- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 04 June 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 12 October 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to seek information from Her Majesty's Government on any derogations from the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (91/271/EEC) which were sought for areas of high natural dispersion and, if so, whether it will make this information available.
Answer
I understand that Her Majesty's Government submitted an application to the European Commission for a derogation under the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive for the discharge from Aberdeen in February 1998. The UK withdrew the application after discussions with the European Commission and other Member States who indicated that they would not support such a proposal.Ireland also sought derogation for more time to implement treatment for two of their discharges although these applications did not relate to areas of high natural dispersion. It also withdrew its proposal following similar discussions.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 04 June 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 12 October 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to publish a map of the European Union showing those areas in respect of which valid derogations have been granted from the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (91/271/EEC) as areas of high natural dispersion.
Answer
The Scottish Office published a map showing high natural dispersion areas around Scotland in October 1998 and I have arranged for a copy to be placed in the Scottish Parliamentary Information Centre. There are no derogations from the requirement for secondary treatment in place for the UK at present. I understand the European Commission has published a map of the European Union showing high natural dispersion areas. There are no derogations shown.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 September 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 11 October 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will seek to prohibit the use of "upward only" provisions in rent review clauses in commercial leases and, if it has no immediate plans to do so, whether it will consult as to the present and future impact of "upward only" provisions in rent review clauses in commercial leases, in particular with regard to secondary retail locations whose business is affected by the growth in modern shopping centres.
Answer
There are no plans at present to seek to prohibit the use of "upward only" provisions in rent review clauses in commercial leases nor is there an intention to consult on this matter.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 September 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 11 October 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will amend the law relating to the expiry of commercial leases to give tenants the opportunity to continue trading from premises on a new lease after expiry and, if it has no immediate plans to do so, whether it will consult regarding the factors involved in providing more opportunity for tenants of commercial premises to have continuity of trading from the premises they rent.
Answer
There are currently no plans to amend the law relating to security of tenure on the expiry of commercial leases in Scotland, nor do we intend to consult on such matters as these are primarily for individual tenants and their landlords to negotiate when drawing up leasehold contracts.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 03 September 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 8 October 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will re-examine the scientific or other evidence on which the present biological limits of amnesic shellfish poisoning are based in order to determine whether these limits may safely be lowered.
Answer
The action limit for ASP is set by the EU. The maximum permitted toxin level is set out in EU Directive (97/61/EC) which came into force on 29 October 1997. There are currently no proposals to change the limit.
- 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 7 October 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-140 by Donald Dewar on 6 July, whether it will define, describe and elucidate the circumstances in which it may be appropriate for the Westminster Parliament to consider legislation about devolved matters.
Answer
The approach taken for a particular piece of legislation will depend on the circumstances of that legislation. The normal expectation is that legislation about devolved matters will be enacted by the Scottish Parliament. Before agreeing to the inclusion of provisions about devolved matters in a UK Bill, the Scottish Executive will wish to be convinced that the advantages of proceeding with a UK Bill justify such an approach. Where necessary the consent of the Scottish Parliament will be sought.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 09 August 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Donald Dewar on 7 October 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will implement the recommendations by Professor Crick and David Millar in "To make the Parliament of Scotland a model for democracy", prepared for the John Wheatley Centre, with regard to the procedures applicable to public appointments.
Answer
Scottish Ministers are committed to ensuring that appointments to public bodies conform to the Commissioner for Public Appointments' Guidance. The Guidance took into account all the recommendations on public appointments made by Lord Nolan and his Committee, and in particular, those referring to independent scrutiny. The Commissioner keeps the Guidance under constant review.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 03 September 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 5 October 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide increased assistance for scientists in charge of monitoring amnesic shellfish poisoning, particularly at this time of year and for increased efforts to identify the root cause of the problem.
Answer
The monitoring programme is undertaken by the Marine Laboratory, Aberdeen. The necessary resources to undertake this work are provided by the Scottish Executive. There are no proposals to change the monitoring or research funding arrangements as a result of this incident.The Monitoring and Research programme is routinely reviewed each year, and any necessary changes made to reflect shifts in priorities.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 September 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Henry McLeish on 5 October 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish the annual grant funding received by Inverness College for each year from 1993-94 to 1998-89 in (a) cash terms and (b) adjusted to take account of inflation.
Answer
The recurrent grant funding including bursary, restructuring and strategic funding made available to Inverness College in cash and real terms (at 1997-1998 prices) is set out in the table below.
| | Cash | Real Terms |
| 1993-94 | 6,127,684 | £6,755,693 |
| 1994-95 | 6,527,970 | £7,095,620 |
| 1995-96 | 6,446,217 | £6,808,497 |
| 1996-97 | 6,004,983 | £6,153,340 |
| 1997-98 | 7,210,500 | £7,210,500 |
| 1998-99 | 7,066,400 | £6,894,049 |
Additionally, £1,457,000 in capital grants has been made available to the College over the 4-year period 1993-1994 to 1996-1997.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 September 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Henry McLeish on 5 October 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the incorporation of further education colleges in 1993 led, in comparison with the previous system, to additional costs and, if so, whether it will outline these costs.
Answer
Colleges incurred certain additional costs as a consequence of incorporation, such as the costs of finance, administration and other services previously provided by local authorities. But there were also cost savings, such as local authorities' central administration recharges, capital financing charges and mandatory rating relief. All of those factors, together with known new expenditure commitments such as inherited property costs, loans, rates etc were fully taken into account in setting colleges' grant allocations for 1993-1994.In addition, grants totalling £2.5 million were provided to the colleges in 1992-1993 to assist them in meeting preparatory costs.
