- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 13 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Frank McAveety on 10 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will intervene to ensure that the Highland Football Academy receives the funding committed by sportscotland.
Answer
No intervention is required.Funding awarded by sportscotland is being paid out under the terms andconditions of the award.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 27 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by George Reid on 10 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether the terms of clause 1.5.4 of the contract between it and EMBT/RMJM, that makes provision for the cost of travel to and from the United Kingdom and Barcelona, have been implemented and not departed from or breached.
Answer
The convener of the HolyroodProgress Group has confirmed that at no time have we paid EMBT/RMJM for thecost of travel between offices, whether in the UK or Barcelona.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 27 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by George Reid on 10 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether (a) it, (b) the office of the Presiding Officer, (c) the Chief Executive of the Parliament or (d) the Holyrood Project Group has been advised that the practical completion of the Holyrood project is not likely to be by the intended date of July 2004 and, if so, from whom such advice has been received and whether it will be made public.
Answer
The Scottish ParliamentaryCorporate Body , the Presiding Officer, the Chief Executive and the HolyroodProgress Group, rely on advice from the Construction Manager about the achievabilityof the programme for building completion. The convener of the HolyroodProgress Group has informed me the latest advice from Bovis is that the Julytarget date is achievable. That advice was made public in Parliamentary News Release010/2004 on Tuesday 24 February about the last report to the Finance Committee.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 26 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 9 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the 30-day target for payment of invoices applies to (a) non-departmental public bodies, (b) agencies and (c) housing associations and whether the statistics published by the Executive in respect of the proportion of invoices paid within the 30-day period includes such bodies.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is committed to paying all valid invoices within 30 days of their dateof receipt. Non departmental public bodies, agencies and housing associationsdevelop and follow their own prompt payment policies.
The payment performancestatistics published in the Scottish Executive’s Core Accounts relate only toScottish Executive core departments. Other bodies are responsible forthe reporting of their own payment performance data through their own annual reports.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 26 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 9 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether, in exercising its powers to shoot deer under the Deer (Scotland) Act 1996, it has acted at all times in accordance with health and safety requirements, with particular regard to the possible presence of walkers in the area of the cull.
Answer
I am satisfied that the DeerCommission for Scotland (DCS), in exercising its powers under the Deer(Scotland) Act 1996, has at all times acted in accordance with best practice andhealth and safety requirements, in particular with regard to the possiblepresence of walkers in the area of the cull.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 9 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what the reasons are for the delay in the announcement of the fallen stock scheme; why it will not introduce such a scheme in Scotland ahead of any scheme in England and Wales, and what the reasons are for not introducing a scheme for the collection and disposal of fallen stock before autumn 2004.
Answer
Further time is needed tofinalise arrangements for members’ subscriptions, obtain state aids clearanceand to put in place the practical arrangements with the collection and disposalindustry.
The difficulties of settingup a Scottish Scheme are the same as those for the UK scheme. Furthermorea Scottish scheme would be much more expensive for our producers as it couldnot benefit from the economies of scale which the UK Scheme should deliver.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 January 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 27 February 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking, or plans to take, to improve the time within which housing associations pay their bills to suppliers; whether each such association publishes a record of the percentage of bills paid within 30 days and, if not, whether the Executive will require them to do so.
Answer
I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive, Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is asfollows:
Registered Social Landlords(RSLs) are regulated and inspected by Communities Scotland. Communities Scotlanddoes not, however, get involved in the different payment arrangements thatexist between individual RSLs and their suppliers.
RSLs are independentbusinesses and it is up to the RSL to agree the terms of any contract enteredinto with a supplier; payment terms will differ from supplier to supplier.
The Confederation of BritishIndustry Prompt Payers Code encourages payment within the suppliers terms andthe Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 encourages creditorsto pay within the terms of their contract and allows a right to claim interestfrom all businesses for late payment of bills.
As the regulator, we expectRSLs to pay contractors promptly, within the terms of the contract. During ourperiodic inspections, we will examine how well an RSL is performing in thisarea. If we find that an RSL is making late payments without due cause then wewould investigate this and expect the RSL to take corrective action.
There are no plans to requireRSLs to publish a record of how promptly they pay their suppliers.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 02 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by George Reid on 26 February 2004
To ask the Presiding Officer which west of Scotland companies the Presiding Officer was referring to in his speech to the Parliament on 5 April 2000 when he assured the Parliament that such companies were to “manufacture off site everything from the concrete MSP office modules to the specialist windows”; why this assurance was given to the Parliament; who advised the Presiding Officer that this was the case; where the information referred to was obtained; what contact has been made with the firms in question, and whether any apology is due to them and, if so, by whom.
Answer
In his evidence to theHolyrood Inquiry on 4 February, Sir David Steel gave a full explanation about thecomments he made on 5 April 2000 concerning “firms in the west of Scotland”. Atranscript of Sir David’s statement is available on the Holyrood Inquirywebsite.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 11 December 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 24 February 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received the study into autism involving Autism Unravelled, Action Against Autism, Food and Behaviour Research, Oxford and Stirling universities and the Rowett Research Institute in Aberdeen.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has not received such a study into autism.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 January 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 23 February 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive at what point in the negotiations at the December EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council the UK delegation ceased to make the requirement that the 10% reduction in the west of Scotland nephrops quota, introduced at the December 2000 Council, be reinstated and why this was not pursued as a key requirement.
Answer
We believe that there is a crediblescientific argument for restoring the 10% cut in the West of Scotland nephrops totalallowable catch (TAC). However, our arguments were hampered because thescientific advice from the International Council for the Exploration of theSeas (ICES) does not currently support such an increase and associated catchstatistics suggest that the industry does not catch its existing quota in full.
