- Asked by: John Swinney, MSP for North Tayside, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 29 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive on which dates between 30 November 2005 and 14 March 2006 civil servants met representatives of the Drinking Water Quality Regulator to discuss Scottish Water's Business Plan.
Answer
Officials maintain regular contactwith representatives of the Drinking WaterQuality Regulator and discuss a range ofsubjects with them. The matter of Scottish Water’s delivery plan for 2006-10 wasraised in these discussions on various occasions.
- Asked by: John Swinney, MSP for North Tayside, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 29 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive on which dates between 30 November 2005 and 14 March 2006 civil servants met representatives of the Water Industry Commission for Scotland to discuss Scottish Water's Business Plan.
Answer
Officials maintain regular contactwith representatives of the Water IndustryCommission for Scotland and discuss a range of subjects with them. The matterof Scottish Water’s delivery plan for 2006-10 was raised in these discussions onvarious occasions.
- Asked by: John Swinney, MSP for North Tayside, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 29 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive on which dates between 30 November 2005 and 14 March 2006 civil servants met representatives of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency to discuss Scottish Water's Business Plan.
Answer
Officials maintain regular contactwith representatives of the Scottish EnvironmentProtection Agency and discuss a range ofsubjects with them. The matter of Scottish Water’s delivery plan for 2006-10 wasraised in these discussions on various occasions.
- Asked by: John Swinney, MSP for North Tayside, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 February 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 13 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what deficiencies in the business plan of Scottish Water identified by the Water Industry Commission for Scotland contributed to the resignation of the Chair of Scottish Water.
Answer
Professor Alan Alexanderresigned as Chair of Scottish Water because he disagreed with the views thatthe Scottish Executive and Scottish Water’s regulators had formed of Scottish Water’s2006-10 delivery plan. The Water Industry Commission for Scotlandconsidered in particular that the plan failed to provide for delivery in fullof all of the outputs and performance funded by the Commission’s determinationof water charges for 2006-10.
Copiesof all of the correspondence between the Executive and the regulators on thismatter can be viewed on the Scottish Executive website at:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Environment/Water/17583/resignation.
- Asked by: John Swinney, MSP for North Tayside, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 February 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 13 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers it to be the responsibility of the Drinking Quality Regulator to approve the business plan of Scottish Water and, if so, on what date this requirement was made clear to the Drinking Quality Regulator.
Answer
When Professor AlanAlexander was re-appointed to the Chair of Scottish Water on 1 April 2005 he wasrequired, within eight weeks of Scottish Water having decided to accept theWater Industry Commission for Scotland’s determination of charges for 2006-10, to submit tothe Executive for its approval a delivery plan for 2006-10. Before the plan wassubmitted to the Executive Scottish Water was to ensure that its regulators (the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, the Drinking Water Quality Regulatorand the Water Industry Commission for Scotland) agreed that the planconstituted a reasonable basis for delivering the Executive’s objectives forScottish Water in the period and that it contained milestones or other interimtargets by which progress towards achievement could be measured.
This requirement was set outin the letter of 1 April 2005 to Professor Alexander from the Deputy Minister for Environment and Rural Development that accompanied Professor Alexander’s letter ofre-appointment. The letter was copied to the each of the regulators, includingthe Drinking Water Quality Regulator. Copies of the letter can be viewedon the Scottish Executive website at:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Environment/Water/17583/resignation.
- Asked by: John Swinney, MSP for North Tayside, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 February 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 13 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps were taken to rectify any deficiencies in the business plan of Scottish Water identified by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency prior to the resignation of the Chair of Scottish Water.
Answer
Professor Alan Alexanderresigned as Chair of Scottish Water because he did not agree with the ScottishExecutive, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and the other regulators thatScottish Water‘s 2006-10 delivery plan fell short of their requirements for itin a number of material respects.
- Asked by: John Swinney, MSP for North Tayside, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 February 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 13 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what deficiencies in the business plan of Scottish Water identified by the Drinking Water Quality Regulator for Scotland contributed to the resignation of the Chair of Scottish Water.
Answer
Professor Alan Alexanderresigned as Chair of Scottish Water because he disagreed with the views thatthe Scottish Executive and Scottish Water’s regulators had formed of ScottishWater’s 2006-10 delivery plan. The Drinking Water Quality Regulator for Scotlandconsidered in particular that the plan did not provide a clear means formeasuring Scottish Water’s progress towards delivery of the objectives that the Executive has set Scottish Water for 2006-10.
Copiesof all of the correspondence between the Executive and the regulators on thismatter can be viewed on the Scottish Executive website at:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Environment/Water/17583/resignation.
- Asked by: John Swinney, MSP for North Tayside, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 February 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 13 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what deficiencies in the business plan of Scottish Water identified by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency contributed to the resignation of the Chair of Scottish Water.
Answer
Professor Alan Alexanderresigned as Chair of Scottish Water because he disagreed with the views that the Scottish Executive and Scottish Water’s regulators had formed of Scottish Water’s2006-10 delivery plan. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency considered inparticular that the plan’s phasing of the environmental quality enhancementprogramme did not allow it to confirm that the plan would achieve theobjectives that the Executive has set Scottish Water for 2006-10.
Copiesof all of the correspondence between the Executive and the regulators on thismatter can be viewed on the Scottish Executive website at:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Environment/Water/17583/resignation.
- Asked by: John Swinney, MSP for North Tayside, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 February 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 13 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are required to approve a contract or an operating basis for Scottish Water Solutions.
Answer
The Scottish Water(Delegated Limits etc) Directions 2003 sets out the financial limits delegatedto the Board of Scottish Water. The Scottish Water
(Delegated Limits etc) Directions 2003 are published on the Scottish Executivewebsite.
The creation of an entitysuch as Scottish Water Solutions would fall outside the Scottish Water’s delegatedlimits. Scottish Water would therefore have to seek the approval of ministersthrough the submission of a robust business case.
- Asked by: John Swinney, MSP for North Tayside, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 February 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 13 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether its recruitment personnel have taken any action to recruit a Chair of Scottish Water and, if so, on what date such employees were first instructed to take action.
Answer
Officials of the ScottishExecutive are working with the search consultants Odgers to identify potentialcandidates for appointment as interim Chair of Scottish Water. They were askedto commence this work on 2 February 2006, when it had become clear to the Executive thatthere were problems with Scottish Water’s delivery plan that might lead to thedeparture of Professor Alan Alexander as Chair of Scottish Water.
