- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 25 February 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 25 April 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what was the cost of preparing, printing and publishing National Parks for Scotland; how many copies were published and whether using less expensive paper would have enabled more copies to be provided to the public.
Answer
The cost of printing the consultation document on the draft National Parks (Scotland) Bill was £22,000. There were also unquantified Scottish Executive staff costs included in the preparation and distribution of the document. Over 2,500 copies of the document have been distributed. Cost of paper was not a factor in determining the number of copies printed. The Bill was also published on the Intranet.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 30 March 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 25 April 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Minister for Finance met Angela Morgan of the Scottish Association for Mental Health (SAMH) in October 1999; whether the Minister was informed at that meeting that SAMH would, unless interim funding arrangements were put in place to bridge the gap between the end of existing European Social Fund programmes and the start of new programmes for 2000 to 2006, have to make staff redundant, and whether, if the situation is not addressed by the end of March, SAMH will issue 54 project staff with 90 day redundancy notices, affecting eight projects training 500 people.
Answer
Interim funding arrangements were put in place by extending the previous European Social Fund programmes. I have now issued a guarantee for voluntary organisations sponsoring European Social Fund projects in relation to the remaining funding gap before the issue of approvals under the new structural fund programmes.
- 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 Ross Finnie on 25 April 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-5181 by Ross Finnie on 22 March 2000, why it has not published the report prepared by a panel of industry representatives on the red tape involved in paying EU subsidies to farmers and whether it will now place a copy in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.
Answer
The report to which you refer was published in January of this year. Copies of this are available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 February 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 20 April 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated cost is of the water commissioner and his office over each of the next three years.
Answer
I have set the operating budget of the Water Industry Commissioner at £1,261,739 for 2000-01. I have also agreed that the Commissioner may spend up to an additional £681,000 in 2000-01 on one-off costs associated with establishing the new regulatory regime.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 30 March 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 19 April 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what its estimate is of the impact of any shortfall in money available under Objective 3 upon voluntary organisations in Scotland.
Answer
The resources remaining to be distributed to voluntary organisations under the previous Objective 3 programme will be paid in accordance with the usual procedures. The resources to be allocated to voluntary organisations under the new Objective 3 programme will be decided later in the year.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 April 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 18 April 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Scottish Election Convention is still in existence and, if not, when it ceased to exist; who its members are or were; what its remit and role is or was, and whether the Commissioners were required to be independent and politically impartial.
Answer
The Scottish Election Commission was set up in January 1999 by the five main political parties in Scotland to monitor their joint agreement in relation to the expenditure of, and donations to, political parties at the first elections to the Scottish Parliament on 6 May 1999. The Commission was a voluntary, non-statutory body which reported to the parties. The Commission produced its final report in June 1999 and, given that it was set up for the specific purpose of monitoring expenditure at the first elections to the Parliament, no longer has any remit.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 03 April 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 17 April 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive on what basis or programme it legislates on matters which were not set out in the election manifestos of its component parties or A Programme for Government.
Answer
While the legislative programme is informed by the Partnership for Scotland and the Programme for Government, the Executive brings forward proposals in the light of its ongoing assessment and review of its legislative priorities.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sam Galbraith on 14 April 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it will take to promote the Edinburgh Marathon as an international event to rank alongside events such as the London, New York and Chicago marathons; what the value was of the 1999 Edinburgh Marathon to tourism; what the projected value to tourism is of the event in 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003 and whether it will sponsor or support adverts in specialist running maga'ines such as Runners World and its equivalent in maga'ines in other countries to advertise the event.
Answer
sportscotland has contributed to staging the event in 1999-2001 with an award of £100,000 from its Lottery Sports Fund Major Events Programme to support its organisation and promotion. Edinburgh and Lothians Tourist Board promotes the event generically in the same way as other events that take place in the city. The promotion of the actual event itself lies with the organisers, Edinburgh and Fife Councils and the Scottish Athletic Federation, and the sponsors, Puma. The estimated value of the Edinburgh Marathon to tourism is shown below.
| 1999 | Net visitor expenditure | £660,000 |
| 2000 | Net visitor expenditure | £1.5 million |
| 2001 | Net visitor expenditure | £2.3 million |
| 2002 | Net visitor expenditure | £3.0 million |
| 2003 | Net visitor expenditure not yet predicted | |
I understand that this year's event has been cancelled following Fife Council's decision not to continue providing funding for the project.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 20 March 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Henry McLeish on 13 April 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what sale price was achieved for Dalneigh Halls of Residence at Inverness College and whether a professional valuation of the estimated sale price of this heritable property was obtained and, if so, whether it will place a copy of the survey in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.
Answer
Dalneigh Halls of Residence were disposed of by Inverness College in 1998 on the open market, for £275,000. The college had first obtained a professional valuation of the property. The Scottish Executive does not have a copy of the valuation report.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 16 March 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 13 April 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received representations from the Duror and Kentallen Community Council with regard to safety measures on the A828, and what action it will take.
Answer
Yes. A Route Accident Reduction Plan (RARP) study has been completed for this route and addresses some of the issues raised by the Duror and Kentallen Community Council. The RARP has identified measures that would benefit the whole of the route including the Achindarroch and Cuil Bay junctions. The RARP has also recommended that further more detailed investigations are required at particular locations. The remaining issues raised by the Community Council are currently being assessed. It is anticipated that the RARP safety measures already identified will be installed within this financial year.
