- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 06 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 14 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how much opencast coal has been mined in each of the last 10 years.
Answer
The information is available from the British Geological survey and can be found at:
http://www.bgs.ac.uk/mineralsuk/statistics/occ/home.html.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 06 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 14 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what its assessment is of the impact of the 2012 Olympic Games in London on the availability of technicians and construction workers in Scotland and whether it agrees with the comments of John Methven, Director of European Operations at Petrofac, reported in the Scotsman on 18 November 2005, that “this is definitely a concern”.
Answer
We have measures in place to minimise the impact of the 2012 Olympic Games on the availability of technicians and construction workers in Scotland. Current industry research indicates that the overall size of the construction activity needed for the 2012 Olympics will be at its highest in 2010. It will account for 3.7% of the total Greater London construction output for that year and the share of the Olympics construction employment for 2010 is 2.7% of the total Greater London employment.
In Scotland, the volume of public sector work forecast within the Executive's Infrastructure Investment Plan over the next 10 years and the increasing awareness of this within the construction industry should encourage the private sector to develop additional capacity to ensure that they can respond effectively to Scotland's requirements.
In addition, Scottish Enterprise has designated construction as a priority industry and are leading on the Construction Skills Action Plan which is supporting the industry’s efforts to alleviate skills shortages.
Across the UK, CITB-ConstructionSkills, the Sector Skills Council for the construction industry, has been tasked by Government to identify the skills needs facing the sector and to work with employers, stakeholders and Government to effect change to meet those needs. CITB-ConstructionSkills completed work developing their Sector Skills Agreement (SSA) in September 2005 and are now implementing the action plans contained within it. The SSA sets out plans to assess current and future skills needs to meet the demand placed on the sector in the light of the 2012 Olympic Games.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 06 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 14 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what estimate it has made of the reserves of opencast coal that could be exploited in the future.
Answer
Details of consented reserves of opencast coal is available from the British Geological Survey at
http://www.bgs.ac.uk/mineralsuk/statistics/occ/home.html. Information on other reserves is not available.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Colin Boyd on 14 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-22352 by Colin Boyd QC on 30 January 2006, whether it would consider any flight which was found to be involved in the process of “extraordinary rendition” as being aircraft used for military, customs or police business on behalf of the state engaged in the process.
Answer
The question as to the classification of an aircraft as either military or civilian aircraft will depend upon the application of the relevant domestic or international law to the particular facts.
As I stated in my answer to question S2W-22352, “military aircraft” is defined in law. Section 92 of the Civil Aviation Act 1982 defines military aircraft as an aircraft of the naval, military or air forces of any country; or any other aircraft in respect of which there is in force a certificate issued by the Secretary of State in accordance with any Order in Council in force under the Act that the aircraft is to be treated for the purposes of that Order in Council as a military aircraft.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 14 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how it will ensure that no new nuclear power stations are constructed until the waste management issue is resolved.
Answer
Under Section 36(1) of the Electricity Act 1989, consent of Scottish ministers is required to build any new generating station, including a nuclear power station, over 50 mega watts.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 14 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with Her Majesty’s Government about the possibility of transferring control of North Sea oil in Scottish waters to the Executive.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has had no discussions with Her Majesty’s Government about the possibility of transferring control of North Sea oil to the Executive.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 14 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with Her Majesty’s Government about the impact of the creation of an oil fund from revenues secured by North Sea oil, similar to that which exists in Norway.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has not had any discussions with Her Majesty’s Government about the impact of the creation of an oil fund from revenues secured by North Sea oil. North Sea Revenues are collected centrally at the UK level and the powers to introduce an oil fund are currently reserved to Westminster. Even if we allocate all North Sea revenues to Scotland, latest Scottish Executive figures show that under current arrangements Scotland runs a significant fiscal deficit.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 14 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what impact it considers that the press coverage of the reluctance of the Chair of sportscotland to relocate the agency to Glasgow will have on the bid by the city to host the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Answer
None.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 02 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Colin Boyd on 14 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what legal advice it has taken on the legality in both Scots law and international law of the process known as “extraordinary rendition”.
Answer
The Scottish Executive does not generally disclose the legal advice it may have taken on any particular matter. Any such advice would, in any case, be confidential.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 02 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 14 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what its opinion is of the published findings by Robert E Wright of the Scottish Economic Policy Network that the current fertility rate is below the 35% replacement rate required to maintain a stable economy and that a programme should be implemented to reverse this decrease and what measures are being taken to increase Scotland’s fertility rate.
Answer
The Scottish Executive recognises that demographic change is of profound importance to the economy of Scotland. The challenge of an ageing population, which results from falling birth rates and higher life expectancy, is common throughout the developed world, particularly in Europe. In order to better understand the trends and implications of demographic change for Scotland, the Executive has jointly commissioned, with the Economic and Social Research Council, six research projects covering three important facets of demographic change – fertility, ageing and migration. These projects, each being undertaken by leading Scottish academics (including Professor Robert Wright), are due to publish their findings by spring 2007. The Executive will study the findings of its commissioned research alongside any other relevant research.
The Scottish Executive is addressing pressing demographic issues through policy initiatives such as Fresh Talent and through seeking to provide suitable child care and general family friendly policies.
