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Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S1W-07038

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 22 May 2000
Current Status: Answered by Henry McLeish on 2 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it has already taken to make enterprise education available to every primary school child and what steps it will take to make it available in the school year 2000-01.

At least one teacher in 80% of primary schools in Scotland has undertaken some training in delivering enterprise education. There are currently no plans to make enterprise education available to all primary schools in 2000-01. The curriculum in Scotland is not prescribed by statute but enterprise education can be delivered as part of a number of areas of the curriculum including, in particular, Environmental Studies.

Question reference: S1W-07045

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 22 May 2000
Current Status: Answered by Henry McLeish on 2 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what methodology it uses in calculating the number of new businesses and whether bank statistics and VAT registration are taken into account in the calculation.

Question reference: S1W-07041

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 22 May 2000
Current Status: Answered by Henry McLeish on 2 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive, with regard to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor which indicates that an increased incidence of entrepreneurship among the total population of a country leads to a higher level of economic growth, what measures it will take to increase the level of entrepreneurship in Scotland and whether any such measures will be targeted at school pupils.

We have a number of positive measures in hand to encourage and increase the level of entrepreneurship in Scotland, including initiatives targeted at school pupils. The Education for Work and Enterprise agenda covers a wide range of school-based and other activities which are designed to raise awareness of the role of enterprise and entrepreneurship. For example, Scottish Enterprise Lanarkshire Business Partnership has supported a range of enterprise activities designed to support the 5-14 curriculum. These include a "Mini Enterprise" programme for primary schools in Lanarkshire. In addition, the Achievers International programme supports the development of entrepreneurial skills through the innovative use of information technology.

Scottish Enterprise has also published a discussion paper detailing the progress made under the Business Birth Rate Strategy since its launch in 1993, and we are continuing to work with Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise in improving their support for enterprise and business creation.

Question reference: S1W-07044

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 22 May 2000
Current Status: Answered by Henry McLeish on 2 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what its estimate is of the number of jobs created or preserved by each of its task forces since July 1999.

Question reference: S1W-07039

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 22 May 2000
Current Status: Answered by Henry McLeish on 2 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive in what ways it supports the work of The National Centre: Education for Work and Enterprise at Strathclyde University and whether it will offer further assistance.

The Executive were very heavily involved in the establishment of the National Centre in 1998. It came into being following an initiative by Brian Wilson MP who was then Minister for Education and Industry at the Scottish Office. The Executive continues to support the centre through core funding. There are no immediate plans to offer further financial support. Officials are in regular contact with the centre management to discuss on-going strategic and operational matters. It is anticipated that the good working relationship which exists between the Executive and the centre will continue.

Question reference: S1W-04568

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 18 February 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 31 May 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will investigate the activities of Scottish National Heritage (SNH) regarding the proposed designation of Sites of Special Scientific Interest on Berneray, with particular regard to the duties of SNH to take into account under the National Heritage (Scotland) Act 1991 the interests of communities and social and economic development.

No. The designation of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) is the responsibility of SNH, which has a statutory duty under section 28 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 to notify land which, in its opinion, is of special scientific interest.Under the 1991 Act, in exercising its functions, SNH has a duty to take "such account as may be appropriate" of the interests of local communities and the need for social and economic development. However, where SNH is notifying an area of land as an SSSI and the scientific case for that land has been established, it is appropriate that SNH take no account of other factors.I am currently considering what future changes to the SSSI system may be desirable to ensure that we secure the protection of the natural heritage in a way which is effective and which takes account of communities' views.

Question reference: S1W-02742

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 November 1999
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 25 May 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will ensure that the concerns expressed by the Ness District Fishing Board in their submissions to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency dated 29 October 1999 have been investigated prior to the commencement of any development work at Urquhart Castle.

Historic Scotland has investigated the concerns raised by the Ness District Fishing Board in their submission to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency. A written response was submitted to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency which was taken into account by them in determining the application for a discharge consent. The discharge consent was issued by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency on 1 March 2000.

Question reference: S1W-06652

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 May 2000
Current Status: Answered by Jack McConnell on 23 May 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive how much non-domestic rating income (a) it calculated should be distributed to and (b) was collected by each local authority in each of the last five years.

The amounts of non-domestic rate income distributed to local authorities in each of the last five years, and collected by local authorities for years 1996-97 to 1998-99 are shown in the following table. Figures are not yet available for 1999-2000 and 2000-01 collections:

Council	1996-97		1997-98		1998-99
	Distributed	Collected	Distributed	Collected	Distributed	Collected
Aberdeen City	56,050,000	86,909,230	56,571,000	92,077,265	59,112,000	101,318,328
Aberdeenshire	57,834,000	44,835,817	58,484,000	45,794,645	61,879,000	49,466,288
Angus	28,589,000	17,881,385	28,856,000	17,667,960	30,141,000	19,568,920
Argyll & Bute	23,409,000	24,905,858	23,574,000	23,925,238	24,716,000	28,299,338
Clackmannanshire	12,497,000	10,409,625	12,604,000	10,604,813	13,280,000	10,495,047
Dumfries & Galloway	37,812,000	27,831,687	38,184,000	31,037,389	40,159,000	31,789,211
Dundee City	38,695,000	39,584,602	38,987,000	39,377,604	40,880,000	42,071,071
East Ayrshire	31,608,000	16,508,548	31,784,000	20,644,896	33,289,000	21,876,160
East Dunbartonshire	28,308,000	14,695,817	28,691,000	14,936,428	30,133,000	14,797,539
East Lothian	22,206,000	24,079,491	22,624,000	24,224,075	23,981,000	24,911,565
East Renfrewshire	22,314,000	9,699,357	22,758,000	8,102,884	23,965,000	10,126,348
Edinburgh, City of	113,487,000	169,526,631	115,545,000	179,348,233	122,123,000	186,151,389
Eilean Siar	7,498,000	4,482,845	7,497,000	4,636,830	7,858,000	4,632,944
Falkirk	36,464,000	45,196,145	36,867,000	41,533,242	38,918,000	44,466,106
Fife	90,079,000	99,952,162	90,774,000	93,983,725	95,038,000	101,297,014
Glasgow City	159,507,000	219,409,650	159,662,000	203,939,379	167,718,000	231,326,059
Highland	53,085,000	51,131,606	53,777,000	50,237,633	56,783,000	53,075,991
Inverclyde*	22,866,000	14,111,817	22,897,000	15,684,943	23,698,000	16,455,511
Midlothian	20,469,000	11,729,201	20,623,000	11,998,115	21,777,000	12,994,938
Moray	22,347,000	18,100,377	22,500,000	19,300,029	23,538,000	19,672,200
North Ayrshire	35,584,000	34,462,286	36,020,000	35,580,437	37,961,000	36,854,012
North Lanarkshire*	83,596,000	63,138,676	84,355,000	56,933,088	88,682,000	68,164,545
Orkney	5,068,000	5,962,906	5,130,000	5,639,008	5,387,000	6,209,691
Perth & Kinross	33,770,000	31,684,643	34,290,000	32,776,628	36,070,000	32,924,976
Renfrewshire*	45,318,000	43,513,331	46,042,000	44,499,634	48,580,000	46,023,557
Scottish Borders	27,042,000	16,299,596	27,418,000	17,340,330	28,868,000	18,548,281
Shetland	5,853,000	15,915,411	5,961,000	14,235,802	6,263,000	12,351,868
South Ayrshire	29,257,000	25,664,737	29,579,000	26,253,041	31,189,000	28,296,107
South Lanarkshire	78,671,000	63,847,135	79,367,000	57,732,714	83,651,000	69,496,242
Stirling	20,983,000	23,350,956	21,242,000	23,435,752	22,515,000	26,955,963
West Dunbartonshire*	24,857,000	20,572,119	24,859,000	22,853,790	26,054,000	22,396,416
West Lothian	37,912,000	36,658,220	38,607,000	40,843,193	41,022,000	44,096,478

* 1998-99 audited figures not yet available - figures based on most recent estimate of NDR collected by councils.

Council	1999-2000	2000-01
	Distributed	Distributed
Aberdeen City	60,723,000	69,193,000
Aberdeenshire	63,678,000	73,477,000
Angus	30,998,000	35,745,000
Argyll & Bute	25,464,000	29,221,000
Clackmannanshire	13,726,000	15,770,000
Dumfries & Galloway	41,423,000	47,835,000
Dundee City	41,879,000	47,637,000
East Ayrshire	34,266,000	39,391,000
East Dunbartonshire	31,178,000	35,582,000
East Lothian	25,028,000	29,087,000
East Renfrewshire	24,916,000	28,571,000
Edinburgh, City of	126,547,000	146,193,000
Eilean Siar	7,942,000	9,073,000
Falkirk	40,273,000	46,799,000
Fife	97,975,000	113,303,000
Glasgow City	172,008,000	201,238,000
Highland	58,661,000	67,644,000
Inverclyde	24,325,000	27,733,000
Midlothian	22,688,000	26,259,000
Moray	24,193,000	27,886,000
North Ayrshire	39,308,000	45,354,000
North Lanarkshire	91,822,000	106,100,000
Orkney	5,579,000	6,349,000
Perth & Kinross	37,472,000	43,204,000
Renfrewshire	50,129,000	57,749,000
Scottish Borders	29,865,000	34,520,000
Shetland	6,474,000	7,440,000
South Ayrshire	32,303,000	37,164,000
South Lanarkshire	86,431,000	99,651,000
Stirling	23,504,000	29,996,000
West Dunbartonshire	26,909,000	30,812,000
West Lothian	42,835,000	49,715,000

Question reference: S1W-01650

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 September 1999
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 22 May 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has for the future of British Waterways in Scotland, and whether it has any plans to change the role of (a) the board of management of British Waterways and (b) British Waterways as they affect Scotland.

I would refer to my answer to question S1W-1652. It is proposed that British Waterways (BW) should continue to manage, subject to satisfactory performance, the Scottish canal network as it does at present and that, subject to the agreement of the Scottish and Westminster Parliaments, a number of new and distinctive features will be introduced to ensure appropriate accountability to the Scottish Executive in its future role as Government sponsor of BW's activities in Scotland.

Question reference: S1W-06421

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 April 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 22 May 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether, if it established a Highlands and Islands transport authority, it would be possible to enable it to purchase petrol and diesel for resale to motor vehicle users in the Highlands and Islands; if so, whether it would give the authority such a function and what budget it would make available to enable the authority to fulfil this function.