- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 September 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 20 October 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many homes have been built in each of the last five years on land owned by (a) it, (b) the Ministry of Defence, (c) Executive agencies, (d) non-departmental public bodies and (e) any other public body.
Answer
I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:
The information requested is not held centrally. Records of previous owners are available through the Register of Sasines/Land Register, but that only highlights the sale of the land from seller to purchaser and not the subsequent number of homes constructed on this land.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 September 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 18 October 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is aware that the water supply for the communities at Ardgour and Clovullin has been contaminated with cryptosporidium since the end of August 2004 and that there has been no potable supply of water since that date; what steps Scottish Water has taken, and is taking, to address the situation; how it will now provide a clean water supply; why Scottish Water did not supply bottled water immediately after the discovery of cryptosporidium; who was responsible for taking the decision not to supply bottled water, and whether such a decision was taken to save costs.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is aware that the Consultant in Public Health Medicine (CPHM) for Highland NHS Board has required Scottish Water to issue advice to its customers in Ardgour to boil their drinking water because of high levels of Cryptosporidium in the supply. Boiling the water makes it safe to drink but Scottish Water is also supplying bottled water to customers in the area with special needs. Customers with special needs are identified by the local authority and the NHS Board.
Scottish Water has plans in its current investment programme to improve the Ardgour supply but these are not scheduled to be complete until 2005. The plans involve a sub-sea pipeline under Loch Linnhe and although Scottish Water is looking at how these plans can be accelerated, this may not be possible due to technical difficulties.
Scottish Water continues to liaise with the CPHM regarding the Boil Water Notice which will stay in place until the level of Cryptosporidium in the supply falls to an acceptable level.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 September 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 14 October 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether Communities Scotland’s policy in respect of affordable housing enables land in private ownership to be used for this purpose and, if not, what policy changes it will make.
Answer
I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:
Communities Scotland operates a number of grant schemes for affordable housing and in many cases housing investment is used to fund house construction and rehabilitation on land that is privately owned, by RSLs, developers or individuals, for example, via Housing Association Grant, GRO Grants for Owner Occupation and the Rural Home Ownership Grant scheme.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 September 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 13 October 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, following reports in The Herald on 17 September 2004, what its policy is in respect of the costs of landslide prevention and maintenance of land prone to landslide that is adjacent to adopted roads including trunk roads and, in particular, whether it will meet any costs incurred by landowners in this regard and, if so, which costs and on what basis.
Answer
Following the major landslips which occurred during August 2004, the Executive has commissioned a study to consider the whole impact of landslips on trunk roads in Scotland. Part of the study will review what mitigation measures might be possible and will also consider the implications of such mitigation measures including the responsibilities and potential liabilities of landowners.
Until the findings of the study have been reported, it is too early to indicate what the financial implications of any mitigation measures might be and where the responsibility for implementing such measures might lie.
Local authorities have a general duty to deal with emergencies such as flooding, and there is no automatic entitlement to special assistance. In exceptional circumstances, authorities can apply under the Bellwin Scheme for emergency assistance to meet any undue financial burden. The Bellwin Scheme was activated following the recent landslips and any claims for eligible expenditure will be considered by the Scottish Executive when they are received.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 17 September 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 12 October 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the quality of civil service advice in respect of the Holyrood project given to the Minister for Finance and the First Minister in the Scottish Executive would have been impaired had it been made public at the time.
Answer
It is a long-standing convention of government that internal opinion, advice, recommendation and deliberation should not be disclosed, as to do so could harm the frankness and candour of internal discussion. The advice to ministers referred to was provided on the basis of that convention.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 06 August 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 11 October 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether its proposals regarding a beef national envelope were supported by the Scottish Association of Meat Wholesalers (SAMW), and/or Quality Meat Scotland (QMS); if so, whether the Executive asked SAMW and/or QMS whether their support followed any form of consultation of their members and, if it did not so ask, whether it was aware that there had not been such consultation; if so, whether it will recommend that there should be such consultation and, if so, or in the event that SAMW and/or QMS carry out such a consultation, whether the Executive will take account of its outcome by amending its proposals prior to their introduction on 1 January 2005.
Answer
Copies of responses from the SAMW and QMS to the main CAP Reform consultation, which included a question on use of the national envelope, are available from the Scottish Executive library. A summary of all the responses to that consultation is also on the Scottish Executive website at
www.scotland.gov.uk. SAMW and QMS were among a number of stakeholders represented on the group that was set up to discuss the envelope. Membership consultation is purely a matter for eachindividual organisation to decide. The Executive has no intention of amending thedecision to have a national envelope in the beef sector.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 September 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 5 October 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it will take to provide bilingual signage on roads in Gaelic and English, in particular on the A9.The member has provided the following Gaelic translation: A dh’ fhaighneachd de Riaghaltas na h-Alba dh tha e a’ dol a dhhanamh gus soidhnichean-rathaid d`-ch`nanach a chur suas anns a’ Gh`idhlig agus anns a’ Bheurla, gu h-`raid air an A9.
Answer
Bilingual signing has beenprovided on the A830, A887 and A87 (Skye and the mainland) as part of a commitmentgiven in June 2003 to sign a number of highland routes. A contract has justbeen awarded for the A835. Bilingualroad signs will be provided on the remaining agreed routes by 2008, namely:
A828 Ballachulish to Connel Bridge
A85 Tyndrum to Oban
A83 Tarbet to Kennacraig/Campbeltown
A82 Tarbet to Inverness
Our bilingual signagestrategy has been agreed jointly with Highland Council and at present onlyinvolves routes which travel through Gaelic speaking communities. There arecurrently no plans to erect bilingual signs on the A9.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 23 August 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 1 October 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether its policy in regard to the provision of substantive answers to written parliamentary questions is to provide complete and direct answers to the questions asked.
Answer
Questions are considered very carefully with the aim of providing substantive and indeed helpful answers to the points raised. To a large extent the relevance of the answer depends on the clarity of the question.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 17 September 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 1 October 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to introduce more openness into the advice given by civil servants to ministers and whether it will seek to amend the 30-year rule and, if so, whether advice should be published in a shorter period and what that period should be.
Answer
Once the Freedom of Information Act (Scotland) 2002 is fully implemented in January 2005, the 30-year rule will no longer apply. Each request for information will thereafter be considered on an individual basis and within the framework provided by the act.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 September 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 29 September 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it supports the use of single crewed ambulances deployed on the instructions of the Scottish Ambulance Service.
Answer
Where the Scottish Ambulance Service assesses that an area should be served by an accident and emergency unit, then a double crewed unit is what should be provided. There may be circumstances where, for example, a member of staff reports sick at short notice and the service is unable to secure a relief member. In these circumstances, a single-crewed unit may be used. Such cases should only arise in the most exceptional of circumstances. Where a single-crewed unit isdeployed, a double-crewed vehicle will also be dispatched where required. Themember is aware that I have recently written to the Chairman of the ScottishAmbulance Service to make it clear that I expect to see service improvementdelivered to urban and rural areas of Scotland in equal measure and that there should be a reduction in the number of occasions when a single crewed ambulance is dispatched.
