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: S2W-06496

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 February 2004
Current Status: Answered by Frank McAveety on 10 March 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive when the Scottish Football Partnership was formally incorporated and whether the partnership is yet able to consider applications for funding and, if not, what the reasons are for the position on the matter.

I am concerned that therehas not been a resolution of the various difficulties over the transfer offunds from the former Football Trust to the Scottish Football Partnership. the Executive has no direct locus but has been encouraging the parties to resolvethe difficulties and ensure the transfer of funds is made at the earliestopportunity. The precise nature of the difficulties are confidential mattersfor the trustees involved but I would hope that a resolution is not too far offand that the partnership, which was incorporated on 29 October 2001, willfinally be able to contribute to the development of football at all levels.

Question reference: S2W-06273

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 February 2004
Current Status: Answered by Frank McAveety on 10 March 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive whether sportscotland has advanced funding to the Highland Football Academy; what the reasons are for sportscotland's position on this matter, and what steps it will now take to ensure that the Highland Football Academy can continue.

Sportscotland has made payments to the Highland FootballAcademy Trust in line with the terms and conditions of the Lottery award andaward of Reduction in Pool Betting Duty monies. Sportscotland is not ina position to advance payments on behalf of the Scottish Football Partnershipwhich is a separate, legally constituted company. It is for the partnersinvolved in the Highland Football Academy to ensure the viability of the project.

Question reference: S2W-06274

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 February 2004
Current Status: Answered by Frank McAveety on 10 March 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will intervene to ensure that the Highland Football Academy receives the funding committed by sportscotland.

Question reference: S2W-06570

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 February 2004
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 9 March 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the 30-day target for payment of invoices applies to (a) non-departmental public bodies, (b) agencies and (c) housing associations and whether the statistics published by the Executive in respect of the proportion of invoices paid within the 30-day period includes such bodies.

The Scottish Executive is committed to paying all valid invoices within 30 days of their dateof receipt. Non departmental public bodies, agencies and housing associationsdevelop and follow their own prompt payment policies.

The payment performancestatistics published in the Scottish Executive’s Core Accounts relate only toScottish Executive core departments. Other bodies are responsible forthe reporting of their own payment performance data through their own annual reports.

Question reference: S2W-06554

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 February 2004
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 9 March 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive whether, in exercising its powers to shoot deer under the Deer (Scotland) Act 1996, it has acted at all times in accordance with health and safety requirements, with particular regard to the possible presence of walkers in the area of the cull.

Question reference: S2W-06483

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 February 2004
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 9 March 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what the reasons are for the delay in the announcement of the fallen stock scheme; why it will not introduce such a scheme in Scotland ahead of any scheme in England and Wales, and what the reasons are for not introducing a scheme for the collection and disposal of fallen stock before autumn 2004.

Further time is needed tofinalise arrangements for members’ subscriptions, obtain state aids clearanceand to put in place the practical arrangements with the collection and disposalindustry.

The difficulties of settingup a Scottish Scheme are the same as those for the UK scheme. Furthermorea Scottish scheme would be much more expensive for our producers as it couldnot benefit from the economies of scale which the UK Scheme should deliver.

Question reference: S2W-05618

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 January 2004
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Curran on 27 February 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking, or plans to take, to improve the time within which housing associations pay their bills to suppliers; whether each such association publishes a record of the percentage of bills paid within 30 days and, if not, whether the Executive will require them to do so.

I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive, Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is asfollows:

Registered Social Landlords(RSLs) are regulated and inspected by Communities Scotland. Communities Scotlanddoes not, however, get involved in the different payment arrangements thatexist between individual RSLs and their suppliers.

RSLs are independentbusinesses and it is up to the RSL to agree the terms of any contract enteredinto with a supplier; payment terms will differ from supplier to supplier.

The Confederation of BritishIndustry Prompt Payers Code encourages payment within the suppliers terms andthe Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 encourages creditorsto pay within the terms of their contract and allows a right to claim interestfrom all businesses for late payment of bills.

As the regulator, we expectRSLs to pay contractors promptly, within the terms of the contract. During ourperiodic inspections, we will examine how well an RSL is performing in thisarea. If we find that an RSL is making late payments without due cause then wewould investigate this and expect the RSL to take corrective action.

There are no plans to requireRSLs to publish a record of how promptly they pay their suppliers.

Question reference: S2W-05944

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 February 2004
Current Status: Answered by George Reid on 26 February 2004

To ask the Presiding Officer which west of Scotland companies the Presiding Officer was referring to in his speech to the Parliament on 5 April 2000 when he assured the Parliament that such companies were to “manufacture off site everything from the concrete MSP office modules to the specialist windows”; why this assurance was given to the Parliament; who advised the Presiding Officer that this was the case; where the information referred to was obtained; what contact has been made with the firms in question, and whether any apology is due to them and, if so, by whom.

Question reference: S2W-04936

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 December 2003
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 24 February 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received the study into autism involving Autism Unravelled, Action Against Autism, Food and Behaviour Research, Oxford and Stirling universities and the Rowett Research Institute in Aberdeen.

Question reference: S2W-05768

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 January 2004
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 23 February 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive at what point in the negotiations at the December EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council the UK delegation ceased to make the requirement that the 10% reduction in the west of Scotland nephrops quota, introduced at the December 2000 Council, be reinstated and why this was not pursued as a key requirement.

We believe that there is a crediblescientific argument for restoring the 10% cut in the West of Scotland nephrops totalallowable catch (TAC). However, our arguments were hampered because thescientific advice from the International Council for the Exploration of theSeas (ICES) does not currently support such an increase and associated catchstatistics suggest that the industry does not catch its existing quota in full.