- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 02 October 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 17 October 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will take any steps to promote the continuance and survival of community radio stations.
Answer
Broadcasting is a reserved matterand is the responsibility of the Department for Media, Culture and Sport (DCMS).
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 02 October 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 17 October 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is aware of charges being faced by community radio stations in respect of broadcasting over the web; whether it will take any steps to protect community radio from the financial consequences of any such charges; whether it considers that any legislative reform should be made to protect community radio from such charges, and what representations it has made to Ofcom on these matters.
Answer
Broadcasting is a reserved matterand is the responsibility of the Department for Media, Culture and Sport (DCMS).
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 02 October 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 17 October 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has had any contact with community radio stations such as Lochbroom FM, Oban FM, Argyll FM, Caithness FM, Nevis Radio, Speysound Community Radio, Isles FM, Ross FM, Two Lochs Radio, Cuillin FM and Ness Community Radio and whether it has any concerns that the existence of any of these community radio stations could be jeopardised by the impact of charges made by Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL) and the Performing Right Society (PRS).
Answer
Broadcasting is a reserved matterand is the responsibility of the Department for Media, Culture and Sport (DCMS).
The Phonographic PerformanceLtd (PPL) is a not for profit organisation that issues licences to play music inpublic places and collects royalties for the recording companies and performersfor their rights in the sound recording. A PPL licence is therefore required whena radio station plays music or other sound recordings. The Performing Rights Society(PRS) issues licenses and collects royalties for composers and publishers.
Any concerns about the impactof charges by these organisations should be raised with the independent regulatorfor the UK communications industries, Ofcom, through its website at
www.ofcom.org.uk or by writing to Ofcom, RiversideHouse, 2a Southwark Bridge Road, London, SE1 9HA.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 October 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 10 October 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide assurances to the staff of the Crofters Commission that they will not lose their status as civil servants in future and that it will not be within the remit of the inquiry into crofting to propose that the commission should become a non-departmental public body.
Answer
I can give no suchassurance.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 October 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 10 October 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the staff of the Crofters Commission will be represented on the committee of inquiry on the future of crofting.
Answer
Decisions about thestructure and membership of the committee of inquiry have yet to be made.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 29 September 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 9 October 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will review its position on classifying the Inverness link route as a trunk road and what the impact of such a classification would be on the Executive’s transport budget.
Answer
The Inverness Southern Distributor Road is a local road and the responsibility of Highland Council.
The Scottish Executive has no plans at present to review the trunk road network.
The possibility of investment on the Inverness Southern Distributor Road, as a regionally significant link, is a matter for Highland Council to discuss with HITRANS in the context of the regional transport strategy.
The Scottish Executive support HITRANS through a capital allocation of £3.53 million in the current financial year (2006-07).
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 6 October 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many times it has met the senior management of Transport Scotland.
Answer
I referthe member to the answer to question S2W-28451on 6 October 2006. All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliaments website, the search facilityfor which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 6 October 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) Executive staff and (b) staff hours were involved in the delivery of functions now carried out by Transport Scotland in the year prior to its establishment.
Answer
There were 110 Scottish Executivestaff working for 178,860 hours on Transport Scotland functions in the year beforeit opened for business in January 2006. There are currently 287 permanent postswithin the agency. Staffing levels have increased because Transport Scotland is dischargingthe new rail responsibilities devolved to Scottish ministers in 2005, dealing withrail delivery, regulation and freight. It is overseeing seven major new public transportprojects. It is also managing the National Concessionary Travel Schemes. Approximately40 staff moved from Strathclyde Partnership for Transport to Transport Scotland to dealwith the implementation of the concessionary fares schemes and SQUIRE Inspection.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 6 October 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive when it last met the senior management of Transport Scotland.
Answer
Transport Scotland staffare Scottish Executive staff. The senior management of Transport Scotland meetsfrequently with other Scottish Executive colleagues. As well as ad hoc meetingsbetween officials, there is also Transport Scotland representation at a widerange of meetings.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 6 October 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what mechanisms it has in place to monitor the output and performance of Transport Scotland.
Answer
Transport Scotland is anexecutive agency of the Scottish Executive, and as such, through its Chief Executive,is directly accountable to Scottish ministers.
Transport Scotland’s FrameworkDocument which was approved by the Minister for Transport is available from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 38523). It sets out how thisaccountability operates in full detail.
Transport Scotland’s CorporatePlan and Annual Business Plan are available on Transport Scotland’s websiteat www.transportscotland.gov.uk.
