- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 September 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Donald Dewar on 22 February 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-222 by Donald Dewar on 9 August, whether it will define, describe and elucidate the nature of the specialism of each of its Special Advisers and whether such specialisms exist within the civil service.
Answer
Special Advisers are not appointed as subject specialists but to give broad advice, including political advice, to Ministers on the development of Government policy and its effective implementation. The specialist nature of their role is that it encompasses the giving of political advice which is not a function of the impartial civil service.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 February 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Henry McLeish on 22 February 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any application for grant assistance made by the National Trust for Scotland to a local enterprise company will be considered in accordance with the same criteria as those governing applications by private businesses and, in particular, whether the rules regarding displacement of existing jobs and businesses will be applied in the same way to any application by the National Trust as they would be to an application by a private business.
Answer
Any application for financial assistance made by the National Trust for Scotland to a local enterprise company would be appraised according to the same criteria as applies to other financial assistance cases or development projects promoted by private companies. One of the main elements of any project appraisal will be the test of cost-effectiveness which will assess value for money in securing benefits such as employment creation taking into account the effect of displacement elsewhere in the economy.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 13 January 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Henry McLeish on 22 February 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will give concrete examples and specific instances of its implementing policies to (a) encourage the transformation of ideas from their science base into successful businesses; (b) promote an entrepreneurial culture through school activities; (c) develop Scotland's knowledge economy; (d) promote the use of technology throughout all types of business, and (e) seek to minimise the regulatory burden on business to ensure that small businesses do not face inappropriate regulations, and in each case to estimate in respect of each of the next ten years how many extra businesses will be created.
Answer
As the answer to this question is lengthy I will write to Mr Ewing, and will ensure that a copy of my response is placed in SPICe.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 February 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 21 February 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-3768 by Mr Jack McConnell on 28 January 2000, whether it will state with which business representative bodies he met and, of these, with which he discussed the proposed setting of the business rate poundage for Scotland at a higher level than that in England.
Answer
I met and discussed issues related to the forthcoming non-domestic rates revaluation in Scotland with The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in Scotland, The Federation of Small Businesses, The Scottish Chambers of Commerce, The Confederation of British Industry in Scotland, The Scottish Valuation and Rating Council, The Chemical Industries Association, Scottish Financial Enterprise and The Scottish Retail Consortium.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 07 February 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 18 February 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received the report Economic Impacts of Road Fuel Prices in the Highlands and Islands of January 2000 by EKOS Ltd, commissioned by Highland Council and Highlands and Islands Enterprise and, if so, whether it accepts the findings of the Report and in particular the comparisons between (a) the average weekly expenditure per household in the Highlands and Islands on motoring costs including purchase, maintenance, insurance and tax and motor fuel and elsewhere in Scotland and the UK; (b) the average cost of motor fuel in the Highlands and Islands and the Scottish and UK averages; (c) the average age of private vehicles in the Highlands and Islands and elsewhere in the UK; (d) income levels in the Highlands and Islands and elsewhere in the UK, and (e) the real purchasing power of residents of the Highlands and Islands and that of the Scottish and UK population.
Answer
We have a copy of the EKOS report Economic Impacts of Road Fuel Prices in the Highlands and Islands and have no reason to doubt the figures presented. We recognise that higher fuel costs remains a matter of considerable concern for those living and working in rural areas and are committed to building on the current initiatives, including the £90 million Public Transport Fund and the £14 million Rural Transport Fund. The latter fund has supported over 300 new or improved bus services, over 70 community transport projects, and assistance for petrol station tank and pump replacement.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 February 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Henry McLeish on 17 February 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive when the Scottish Utilities Forum will next meet, and whether it will discuss methods by which utilities operating in Scotland will be encouraged to remove any premiums or other charges which may discourage the use of "green" energy among lower income consumers.
Answer
The Scottish Utilities Forum will meet on 21 March. The Forum, which has been established by the private sector utilities in Scotland as a result of their participation in Pathfinders to the Scottish Parliament, will set its own agenda. I expect, however, that the promotion of renewable energy in Scotland, and issues of concern to low-income consumers are topics that will be addressed during its deliberations.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 February 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sam Galbraith on 17 February 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any Ministers have visited or intend to visit the Millennium Dome as part of their official duties and, if so, what lessons they learned or hope to learn from such a visit.
Answer
To date, no Scottish Ministers have visited the Dome in their official capacity, and there are currently no firm proposals for them to do so. However, it is possible that opportunities may arise for Scottish Ministers to visit the Dome later in the year.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 February 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 17 February 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make available to all those applicants under the Agricultural Business Improvement Schemes whose applications were not met in full, details of any proposals which it has or will bring forward for a new programme under the European development funding programme for the next five years designed to achieve the same aims as those of the original Agricultural Business Improvement Schemes.
Answer
Details of the proposed Highlands and Islands Special Transitional Programme, which includes proposed grant assistance to farmers and crofters, are already in the public domain. A copy has been lodged with the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 February 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by John Home Robertson on 17 February 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made with the proposals on infectious salmon anaemia, referred to in the Ministerial Statement of 15 December 1999 as having been submitted to the European Commission, in providing greater flexibility in handling the clearance of fish and in reviewing the criteria for how and when suspect sites should be designated; whether it has met with the Commissioner to discuss these proposals and, if not, whether it intends so to do, and when it will make an announcement to the Parliament as to the outcome of these discussions.
Answer
The formal Commission proposal to amend the relevant EC legislation to allow greater flexibility in clearance of fish from infected farms will be discussed in the European Parliament Fisheries Committee on 22 February prior to likely consideration at a plenary session of the Parliament on 1 March. Depending on the comments made, the current plan is to table the matter for discussion at a Council Meeting later that month. I will advise Members of the outcome in due course. Meanwhile consideration of how the flexibility will be exercised and the review of site designations are ongoing. Preliminary discussions on the latter have been held with the European Commission.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 February 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 16 February 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make representations to Her Majesty's Government that additional "agrimoney" compensation be paid to Scottish families this year, whether it will place in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre copies of such representations, and whether it will provide details of how much compensation will be paid.
Answer
The precise amounts of agrimonetary compensation available to UK milk producers as well as other agricultural sectors have yet to be determined. These will not be known until the European Commission publishes a regulation later this month. Payments must be made on a UK wide basis. I am therefore liaising closely with other UK Agricultural Ministers and there is a clear understanding of the issues involved. I will inform the Parliament of the decision on payment at the appropriate time.
