- 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 which makes and models of motor vehicle are eligible for a grant for conversion to use liquid petroleum gas under the Energy Savings Trust's Powershift programme and, of these, which qualify for a grant of (a) 75%, (b) 60% and (c) 40% of conversion costs.
Answer
There are over 1,000 combinations of vehicle makes/models/conversions available for conversion to LPG, CNG and LNG. The amount of grant depends on the emission reduction produced by the conversion and vehicle model combination. Details can be accessed on the Powershift website, the address of which is
www.est-powershift.org.uk/.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 14 August 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 26 September 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there has been adequate and effective communication with the communities served by the A95 with regard to the various works to be carried out on the road and, if there has not, what measures it proposes to take to address this matter.
Answer
Yes.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 24 August 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Henry McLeish on 26 September 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has powers in relation to the Scottish Qualifications Authority and what these powers are; whether it considers that its powers are sufficient, and whether it will take steps to widen such powers.
Answer
The Scottish Qualifications Authority was established under the Education (Scotland) Act 1996. The Act sets out the authority's functions and the powers which Scottish Ministers have in relation to SQA. As a Non-Departmental Public Body, the relationship between the SQA and Scottish Ministers is also set out in the authority's Management Statement and Financial Memorandum.
Ministers' powers in relation to SQA will be considered in the light of the inquiries being undertaken by the Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Committee and the Education Committee of the Scottish Parliament; and by the Policy and Financial Management Review of the SQA being undertaken by the Scottish Executive.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 24 August 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sam Galbraith on 26 September 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive when it first became aware of any inadequacies in quality control measures to ensure consistent marking of this year's exam papers.
Answer
The Scottish Qualifications Authority has long-established quality assurance procedures for the marking process. The inquiry which I have commissioned will determine whether they were used correctly this year and make recommendations about how quality assurance on marking should operate in future.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 26 September 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-5993 by Mr Jim Wallace on 12 May 2000, what are the "considerable difficulties" which it sees for any proposed legislation in respect of landed estates and what are the "difficulties of regulation" in ensuring any compliance.
Answer
We can see practical difficulties in several areas relating to a proposal to legislate to require non-resident and corporate owners to appoint a legally responsible local agent. For example, how to enforce requirements upon non-residents; and how to address a failure to comply. There is also the matter of attaching liability to secure the compliance of local agents, and setting appropriate penalties to deal with any failure.
As I explained, we fully support the principle of accountability, and our Code of Good Practice on Rural Land Ownership will address the matter of local representation.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 31 March 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Angus MacKay on 25 September 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has in relation to the Black Cuillins on the Isle of Skye and whether it will (a) obtain a copy of the title deeds of the Black Cuillins, (b) instruct the District Valuer to carry out an assessment of the value of the Black Cuillins and (c) make representations to the owners of the Black Cuillins regarding the proposed selling price.
Answer
I refer the member to the Executive's position on the Cuillins sale, which I set out in the debate held on 11 May. Since that time the Crown Estate have investigated title to the Cuillin Estate and concluded that they have no claim to title.
- 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 Wendy Alexander on 22 September 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the costs of administering the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Houses in Multiple Occupation) Order 2000 are to be met by local authorities; whether the charges are to be passed on entirely to applicants for licenses of houses in multiple occupation; whether the level of charges is to be uniform across all local authorities and what will be the level of such charges; and, if the charges are not uniform, whether it will place in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre details of the charges imposed by each local authority.
Answer
Under the provisions of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982, local authorities shall seek to ensure that the total amount of licence fees receivable is sufficient to meet the costs of operating the licensing systems established under the Act, including the mandatory licensing of houses in multiple occupation (HMOs). Most fee income will derive from licence applications, but fees can also be charged for the issue of certified duplicate licences, the consideration of a material change of circumstances or a material change in premises used as HMOs, and the issue of certified true copies of entries in the register of licence applications. The level of charges is a matter for each local authority and details are not currently held centrally, although this is expected to be one of the matters to be included in the Scottish Executive's monitoring of the operation of mandatory licensing of HMOs.
- 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 22 September 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what amount of increased resources was offered at the meeting between the Minister for Children and Education and the Chairman and Chief Executive of the Scottish Qualifications Authority on 25 July 2000 or whether the offer were unrestricted, and whether the offer was conditional and, if so, what the conditions were.
Answer
I asked the Chairman and Chief Executive of the Scottish Qualifications Authority to tell me what additional resources they needed. I placed no restriction on the amount which I would be prepared to consider making available, and no conditions were attached.
- 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 22 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 statement on the need for the truth of this year's events to be impartially evaluated and his commitment that all necessary documents will be made available to the Parliamentary Committees carrying out investigations, whether the Committees will have access to all documents in order to decide which are necessary or whether the Executive will decide what documents to make available, and by what date all documents will be made available to the Committees.
Answer
As I indicated in my responses to questions following my statement on 6 September, I wish to be as helpful as possible in providing information to the Education, Culture and Sport Committee which is relevant to their inquiry into the issues surrounding the issue of examination results by the Scottish Qualifications Agency. A substantial volume of documents has been provided to the committee today and I believe that these will enable them to establish the relevant facts. It is not the practice of the Scottish Executive to make available advice from officials to Ministers.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 August 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 21 September 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive how many civil servants are employed by each department of the Scottish Executive.
Answer
The full-time equivalent of permanent staff employed in the main departments between 1 June 1997 in the Scottish Office and 1 February 2000 in the Scottish Executive are set out in the attached table.In the past three years, the definition of the core Scottish Executive (Scottish Office) has changed with movements of responsibilities into and out of the Office/Executive. The figures shown below have been backdated as far as possible for comparison purposes. Therefore, the Scottish Courts Administration and Parole Board staff (135 staff at February 2000) have been included within the core Office/Executive throughout the period, although the actual transfer of staff took place in July 1999.
| | 1/4/97 | 1/6/97 | 1/4/98 | 1/4/99 | 1/2/2000 |
| Scottish Office/Executive | 3,611.2 | 3,556.5 | 3,570.3 | 3,677.6 | 3,926.0 |
| Crown Office | 1,104.0 | 1,072.7 | 1,112.0 | 1,084.0 | 1,089.7 |
| Scottish Courts Service | 816.0 | 819.4 | 828.0 | 833.0 | 854.4 |
| Scottish Prison Service | 4,510.0 | 4,359.7 | 4,723.0 | 4,824.0 | 4,824.0 |
| Agencies | | | | | |
| Fisheries Research Services | 205.9 | 227.9 | 227.0 | 256.5 | 257.9 |
| Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency | 254.0 | 257.0 | 255.6 | 274.9 | 274.5 |
| Scottish Agricultural Science Agency | 123.0 | 122.7 | 121.0 | 114.3 | 127.4 |
| Scottish Public Pensions Agency | 153.1 | 151.1 | 143.5 | 139.5 | 152.6 |
| Historic Scotland | 587.0 | 603.4 | 626.8 | 622.3 | 630.8 |
| Student Awards Agency for Scotland | 120.3 | 124.2 | 125.8 | 126.8 | 122.8 |
| Others (inc. Associated Depts.) | | | | | |
| National Archives of Scotland | 119.1 | 120.2 | 112.9 | 114.2 | 119.2 |
| General Register Office | 206.8 | 205.8 | 202.4 | 214.4 | 235.4 |
| Registers of Scotland | 1,063.0 | 1,044.7 | 1045.0 | 1,057.0 | 1,268.8 |
76 staff have transferred to the Scotland Office since its formation.It should be noted that although a number of staff from other public sector organisations are on loan/secondment to the Executive, they remain employees of the parent organisation.
