Questions and answers

Question reference: S3W-22537

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 April 2009
Current Status: Answered by Frank Mulholland on 1 May 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive when the last fatal accident inquiry into the death of a pedestrian at a level crossing took place.

Question reference: S3W-20989

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 February 2009
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 13 March 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what the criteria are for one-to-one assistance for small and medium-sized enterprises by the Business Gateway and when the criteria were last revised.

Business Gateway advice services are provided in lowland Scotland under contracts let by Scottish Enterprise in October 2007 to successful contractors following a competitive tender exercise. The management of these contracts was transferred to 12 lead local authorities in the Scottish Enterprise area in April 2008.

Delivery of advice under the contracts as let is targeted as follows:

Customers expected to trade at less than the VAT threshold are referred to the Business Gateway website and the one to many tools and workshops available on line. This includes the opportunity for a one-to-one session at a meet the advisor workshop;

Customers expected to trade above the VAT threshold receive one-to-one advice to assist in their progression to a VAT+ trading position within 12 months of start-up, and

Customers expected to achieve or increase turnover of more than £400,000 within three years receive one-to-one advice in agreement with Scottish Enterprise as part of the growth pipeline. Additional one-to-one support in this customer group is in preparation for entry to the Scottish Enterprise Account Management portfolio within 12 months.

We are currently in discussions with COSLA and the Scottish Local Authorities Economic Development (SLAED) Group representatives regarding the Business Gateway process and delivery segmentation to ensure that it remains fit for purpose during this period of economic challenge.

Question reference: S3W-20994

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 February 2009
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 13 March 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on the number of occasions on which Cold Weather Payments have been triggered in each of the last five years, broken down by each of the weather stations to which Scottish properties are linked by The Social Fund Cold Weather Payments (General) Amendment Regulations 2008 (SSI 2008/2569).

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has provided the following information:

Number of Times Each Weather Station has Triggered Each Year

Weather Station	Admin Area	Area	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09
Aultbea	Highland	Scotland	0	0	0	0	0	0
Aviemore	Highland	Scotland	4	1	3	1	2	5
Bishopton	Renfrewshire	Scotland	0	0	0	0	1	2
Boulmer	Northumberland	Borders	0	0	0	0	0	0
Braemar	Aberdeenshire	Scotland	4	1	3	1	4	6
Carlisle	Cumbria	Borders	0	0	0	0	0	3
Cassley	Highland	Scotland	3	0	2	0	1	4
Charterhall	Scottish Borders	Borders	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	1	2
Dundrennan	Dumfries and Galloway	Scotland	1	0	0	0	0	2
Dyce (Aberdeen Airport)	Aberdeen	Scotland	1	0	0	1	0	1
Edinburgh Gogarbank	Edinburgh	Scotland	0	0	0	0	1	1
Eskdalemuir	Dumfries and Galloway	Scotland	2	0	4	1	1	6
Kinloss	Moray	Scotland	0	0	1	0	1	3
Kirkwall	Orkney	Scotland	0	0	0	0	0	0
Lerwick	Shetland	Scotland	1	0	1	0	0	1
Leuchars	Fife	Scotland	0	0	0	0	1	2
Loch Glascarnoch	Highland	Scotland	4	1	4	1	3	6
Lusa	Highland	Scotland	0	0	0	0	0	1
Machrihanish	Argyll and Bute	Scotland	0	0	0	0	0	0
Salsburgh	North Lanarkshire	Scotland	0	0	1	0	1	4
Stornoway Airport	Western Isles	Scotland	0	0	0	0	0	0
Tiree	Argyll and Bute	Scotland	0	0	0	0	0	0
Tulloch Bridge	Highland	Scotland	3	1	3	0	1	6
West Freugh	Dumfries and Galloway	Scotland	0	0	0	0	0	0
Wick Airport	Highland	Scotland	1	0	1	0	0	1

Source: Department for Work and Pensions records of triggers and weather stations.

Notes:

N/A denotes not applicable: the weather station was not used in the Cold Weather Payment scheme in that year.

1. The list of weather stations covers all weather stations to which postcodes in Scotland are linked (whether or not they have triggered).

2. The admin area gives the location of each weather station, not the area which is linked to the weather station. For example, different parts of the Highland admin area are linked to different weather stations.

3. Weather stations described as Borders straddle the border between Scotland and England.

4. Over the years, there have been some changes to postcode to weather station linkages.

5. Triggers for 2008-09 are those notified up to 26 February.

Question reference: S3O-06233

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 March 2009
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 12 March 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what funds is providing to Kilmarnock College in 2008-09 to support students with childcare responsibilities.

Question reference: S3W-20987

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 February 2009
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 11 March 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many pedestrian deaths at level crossings, other than suicides, there have been in each year since 1999.

The numbers of pedestrian deaths at level crossings in Scotland, other than suicides, in each year since 1999 are:

1999	0
2000	1
2001	2
2002	0
2003	1
2004	0
2005	0
2006	0
2007	0

2007 is the latest year that figures have been published for.

Question reference: S3W-20991

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 February 2009
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 11 March 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what arrangements are in place to enable disabled peoples’ organisations to be involved in formulating policies to tackle fuel poverty.

Question reference: S3W-20992

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 February 2009
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 11 March 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive in what circumstances the planning system provides for adjacent owners to be compensated for adverse impact of a development on the value of their properties.

There are no circumstances where the planning system provides for compensation for adverse impact of a development on the value of adjacent properties.

The planning system does not exist to protect the interests of one person or business against the activities of another. In determining a planning application, consideration will be given to a range of issues including the extent to which a proposal may affect the amenity and existing use of land and buildings which ought to be protected in the public interest, not whether owners or occupiers of neighbouring properties would experience financial or other loss from a particular development.

Question reference: S3W-20993

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 February 2009
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 11 March 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration has been given to the introduction of compensation payments for adjacent owners where planning applications, for wind turbines or other developments, are judged to have had an adverse impact on the value of their properties.

There are no plans at present to consider the introduction of compensation under the planning system for owners of land adjacent to wind turbines, or indeed any other developments, in regard to potential adverse impact on the value of their property.

The planning system does not exist to protect the interests of one person or business against the activities of another. In determining a planning application, consideration will be given to a range of issues including the extent to which a proposal may affect the amenity and existing use of land and buildings which ought to be protected in the public interest, not whether owners or occupiers of neighbouring properties would experience financial or other loss from a particular development.

Question reference: S3W-20988

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 February 2009
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 11 March 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many pedestrian deaths at level crossings, other than suicides, have resulted in a fatal accident inquiry in each year since 1999.

Both the British Transport Police and the Office of Rail Regulation carried out an accident investigation into each of the four recorded pedestrian deaths at level crossings and submitted a report to the Procurator Fiscal.

Procurator Fiscal records are not structured in a manner that makes it possible to confirm if any of these four pedestrian deaths were followed up by a fatal accident inquiry.

Question reference: S3W-20990

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 February 2009
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 10 March 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration has been given to extending eligibility for enhanced measures under the Energy Assistance Package to pensioners in receipt of attendance allowance but not the guarantee credit element of pension credit.

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