- Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 April 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 30 April 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive, following the commitment given on page 1 of the Land Reform Action Plan of August 2003, whether it will publish a report on the diversity of land ownership in Scotland and what it is doing to address the concentrated pattern of private land ownership.
Answer
The Scottish Government has no current plans to publish such a report. We believe that it is still too early to be able to assess fully what the recent package of land reform legislation has achieved for people in rural areas and to report objectively on the diversity of land ownership and the community ownership of land, as was suggested in 2003.
Part 2 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003, which allows rural communities in Scotland the opportunity to register a pre-emptive right to buy land, provides a mechanism to address patterns of private land ownership.
We continue to monitor the practical operation of the Community Right to Buy provisions and will publish a report once these have generated sufficient evidence of the impact of land transfer.
- Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 April 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 22 April 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects to extend the provision of concessionary bus travel to injured veterans as stated in Scotland’s Veterans and Forces’ Communities: meeting our commitment.
Answer
Our intention remains to change the eligibility criteria from 1 April 2011. Scottish Government officials are in regular contact with the Department for Transport and the Ministry of Defence to ensure that this takes place.
- Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 22 March 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 13 April 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what obligation periods have been applied as part of the terms under which each individual Regional Selective Assistance grant has been awarded since 3 May 2007.
Answer
Under EC Regional Aid rules 2007-13 there are minimum conditions periods which apply to offers of RSA for investment or job creation projects. However, conditions can and do vary above the minimum level on a project by project basis. The statutory conditions periods for grants made since 3 May 2007 are set out as follows:
| Offers from 3 May to 30 June 2007 | Offers post 30 June 2007 |
| Aid for Initial Investment Projects: Jobs “ 18 months from date of final payment. Assets “ 60 months from date of first payment or 18 months from date of final payment, whichever is the longer. Aid for Job Creation Projects: Jobs & Assets “ 60 months from date of first payment or 18 months from date of final payment, whichever is the longer. | Aid for Initial Investment Projects: Jobs “ 18 months from date of final payment. Assets “ 36 months (SME) or 60 months (Large Enterprises) from date of final payment. Aid for Job Creation Projects: Jobs “ 36 months (SME) or 60 months (Large Enterprises) from date of creation of each job Assets “ 36 months (SME) or 60 months (Large Enterprises) from date of final payment. |
- Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 18 March 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 18 March 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive whether adequate services are in place to assess and meet the mental health needs of asylum seekers and refugees.
Answer
Asylum seekers and refugees have access to all NHS services on the same basis as the local population and NHS boards will ensure their mental health needs are met on the basis of comprehensive needs assessment and delivery of culturally sensitive services.
In addition, with Scottish Government funding, NHS Health Scotland runs a multi-agency programme of mental health improvement work with asylum seekers in Glasgow. The Sanctuary project is run with a range of partners including the Scottish Refugee Council; the Medical Foundation for the Victims of Torture, and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. The three main strands of the project are: (1) mental health awareness-raising with asylum seekers and refugees through community conversations; (2) specialised training for mental health staff across a range of sectors regarding the particular mental health needs of asylum seekers and refugees, and (3) a DVD about the asylum seeking process and its impact on mental health, which is to be incorporated into the training.
- Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 February 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 16 March 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has had discussions with the developers of the Beauly to Denny grid upgrade regarding the possible use of helicopters to avoid the need for the construction of access roads.
Answer
The Environmental Statement submitted by Scottish & Southern Energy and Scottish Power as part of the Beauly to Denny application states that helicopters will be used for the stringing of all cables over the whole length of the line, and also for the transportation of plant and materials to isolated areas where it is either impossible or impractical to build access tracks.
- Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 11 March 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 11 March 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria it will use for the approval or rejection of local authority proposals to use tax increment financing.
Answer
Any decision on local authority proposals to use tax increment financing will be made on a value for money basis. Scottish Futures Trust have been asked to develop a set of criteria to inform this assessment process.
- Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 01 February 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Alex Neil on 23 February 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what actions and events it is planning as part of the European Year of Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion.
Answer
The Scottish Government is actively involved in the National Implementing Body, set up to develop and oversee the UK Programme for the European Year of Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion.
The UK Programme provides a framework for activity, including UK-level objectives, and an outline of planned activities. There will be a series of events and activities across the UK, to be delivered at a local level. The National Programme, and details of delivery of the programme, can be found at http://www.dwp.gov.uk/european-year-2010/
The Scottish launch of the European Year will take place in the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow on 22 March 2010. This event is being organised by the DWP in co-ordination with the Scottish Government.
The Scottish Government website will be used throughout the year to advise stakeholders and interested parties about upcoming events taking place in Scotland.
- Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 February 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 17 February 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what advice is provided to recipients of Energy Saving Scotland home renewables grants to ensure that planning difficulties are avoided in relation to the installation of renewable energy devices.
Answer
Alongside grants, the Scottish Government funds the work of specialist home renewables advisors to provide intensive, hands on support to householders on all aspects of their renewable energy installation including assistance with planning permission if necessary.
The terms and conditions of the grants also make clear to applicants that they must secure any necessary planning permissions and building consents and signposts them to their local authority for further information.
In addition, the Energy Saving Trust, funded by the Scottish Government, provide advice to local authorities and housing associations through the Practical Help service, including advice on planning.
- Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 29 January 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 10 February 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that landfill gas has a role in energy generation and, if so, how it plans to support this role.
Answer
Landfill is at the bottom of the waste hierarchy, this is reflected in the draft of Scotland''s Zero Waste Plan where waste prevention, minimisation and recycling are given greater prominence. Nevertheless, it is recognised that the journey towards a Zero Waste society in Scotland will not happen overnight and that landfill has a continued role to play in the short to medium term.
In situations where landfill cannot be avoided, recovery and utilisation of gas is encouraged. A continued incentive to recover and utilise landfill gas for electricity generation is provided within the Renewables Obligation (Scotland) Order 2009 where generation of electricity from landfill gas attracts 0.25 SROCs (Scottish Renewable Obligation Certificates) per megawatt hour.
- Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 29 January 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 5 February 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3O-9326 by Stewart Stevenson on 28 January 2010, whether it would be willing to discuss the potential for direct Edinburgh to Cardiff rail services with the Welsh Assembly Government with a view to making joint representations to the UK Government if the case for such services appears to be justified.
Answer
The Scottish Government is always willing to discuss enhancements to cross border rail services.
We would need to see clear evidence of the demand for a direct Edinburgh to Cardiff service before beginning discussions with the Welsh Assembly Government.
