- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 June 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 23 June 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to amend the small business rates relief scheme and, in particular, whether businesses under the threshold will be able to benefit from the scheme automatically rather than by application and whether it intends to review the level at which the threshold for relief is set.The member has provided the following Gaelic translation:A dh' fhaighneachd de Riaghaltas na h-Alba dh na planaichean a th' aige gus sgeama faochadh reataichean do ghnlomhachasan beaga atharrachadh, agus gu srnraichte nam b' urrainn do ghnlomhachasan fon stairsnich sochair a ghabhail gun d`il, seach le iarrtas, agus ma tha e an dyil ri lre far a bheil an stairsneach sthidhichte a dh' ath-sgrydadh.
Answer
the Scottish Executive has no current plans to amend the Small BusinessRate Relief Scheme which has been in operation for less than 15 months. Underthe existing scheme, all subjects with a rateable value of £10,000 or under automaticallyreceive 5% relief. Only ratepayers who occupy subjects with a rateable value ofless than £7,000 and who are therefore eligible for relief of 10% or morerequire to apply for the higher level of relief.
The Scottish Executive has provided thefollowing translation:
Chan eil planaichean aigRiaghaltas na h-Alba aig an àm a tha an làthair atharrachadh a dhèanamh airSgeama Faochadh Reataichean do Ghnìomhachasan Beaga a tha air a bhith a’ dolairson nas lugha na 15 mìosan. Fon Sgeama a tha ann an-dràsta, tha gachcuspair aig a bheil luach reataidh de £10,000 no nas lugha a’ faighinn faochadhde 5 sa cheud gun iarrtas a chur a-steach. Cha leig a leas cur airsonfaochadh aig an ìre as motha ach luchd-reataidh aig a bheil cuspairean aig abheil luach reataidh nas lugha na £7,000 agus a tha mar sin airidh air faochadhde 10 sa cheud no nas motha.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 20 May 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 15 June 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the comments made by the Deputy Minister for Environment and Rural Affairs in the members' business debate on the Livestock Improvement Scheme on 19 May 2004 that the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs' legal advice is “categorical” (Official Report col. 8580, 19 May 2004), whether that advice will be published and, if the advice is not to be published, whether the Executive will provide a comprehensive statement of the conclusions reached.
Answer
I am not prepared to divulgethe terms of the legal advice to Scottish ministers and I am unable to provide thelegal advice obtained by DEFRA. However, I am willing to clarify the position asfollows:
State aids to agriculture are governed by the Community guidelines for state aid in the Agricultural Sector (2000/C 28/02). These guidelines indicated what aids to agriculture are permitted. As a general rule, the UK operates on the basis that what is not permitted is prohibited. The guidelines came into effect on 1 January 2000 and incorporated changes from previous guidelines. Member states were instructed to end or modify and re-notify state aids which did not comply with the new guidelines.
It will be apparent from the guidelines that they do not specifically provide for schemes operating in the way that the Bull Hire Scheme and the Ram Purchase Scheme operate. Nevertheless, it is possible to obtain approval for schemes which are not within the range of arrangements envisaged provided these are consistent with the general requirements governing what is permitted. However, in the case of the Livestock Improvement Schemes there are two requirements of the guidelines that the schemes cannot meet. Firstly the guidelines prohibit operating aids (paragraph 3.5 of the guidelines) and the Livestock Improvement Schemes which provide assistance without any requirement on the recipients to provide evidence of any outcome or output are bound to be seen as an operating aid which are simply intended to improve the financial situation of the producer. Secondly the guidelines are specific about the level of assistance which may be given (see paragraphs 3.10 and 4.1.1.8 of the guidelines). On the basis of that requirement the maximum level of assistance that would be eligible would be 50% of costs in the Less Favoured Area and 40% elsewhere.
The provisions of section 16 of the guidelines do not apply as the highlands and islands do not qualify as outermost regions for that purpose.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 June 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 15 June 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is satisfied that the Scottish Allocation Formula takes adequate account of rurality, and, in particular, the costs of providing out-of-hours cover in rural areas such as the highlands.
Answer
As part of the UK-wide agreement over the new General Medical Services contract, we successfully negotiated a separate Scottish Allocation Formula to address particular issues such as remoteness and rurality. The formula is used to allocate practices global sums. It is not used to allocate funding for out-of-hours cover. This will come from the increased Out-of-Hours Development Fund and from the 6% of global sum payments which practices give over to NHS boards should they decide to transfer this out-of-hours responsibility.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 June 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 15 June 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-8346 by Ross Finnie on 2 June 2004, whether it will make the report on the culls in Glenfeshie public and, if so, when.
Answer
The report on Glenfeshie was made public on Thursday 10 June and is available on the Scottish Executive website. A copy has been placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 32930).
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 June 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 15 June 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost of administering the points system under the Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Act 2004 will be, in light of the commitment to ascertain this information given by its Senior Medical Officer to the Finance Committee on 2 September 2003.
Answer
The new General Medical Services contract took effect from 1 April 2004. As part of the implementation process a national reference group and working groups were set up to look at the key issues such as Finance and the Quality and Outcomes Framework. This work is still ongoing and as such, it is too early to say what the costs of administering the quality system will be.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 June 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 15 June 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to continue Minimum Practice Income Guarantee provision beyond 2006.
Answer
Provision of the Minimum Practice Income Guarantee (MPIG) was agreed as part of the UK-wide negotiations on the new General Medical Services contract. Funding for the contract is in place for 2003-04 to 2005-06. Further negotiations will be held on a UK-basis in relation to the period beyond 2006. Such negotiations will, I am sure, include discussion of MPIG arrangements and I am not in a position to pre-judge the outcome of these discussions.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 June 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 15 June 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many GP Registrars it estimates there will be in (a) 2005-06 and (b) 2006-07.
Answer
No targets have yet been set for GP Registrar numbers in 2005-06 and 2006-07. Planning for general practitioner numbers will be taken forward as part of the wider primary care workforce planning process, in the light of the new GMS contract. The results of this will feed into the National Workforce Committee.
Any significant variation from the current level of around 280 GP Registrars will be considered carefully in the light of forecast needs and available resources.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 May 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 14 June 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive when Highland Council referred to it the application for closure of a stretch of the Mid-Coul road to Inverness Airport, following an objection being made; when it will make a decision in respect of the granting of a closure order, and whether it considers the instrument landing system to be important to the future development of Inverness Airport.
Answer
The order was received by the Scottish Executive on 13 August 2003. A decision letter confirming the order was sent to HighlandCouncil on 1 June 2004.
The Executive regard the instrumentlanding system as important and helped to fund it. The system will improve safetyand enhance the operational reliability of the airport.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 May 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 14 June 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to introduce an ultrasound screening programme for risk families at risk and all 16-year-olds embarking on a sports career, as recommended by Scottish HART.
Answer
In considering the introductionof population screening programmes, the Executive is advised by the National ScreeningCommittee (NSC), an independent UK-wide expert body. The NSC’s Child Health Sub-Grouphas advised that, in the light of current evidence, pre-participation screeningfor Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) in young people intending to engage in competitivesport should not be introduced outwith carefully-designed research projects. Thecommittee will, however, keep this advice under review, and has offered to meetScottish HART to explain the reasons for its recommendation. This does not preventScottish HART from providing its own screening programme.
The Executive would encourageyoung people with a strong family history of HCM and who would wish to be testedto consult their GP, who can then refer them to a cardiologist for specialist advice.
The Executive’s National AdvisoryCommittee on Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) is also keeping in touch with currentwork on sudden cardiac death and screening which is being taken forward in Englandas part of the National Service Framework for CHD.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 20 May 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 4 June 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to sell its stud farms in the Highlands and Islands and, in particular, Beechwood Farm and Knocknagael Farm.
Answer
There are no current plans tosell Beechwood Farm or Knocknagael Farm.
