Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S1W-06423

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 April 2000
Current Status: Answered by David Steel on 16 May 2000

To ask the Presiding Officer what consideration has been given to the possibility that the construction of the new Scottish Parliament building may cause structural damage to surrounding buildings; whether the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body is aware of any warnings about subsidence within a 300 yard radius of the Holyrood site; whether adequate insurance cover exists in respect of potential claims in this respect, and whether copies of all documents relating to this issue will be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.

As stated in my answer to Mr Brian Monteith of 2 May (SIW-6146), it is standard practice for structural engineers involved in major construction projects to consider any effect on surrounding areas. The structural engineers for the Holyrood Project are monitoring areas within a radius of 1 kilometre of the site and the recorded evidence shows that no ground movement is being detected. Third party collateral damage is covered by insurance held by the Design Team, the Construction Manager and individual "trade package" contractors. The Project Team will shortly produce a report on this subject for the City of Edinburgh Council. A copy of this and related documents will be placed in the Parliament Information Centre.

Question reference: S1W-06422

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 April 2000
Current Status: Answered by Donald Dewar on 12 May 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to change its working title from "The Scottish Executive" to "The Scottish Government".

Question reference: S1W-05993

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 April 2000
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 12 May 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will amend the law in relation to ownership of landed estates in Scotland so that any non-resident owner, including all limited companies, may be required to appoint a mandatory, local agent to be legally responsible for performing the obligations of the owner.

We agree the importance of accessible local representation, but we see considerable difficulties with such a proposal for legislation. There would appear to be difficulties of regulation to ensure compliance by non-resident owners, and also of defining the legal responsibilities of such local agents.

Instead, the issue of local representation will be addressed, amongst other matters, in the Executive's development of a Code of Good Practice on Rural Landownership, which we plan to launch later this year.

Question reference: S1W-06311

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 April 2000
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 12 May 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the test of "substantial loss or disadvantage" in section 19(7) of the Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc. (Scotland) Bill requires clarification and, in particular, whether it should be made clear that the Lands Tribunal for Scotland should not accept that "substantial loss or disadvantage" will occur simply because of the ending of the practice which has developed since the commencement of the Conveyancing and Feudal Reform (Scotland) Act 1970 whereby a grassum is paid to a feudal superior by a vassal in exchange for a minute of waiver so that the vassal need not make an application under the 1970 Act for removal or variation of a burden.

In response to Mr Ewing's amendment on this point at Stage 3 of the Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc. (Scotland) Bill, I explained that the Lands Tribunal does not award compensation for the loss of a right to claim a waiver.

The loss or disadvantage that is envisaged by section 19 is loss to the superior or former superior as owner of the land, and not merely the loss of any personal income that has been derived from the charging for the grant of waivers.

Question reference: S1W-05711

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 March 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 12 May 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what estimate it has made of any impact which the aggregates tax will have upon employment in Scotland over each of the next three years.

The aggregates tax is unlikely to have any impact over the next two years, as it will not be introduced until April 2002. Thereafter, there may be small reductions in employment in the extraction of primary aggregates, but there could also be increases in employment in the recycling of aggregates. However, the short- term elasticity of demand for these products is low, so it would be surprising if there were major impacts.

In addition, there are likely to be increases in employment stimulated by the sustainability fund, and the reductions in employers' National Insurance contributions.

Question reference: S1W-06317

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 April 2000
Current Status: Answered by Henry McLeish on 12 May 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will specify all representations which it has made to Her Majesty's Government in relation to those parts of Scotland which should be included in the assisted area status map.

Question reference: S1W-06339

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 April 2000
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 10 May 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-5597 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 12 April 200, how many (a) prosecutions and (b) convictions there were for the summary offence of unlawful eviction in each of the last ten years.

The numbers of prosecutions and convictions which are identifiable under section 22 of the Rent (Scotland) Act 1984 are given in the table below. This covers unlawful eviction and harassment of occupiers. From 1989-95 there may have been a small number of additional cases not separately identified in the data held centrally.

	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998
Persons proceeded against	8	11	5	7	8	3	3	2	2	2
Persons with charge proved	7	9	3	4	4	1	2	1	1	2

Question reference: S1W-06239

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 April 2000
Current Status: Answered by Jackie Baillie on 10 May 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what its estimate is of the value of services presently provided by Councils of Voluntary Service throughout Scotland and how much funding it provides to Councils of Voluntary Service.

Question reference: S1W-06309

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 April 2000
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 10 May 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has consulted the Lands Tribunal for Scotland in relation to the potential impact upon its workload of the Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc. (Scotland) Bill and what measures it will consider to address any expected increase in the Tribunal's workload.

Question reference: S1W-06310

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 April 2000
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 10 May 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive how many applications under section 19 of the Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc. (Scotland) Bill it estimates will be made to the Lands Tribunal for Scotland in each of the five years immediately following commencement of this provision.