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-04134

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 February 2000
Current Status: Answered by Jack McConnell on 21 February 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-3768 by Mr Jack McConnell on 28 January 2000, whether it will state with which business representative bodies he met and, of these, with which he discussed the proposed setting of the business rate poundage for Scotland at a higher level than that in England.

I met and discussed issues related to the forthcoming non-domestic rates revaluation in Scotland with The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in Scotland, The Federation of Small Businesses, The Scottish Chambers of Commerce, The Confederation of British Industry in Scotland, The Scottish Valuation and Rating Council, The Chemical Industries Association, Scottish Financial Enterprise and The Scottish Retail Consortium.

Question reference: S1W-04136

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 February 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 18 February 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received the report Economic Impacts of Road Fuel Prices in the Highlands and Islands of January 2000 by EKOS Ltd, commissioned by Highland Council and Highlands and Islands Enterprise and, if so, whether it accepts the findings of the Report and in particular the comparisons between (a) the average weekly expenditure per household in the Highlands and Islands on motoring costs including purchase, maintenance, insurance and tax and motor fuel and elsewhere in Scotland and the UK; (b) the average cost of motor fuel in the Highlands and Islands and the Scottish and UK averages; (c) the average age of private vehicles in the Highlands and Islands and elsewhere in the UK; (d) income levels in the Highlands and Islands and elsewhere in the UK, and (e) the real purchasing power of residents of the Highlands and Islands and that of the Scottish and UK population.

We have a copy of the EKOS report Economic Impacts of Road Fuel Prices in the Highlands and Islands and have no reason to doubt the figures presented. We recognise that higher fuel costs remains a matter of considerable concern for those living and working in rural areas and are committed to building on the current initiatives, including the £90 million Public Transport Fund and the £14 million Rural Transport Fund. The latter fund has supported over 300 new or improved bus services, over 70 community transport projects, and assistance for petrol station tank and pump replacement.

Question reference: S1W-04170

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 February 2000
Current Status: Answered by John Home Robertson on 17 February 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made with the proposals on infectious salmon anaemia, referred to in the Ministerial Statement of 15 December 1999 as having been submitted to the European Commission, in providing greater flexibility in handling the clearance of fish and in reviewing the criteria for how and when suspect sites should be designated; whether it has met with the Commissioner to discuss these proposals and, if not, whether it intends so to do, and when it will make an announcement to the Parliament as to the outcome of these discussions.

The formal Commission proposal to amend the relevant EC legislation to allow greater flexibility in clearance of fish from infected farms will be discussed in the European Parliament Fisheries Committee on 22 February prior to likely consideration at a plenary session of the Parliament on 1 March. Depending on the comments made, the current plan is to table the matter for discussion at a Council Meeting later that month. I will advise Members of the outcome in due course. Meanwhile consideration of how the flexibility will be exercised and the review of site designations are ongoing. Preliminary discussions on the latter have been held with the European Commission.

Question reference: S1W-04171

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 February 2000
Current Status: Answered by Henry McLeish on 17 February 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive when the Scottish Utilities Forum will next meet, and whether it will discuss methods by which utilities operating in Scotland will be encouraged to remove any premiums or other charges which may discourage the use of "green" energy among lower income consumers.

The Scottish Utilities Forum will meet on 21 March. The Forum, which has been established by the private sector utilities in Scotland as a result of their participation in Pathfinders to the Scottish Parliament, will set its own agenda. I expect, however, that the promotion of renewable energy in Scotland, and issues of concern to low-income consumers are topics that will be addressed during its deliberations.

Question reference: S1W-04181

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 February 2000
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 17 February 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make available to all those applicants under the Agricultural Business Improvement Schemes whose applications were not met in full, details of any proposals which it has or will bring forward for a new programme under the European development funding programme for the next five years designed to achieve the same aims as those of the original Agricultural Business Improvement Schemes.

Question reference: S1W-04188

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 February 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sam Galbraith on 17 February 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether any Ministers have visited or intend to visit the Millennium Dome as part of their official duties and, if so, what lessons they learned or hope to learn from such a visit.

Question reference: S1W-04001

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 February 2000
Current Status: Answered by Henry McLeish on 16 February 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive, in respect of each Information Society Initiative (ISI) Programme, whether it will state the activity level during the period May 1998 to December 1999 in terms of the numbers of (a) client throughput (organisations), (b) businesses assisted and (c) seminars/events delivered.

The ISI is a UK-wide initiative and statistics are not generally available on a territorial basis for individual ISI programmes. The ISI Centre programme is an exception, and the figures for the Scottish ISI Centres are as follows:

May 1998 - December 1999

(a) 14,620 client throughput (organisations)

(b) 6,330 businesses assisted

(c) 634 seminars/events deliveredThese figures represent activity levels of ISI Centres covering the Local Enterprise Company areas of Ayrshire, Borders, Dunbarton, Fife, Forth Valley, Glasgow, Grampian, Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire and Tayside, as well as the Highlands and Islands, and Edinburgh. The ISI Centres covering Dumfries and Galloway and West Lothian were only opened in January 2000 and therefore are not included in the figures.

Question reference: S1W-04000

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 February 2000
Current Status: Answered by Henry McLeish on 16 February 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what role it has in the Information Society Initiative (ISI) and whether it will provide details of the number of programmes which have been launched in Scotland under the ISI Programme for Business and, in each case, at what cost.

The Scottish Executive is actively engaged in the application of the ISI in Scotland. Officials are in regular dialogue with the ISI team at the Department of Trade and Industry, and work to ensure that Scottish policy on related matters, such as the promotion of e-commerce, takes account of UK initiatives.

The ISI is a UK-wide initiative, and consequently there have been no ISI programmes launched solely in Scotland. ISI Centres in Scotland have received almost £1.5 million in UK Government grant-aid. Total grant expenditure on the ISI Centre programme across the UK is about £10 million.

Question reference: S1W-04135

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 February 2000
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 16 February 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make representations to Her Majesty's Government that additional "agrimoney" compensation be paid to Scottish families this year, whether it will place in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre copies of such representations, and whether it will provide details of how much compensation will be paid.

The precise amounts of agrimonetary compensation available to UK milk producers as well as other agricultural sectors have yet to be determined. These will not be known until the European Commission publishes a regulation later this month. Payments must be made on a UK wide basis. I am therefore liaising closely with other UK Agricultural Ministers and there is a clear understanding of the issues involved. I will inform the Parliament of the decision on payment at the appropriate time.

Question reference: S1W-03767

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 14 January 2000
Current Status: Answered by Henry McLeish on 14 February 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it has taken to account for the financial effect which the internet may have upon High Street business in Scotland and to ensure that such an effect is taken into account in the non-domestic rating system.