if so, what response it received.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the UK Government on a wide range of issues, including that of the impact of taxation of fuel on the haulage industry in Scotland. Discussions between the Scottish Executive and the UK Government are held on the basis of strict confidentiality.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 September 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 27 September 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S1W-9005 and S1O-2178 by Sarah Boyack and Alasdair Morrison on 31 August 2000 and 7 September 2000 respectively, why the number of grants made under the Energy Savings Trust's Powershift programme since 1997 for conversion of motor vehicles to use liquid petroleum gas was stated to be 96 in the answer to S1W-9005 and 390 in the answer to S1O-2178 and what the correct figure is.
Answer
The figure of 96 quoted in reply to question S1W-9005 related to the number of grants for conversion of motor vehicles to LPG since 1997, whereas the figure of 390 in question S1O-2178 relates to the number of vehicles converted in that period. The first answer made it clear that some grants are awarded for multiple vehicle conversions or purchases, for example to fleet operators.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 September 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 27 September 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the addresses of all establishments which are authorised or otherwise permitted to carry out conversion work for motor vehicles to use liquid petroleum gas under the Energy Savings Trust's Powershift programme.
Answer
A list of converters can be found on the Powershift website at
www.est-powershift.org.uk/.
