- Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 24 September 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 8 October 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the decision to cancel the Glasgow Airport Rail Link was evaluated against any proposal for the cancellation of any other major transport project.
Answer
In considering the Draft Budget for 2010-11, the Scottish Government had to take into account the significant pressures that had arisen in 2010-11, including budget reductions imposed upon us by the UK Government, and the expectation that this pressure would grow, in line with the Treasury''s forecasts (in the Chancellor''s Red Book) of major capital scarcity in the medium term.
As a responsible administration, the Scottish Government has had to begin planning for this period of scarcity, to help ensure that available funding continues to be directed toward front line services, and one of the steps we reluctantly decided to take was to cancel the branch line element of Glasgow Airport Rail Link, because this project required significant capital in the next three years.
- Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 September 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 6 October 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive how many notes of interest it has received for the Saltire Prize competition.
Answer
To date, a total of 129 registrations of interest for the Saltire Prize competition have been received from 27 different countries.
- Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 September 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 6 October 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the information published on its website, in which month of 2009 it will publish the final guidelines for the Saltire Prize.
Answer
The final guidelines for the Saltire Prize will be published by the end of 2009. Although later than originally anticipated, it has been important to take full account of the issues raised in the public consultation on the draft guidelines before publishing the final set of guidelines.
- Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 25 September 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 6 October 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what its response is to the recommendation in the Marine Energy Group’s Marine Energy Road Map, published on 26 August 2009, that the Scottish Government should consider the roles of the various public bodies providing funding for early stage technologies, including Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, the Carbon Trust and the Scottish Government.
Answer
As a follow up to this recommendation and those contained in the Renewables Action Plan, the Scottish Government has embarked on a project to map the full range of research, development, demonstration and deployment support available in Scotland for low carbon technologies. This project will produce recommendations on streamlining and prioritisation of support landscape required to meet 2020 targets for renewable energy and carbon emissions.
- Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 25 September 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 6 October 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-26835 by Jim Mather on 8 September 2009, when it will announce whether it supports the recommendation in the Marine and Energy Group’s Marine Energy Road Map that the Scottish Government should introduce a flexible new initiative modelled on the existing Wave and Tidal Energy Support Scheme.
Answer
Ministers are currently considering the recommendations addressed to the Scottish Government within the Marine Energy Road Map.
Consideration of the recommendation to introduce a new initiative similar to the Wave and Tidal Energy Support (WATES) scheme will be undertaken as part of the Scottish Government''s current budgetary review process.
- Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 25 September 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 6 October 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what its response is to the view of the developers on the Marine Energy Group that “it is essential that the Beauly-Denny link must be consented urgently by Scottish Ministers since not only does it provide capacity for renewable projects most ready for connection, but it is also key to unlocking further progress on network upgrades.”
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-21310 on 9 March 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.
- Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 25 September 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 6 October 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what its response is to the recommendation in the Marine Energy Group’s Marine Energy Road Map, published on 26 August 2009, that the Scottish Government should review urgently the level of renewables obligation certificate (ROC) banding for tidal stream to attract 5 ROCs/MWh in line with the band for wave energy in Scotland.
Answer
The Scottish Government agrees that the ROC bands in our Renewables Obligation legislation need to be set at the right levels. We are collaborating with the UK Government on an updated study of wave and tidal energy costs, which should be complete by the end of this year. The study will help determine whether or not there is sufficient evidence for an early review of our wave and tidal ROC bands.
- Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 25 September 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 6 October 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what its response is to the recommendation in the Marine Energy Group’s Marine Energy Road Map, published on 26 August 2009, that Scottish Enterprise should revise the cap on its Scottish Venture Fund from £2 million to £10-15 million.
Answer
The Scottish Venture Fund targets an identified gap in the availability of equity funding and supports deals within the £2 million to £5 million range, but up to £10 million in some circumstances. The fund provides an investment of £2 million and co-invests with private sector investors. To date there is no detailed market evidence to suggest that there is any need to revise the current £2 million investment ceiling.
- Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 September 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 5 October 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the comments by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth in the news release of 26 August 2009 that “marine energy will be key to Scotland’s future energy mix and that’s why we changed our support mechanisms to give greater assistance to wave and tidal energy in Scotland than anywhere else in the UK.”, what mechanisms are open to wave and tidal energy developers seeking support for new marine energy developments.
Answer
We amended our renewables legislation in June to provide higher levels of support for wave and tidal power than anywhere else in the UK, with five Renewables Obligation Certificates (ROCs) per megawatt hour for wave projects and three ROCs per megawatt hour for tidal stream projects. This is a deliberate signal of intent, and provides a long-term return for these generators. We know that this support is already attracting developers to look at potential projects and locations in Scottish waters in preference to other parts of the UK.
In the meantime, we continue to provide support and flexibility to projects awarded grants under the Wave and Tidal Energy Scheme, and welcome the recent call for proposals by the Carbon Trust under its new £22 million Marine Renewables Proving Fund.
- Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 21 September 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 5 October 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive how many reports on public local inquiries it is considering.
Answer
Scottish ministers are currently considering 10 reports submitted by the Directorate for Planning and Environmental Appeals following a public local inquiry.
