Questions and answers

Question reference: S2W-25484

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 April 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 16 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish details of any representations it has made to Her Majesty's Government regarding the proposed privatisation of air search and rescue services in Scotland.

Control and tasking of theair search and rescue service is a reserved matter and will remain with the UKGovernment. The Department for Transport and the Ministry of Defence announcedon 9 May that the joint Search and Rescue Helicopter project would go forwardto a competition under the Private Finance Initiative. The Scottish Executivehas responsibility for managing the consequences arising from civil emergenciesand works closely with the UK Government and a variety of organisations in ensuringemergency preparedness, and will continue to discuss with the UK Governmentthese and other issues.

Question reference: S2W-26412

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 15 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide details of each of the projects that have been supported under the National and Regional Sports Facilities Strategy; how much exchequer funding is being provided for each project; how the remaining funding will be provided; what the timescale is for the completion of each project; whether there have been any cost or timescale changes to the projects since the strategy was announced, and, if so, what these changes are.

The Executive and sportscotlandwill be contributing £49.5million (£28.8million Exchequer and nearly £21millionfrom the Lottery Sports Fund) to the ten projects approved at Stage One of the National and Regional Sports Facilities Strategy. As stated in my answer toS2W-26373, the allocation to each project will be confirmed on approval of therelated Stage Two application, the first of which is nearing approval.

Thethree main reasons for changes in timescale can be summarised as:

1.By virtue of their size, there are planning complexities which take time towork through (local consultation, traffic impact assessments etc).

2.Again, given the scale of these projects, the procurement process, includingadvertising through OJEU for design teams and contractors, adds time to theproject programme. This is difficult to estimate at the outset and it is onlyafter these projects are developed beyond the initial concept that it ispossible to make a realistic estimate of completion dates.

3.£50 million is a substantial contribution to the Strategy but the projects willcost some £230 million in total and it takes time for the local authorities, insome cases working with partners, to put together full funding packages.

Thefollowing table sets out the information requested

Lead Applicant Project	Exchequer and Lottery Sports Fund Allocation*		Estimated Date of Completion
Lead Applicant Project	At Stage One	As at 31 May 2006	At Stage One	As at 31 May 2006
Falkirk Council Westfield Stadium: Regional indoor football facility.	£3,000,000	£3,000,000	March 2007	April 2008
Stirling Council Forthbank: Curling academy and sports hall (and Swimming pool and hockey pitch.)	£2,000,000 (+£500,000 BFSP¹)	£2,000,000 (+£500,000 BFSP¹)	October 2007	April 2008
City of Edinburgh Council Sighthill Park: Municipal stadium (6k seats), synthetic grass pitch, 2 grass pitches, indoor athletics training facility and sports hall (and Gymnastics facility).	£6,500,000 (+£500,000 BFSP¹)	£6,500,000 (+£500,000 BFSP¹)	May 2009	June 2011
Hunters Hall: Indoor football facility and outdoor pitches².	£6,000,000	£3,000,000²	May 2009	March 2009
Royal Commonwealth Pool: Upgrade to provide 50m x 8 lane main pool, international diving pool.	£4,000,000	£4,000,000	January 2009	January 2011
Aberdeen City Council: Linksfield: Indoor athletics training facility, outdoor pitches, indoor football facility and sports hall.	£5,000,000	£5,000,000	October 2008	August 2008
Glasgow City Council: East End: National indoor sports arena with 200m track, indoor athletics training facility, sports hall and velodrome.	£9,500,000²	£13,500,000²	March 2009	August 2009
Scotstoun: Municipal stadium (6k seats) and indoor athletics training area.	£4,500,000	£4,500,000	May 2007	May 2008
Toryglen: Indoor football facility and outdoor pitches.	£3,000,000	£3,000,000	September 2007	July 2008
North Lanarkshire Council Ravenscraig: Indoor athletics training facility, indoor football facility, sports hall and outdoor pitch.	£5,000,000	£5,000,000	August 2007	September 2008

Notes:

*The precise amount ofExchequer and Lottery Sports Fund allocation to each project will be determinedas the programme rolls out.

1. Building for SportProgramme for elements of the project that were not eligible under the NRSFS

2. Following the bid tobring the 2014 Commonwealth Games to Glasgow, the City of Edinburgh Council agreed to remove the velodromeelement from their Hunters Hall project and agreement has been reached withGlasgow City Council for it to be added to the East End project.

Question reference: S2W-26457

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 13 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how much investment there has been in the Active Schools project in each local authority area in each of the last three years.

Sportscotland provides funding directly to localauthorities for the delivery of the Active Schools Programme. The following tabledetails the allocation of funding for Active Schools to each local authority areain Scotland over the last three financial years.

Local Authority	Year One Allocation 2004-05 (£)	Year Two Allocation 2005-06 (£)	Year Three Allocation 2006-07 (£)
Aberdeen City*1	280,320.00	376,032.00	355,440.00
Aberdeenshire*3	285,900.00	300,000.00	310,176.00
Angus	256,960.00	300,960.00	306,960.00
Argyll and Bute	280,080.00	267,888.00	261,360.00
Clackmannanshire	117,480.00	118,590.00	118,590.00
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar	96,733.00	179,500.00	433,920.00
Dumfries and Galloway	-	433,920.00	319,320.00
Dundee	344,280.00	319,320.00	340,580.00
East Ayrshire	139,040.00	358,236.00	340,580.00
East Dunbartonshire	348,353.00	343,200.00	343,200.00
East Lothian	244,897.00	232,720.00	232,720.00
East Renfrewshire	203,340.00	203,340.00	149,378.00
Edinburgh	501,280.00	670,240.00	657,760.00
Falkirk	146,680.00	300,960.00	300,960.00
Fife	413,860.00	635,892.00	637,780.00
Glasgow	602,935.00	856,980.00	1,106,980.00
Highland	497,012.00	957,100.00	987,829.00
Inverclyde	178,840.00	270,193.00	270,960.00
Midlothian	177,870.00	195,720.00	195,720.00
Moray	229,960.00	231,960.00	231,960.00
North Ayrshire	318,600.00	318,600.00	318,600.00
North Lanarkshire	682,360.00	790,000.00	790,120.00
Orkney	95,500.00	128,500.00	128,500.00
Perth and Kinross	306,200.00	319,320.00	319,320.00
Renfrewshire	304,080.00	402,288.00	385,440.00
Scottish Borders	219,780.00	286,068.00	278,580.00
Shetland	179,720.00	179,720.00	179,720.00
South Ayrshire*2	338,580.00	338,580.00	338,580.00
South Lanarkshire	425,303.00	685,960.00	651,640.00
Stirling	233,340.00	233,340.00	234,180.00
West Dunbartonshire	233,340.00	233,340.00	233,340.00
West Lothian	391,380.00	353,940.00	353,940.00
Totals	9,074,003.00	11,822,407.00	12,114,133.00

Notes:

*1. AberdeenCity a revised allocation for Year One/Year Two was agreed in February 2005. Thisreplaced the original allocation.

*2. South Ayrshire a revisedallocation for Year One/Year Two was agreed in February 2005. This replaced theoriginal allocation.

*3. Aberdeenshire a combinedYear Two/Year three allocation was agreed in April 2006.

Question reference: S2W-26456

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 13 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many Active Schools co-ordinators are employed in each local authority area.

Local Authority	No. of Managers	No. of ASCs Primary	No. of ASCs Secondary	No. of ASCs SEN	No. of ASCs Combined	Notes on Staffing
Aberdeen City	1	9	12	0	0
Aberdeenshire	1	2	14	0	0
Angus	1	8	8	0	0
Argyll and Bute	1	3	2	0	6	6 ASCs covering both Primary and Secondary Schools
Clackmannanshire	1	3	3	1	0
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar	1	3	5	0	0
Dumfries and Galloway	1	11	16	0	0
Dundee	1	8	10	1	0
East Ayrshire	1	9	6	1	0
East Dunbartonshire	1	9	9	1	0
East Lothian	1	6	6	0	0
East Renfrewshire	1	7	7	0	0
Edinburgh	1	16	23	1.5	0
Falkirk	1	8	8	1	0
Fife	1	17	18	0	0
Glasgow	1	27	26	2	0
Highland	1	26	29	1	0
Inverclyde	1	7	5	0	0
Midlothian	1	3	6	1	0
Moray	1	4	5	0	2
North Ayrshire	1	5	9	1	1	1 ASC is a combined Primary/ Secondary Post covering Isle of Arran
North Lanarkshire	1	21	26	0	0
Orkney	1	0			3	3 ASCs are combined Primary Secondary Posts covering rural island areas
Perth and Kinross	1	8	10	1	0
Renfrewshire	1	10	12	1	0
Scottish Borders	1	7	9	0	0
Shetland	1	1.5	1	0	3.5	3.5 ASCs are combined Primary Secondary posts to cover rural island areas
South Ayrshire	1	9	9	0	0
South Lanarkshire	1	17	19	1	0
Stirling	1	6	7	0	0
West Dunbartonshire	1	6	7	0	0
West Lothian	1	9	11	7	0
Totals	32	284.5	336	15.5	15.5

Note:

“ASC” refers to ActiveSchools Co-ordinators.

“SEN” refers to Special EducationalNeeds.

Question reference: S2W-26458

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 13 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what average annual budget that was allocated to individual Active Schools co-ordinators in each of the last three years and what proportion of this funding was provided by (a) sportscotland and (b) local authorities.

Information on the totalActive Schools Co-ordinators annual budgets is not held centrally.

Funding allocations from Sportscotlandto Active Schools Co-ordinators for annual budgets are made via the ActiveSchools Manager in each local authority area in Scotland.

The Active Schools programmeis delivered via “clusters” within each local authority area in Scotland. Clustersare usually formed by one Secondary school and it’s associated feeder primary schools.

Sportscotland has provided funding of £1,500 to eachActive Schools cluster in the financial years 2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07. Local authoritiesare expected to match this funding. However, the precise level of contributionby local authorities will vary depending on local needs and priorities.

Question reference: S2W-25483

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 April 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 13 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what concerns it has about the proposed privatisation of air search and rescue services in Scotland.

Question reference: S2W-25482

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 April 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 13 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive when it was first notified of the proposed privatisation of air search and rescue services in Scotland.

Control and tasking of theair search and rescue service is a reserved matter and will remain with the UKGovernment. The Department for Transport and the Ministry of Defence announcedon 9 May that the joint Search and Rescue Helicopter project would go forwardto a competition under the Private Finance Initiative. The Scottish Executivehas responsibility for managing the consequences arising from civil emergenciesand works closely with the UK Government and a variety of organisations inensuring emergency preparedness.

Question reference: S2W-26468

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 12 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-26022 by Patricia Ferguson on 1 June 2006, when sportscotland will publish statistics on participation for the period up to 2005.

Question reference: S2W-26306

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 12 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with the Environment Agency in respect of any plans to undertake an independent assessment of alternatives to the rod licence as a means of funding the management of rivers.

Question reference: S2W-26308

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 12 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on the cost of purchasing a rod licence to fish in the River Esk.

The Environment Agency website,http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk,lists the cost of purchasing a rod licence for all rivers that they haveresponsibility for as follows;

	Non-Migratory Fish	Salmon and Sea Trout
Full Season	£24	£65.00
Junior	£5	£32.50
8-day	£8.50	£20.50
1-day	£3.25	£6.75

Young people under 12 yearsold do not require a licence. There are also concessionary licences availablefor Blue Badge holders and people aged 65 and over.

Chamber and committees