- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 07 April 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 4 July 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive how many non-governmental organisations it has (a) created, (b) announced or (c) proposed since May 1999 and which of these bodies will be located outwith the central belt of Scotland.
Answer
None - by their very nature. By definition, non-governmental organisations are not created by the Scottish Executive.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 March 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Henry McLeish on 3 July 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-3702 by Henry McLeish on 27 January 2000, whether it will propose a debate in the Parliament on the burden of regulation, and its associated administration, on business when the first series of meetings which the Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning plans to have with businesses is complete, and whether it will publish conclusions reached as a result of the meetings and, if not, why not.
Answer
I do intend to publish the conclusions of recent meetings between Ministers, the Improving Regulation in Scotland Unit and businesses, now that the series is complete. I will discuss with the Minister for the Parliament your suggestion for a debate.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 May 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 3 July 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether exposure to organophosphates can have ha'ardous health effects.
Answer
The Independent Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment reviewed the current evidence on exposure and use of organophosphates and their effects on health. Its report of November 1999 concluded that acute poisoning from organophosphates causes acute ill health with evidence to support long-term symptoms of acute poisoning can occur as nueropsychological abnormalities and periphery neuropathy. The committee also concluded there is insufficient evidence that prolonged low level exposure to organophosphates is hazardous to health.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 19 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 3 July 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has sought legal advice on whether the transitional relief arrangements for non-domestic rates following the 2000 revaluation comply with or breach the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, in particular Article One; if so, whether it will place a copy of any such advice received in SPICe; if such advice has not been sought, whether it plans to seek such advice and place it in SPICe when received and, if it has no such plans, why this advice is unnecessary.
Answer
It is not the practice of the Scottish Executive to disclose whether they have taken legal advice on an issue, nor to disclose the nature of any legal advice received. I am satisfied that there is nothing in the regulations which is incompatible with any legal obligation to which the Executive is subject, including the obligation to comply with the European Convention on Human Rights.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 3 July 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will place in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre a copy of the report by the Scott Wilson Group investigating the case for closure of up to one in ten Scottish railway stations; what representations it will make with regard to the closure of these railway stations in Scotland, and by what means it will ascertain the effect which closure would have on the local community served by such stations.
Answer
This paper was an independent initiative of Scott Wilson (Rail), transport consultants. The Scottish Executive did not commission it and had no involvement in its preparation.
The closure of railways and railway stations is a reserved matter. However, in preparing our directions and guidance for the replacement of the Scottish franchise, the Scottish Executive will build on the Franchising Director's insistence that current levels of service should be secured as a minimum.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 3 July 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the rate poundage for non-domestic rates for the year 2000-01 could have been set at 41.6 pence whilst maintaining the total income raised from non-domestic rates at the 1999-2000 level in real terms.
Answer
No. The rate poundage figure for 2000-01 of 45.8 pence was set to ensure that the total tax income from non-domestic rates, after appeals, remained unchanged in real terms as a result of the 2000 Revaluation of non-domestic rates. A paper detailing this calculation was made available on 17 January 2000 and is available from SPICe.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 15 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Henry McLeish on 29 June 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will next meet Brian Duffield of the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) project and what information it will seek from him regarding (a) the future of the UHI project and (b) any barriers which prevent the UHI from securing university status.
Answer
Officials wrote to UHI on 6 April setting out issues for UHI to resolve with its Academic Partners before we can reach a decision on whether to approve the application submitted on behalf of a new institution, called UHI, to be designated as a provider of higher education, eligible for funding by the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council. These are, broadly, technical issues surrounding service level provision, and constitutionaI issues concerning the respective responsibilities of UHI and its Academic Partners. I met Sir Fraser Morrison, Chairman of UHI, the company promoting the University of the Highlands and Islands Project, on 9 June, and he was able to give me an encouraging report of progress in addressing the outstanding issues. I have no plans to meet Professor Duffield.
Designation is a necessary first step for all higher education institutions seeking university status. In addition, they must satisfy rigorous academic, breadth and numeric criteria. These have been agreed by all four UK Ministers with responsibility for higher education and the Privy Council, which is responsible for authorising use of the word "university" as part of an institution's title. UHI would be expected to meet these criteria.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 15 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Henry McLeish on 29 June 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a detailed breakdown of what the expenditure of #9.86 million on the University of the Highlands and Islands project has been spent on and on what the further provision of #1 million is to be spent.
Answer
Of the £9.86 million development funding provided to the University of the Highlands and Islands Project over the years 1996-97 to 1999-2000, £3.68 million has been spent on academic development, £4.12 million on information and communication technology investment and development and £2.06 million on the costs of the Project's Executive Office.
The project has yet to provide a breakdown into these categories of the £1 million in the current financial year.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 15 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Henry McLeish on 29 June 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive why university status is not expected to be conferred upon the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) project for some years and what precisely the UHI project is required to do in order to attain such status.
Answer
UHI, the company promoting the University of the Highlands and Islands project, applied in December 1998 for designation of a new institution. Designation is a necessary first step for any institutions that wishes to apply for university status.
Designated institutions seeking university status must first meet stringent criteria agreed UK-wide by the four Ministers with responsibility for higher education and the Privy Council, which consents to applications for a university title. The criteria cover academic achievement, subject breadth and student numbers, and require the establishment of a track record. UHI, like other institutions seeking university status, would have to fulfil these criteria.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 15 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Henry McLeish on 29 June 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive why it does not always publish detailed summaries to responses to consultation exercises; in particular, why it has not published such a summary in relation to its consultation paper A New Strategy for Scottish Tourism and, in the absence of such a summary, how it intends to demonstrate that all responses were given full consideration.
Answer
Responses to the consultation paper A New Strategy for Scottish Tourism were collated by the Scottish Tourist Board on behalf of the Executive. The STB took all responses into account, and played a significant role in the drafting of the Executive's new tourism strategy. The responses to the tourism consultation exercise are available for public inspection, and were placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe).
