- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 26 February 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 9 March 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will clarify the status of the recent Less Favoured Areas Support Scheme payment of £40 million, indicating what balance remains to be paid and whether it was an additional or an advance payment.
Answer
The recent Less Favoured AreaSupport Scheme (LFASS) payment of £40 million was a supplementary payment to LFASS2006, provided to address cash flow problems arising from changes in the timingof LFASS. The value of LFASS 2007 will be £61 million.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 26 February 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 9 March 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what powers it has to ban incandescent light bulbs in favour of energy-efficient alternatives.
Answer
Under the Scotland Act 1998,energy efficiency is reserved, except for the promotion of energy efficiency otherthan by prohibition or regulation (Schedule 5, Section D5). The Executive supportsthe promotion of a wide range of energy efficiency measures including use of energyefficient light bulbs.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 26 February 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 6 March 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what the latest position is on negotiations on the future of support for less favoured areas.
Answer
Support for less favoured areasis an integral part of the Scottish Rural Development Plan for 2007-2013,which is due to be formally submitted to the European Commission later this year.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 22 February 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 6 March 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects the Commercial and Industrial Waste Framework to be finalised; what the reasons are for any delay in finalising the framework, and what policy intention is behind the framework.
Answer
Our consultation on the SustainableManagement of Waste from Business and Public Sector Organisations can be found at:
www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/08/05101728/17300.
Since the consultation, the Executiveand the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) have been summarising andanalysing responses. A summary of responses is available at:
www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Environment/Waste/17103/managementofwaste.
Following the consultation, the Scottish Executive and SEPA have been drafting a Business Waste Framework, whichwe intend to publish in March 2007. The framework outlines the Scottish Executive’sand SEPA’s aim of encouraging the reduction, reuse and recycling of business waste.The framework will address waste data, support to encourage business waste minimisation,collections of recyclate from small businesses, planning and infrastructure, regulation,and development of markets for recycled material.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 22 February 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 5 March 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what it estimates the cost to the public purse would be of cancelling the (a) M74 extension and (b) Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route.
Answer
Total estimated expenditure toend February 2007 for land, compensation and scheme development for the M74 Completionis £156 million. Total estimated expenditure to end February 2007 for scheme developmentfor the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route is £19 million.
Further costs would result frompayments that would be due to consultants and contractors for the winding up ofany contracts. Remaining compensation payments for any land acquired would requireto be settled.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 February 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Hugh Henry on 5 March 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps have been taken to investigate the design quality of schools and other public buildings financed through PPP and how they compare in this respect with public buildings financed through traditional and alternative routes and what the conclusions were of any such investigations.
Answer
The Scottish Executive encourageslocal authorities to evaluate all new school buildings, however procured, to assesshow well the design and facilities are meeting the needs of users, and to take accountof and share lessons learned.
The Executive has not carriedout any investigations of the type described. Authorities have the same degree ofcontrol over the design brief and specifications as to quality, whatever the procurementmethod.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 09 February 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 23 February 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how many dentists have (a) successfully and (b) unsuccessfully applied for additional funding earmarked for encouraging dentists to (i) return to or (ii) continue in the NHS, broken down by NHS board.
Answer
For independent general dentalpractitioners:
Information regarding the GoldenHello Recruitment and Retention Allowances and Remote Areas Allowance are containedin tables 12.1, 12.2, and 12.3 of the 2005-2006 Scottish Dental Practice BoardAnnual Report.
There have been 126 successfuland no unsuccessful claims for the Vocational Training Golden Hello.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 09 February 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 23 February 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients in each local authority area were registered with an NHS dentist in each of the last five years, also showing year-on-year percentage changes and national totals and expressed as a percentage of all dental patients.
Answer
The information requested isnot available by local authority area. Information on registrations by NHS boardarea can be found at
http://www.isdscotland.org/dental.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 09 February 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 23 February 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how many and what percentage of dentists have returned to or decided to continue in the NHS as a result of the additional funding made available for this purpose, broken down by NHS board.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-31502 on 13 February 2007. All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facilityfor which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 05 February 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 20 February 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) households and (b) communities the Scottish Community and Householder Renewables Initiative has provided with funding, broken down by year since its inception.
Answer
Information regarding the numberof people admitted to accident and emergency units for specific diagnoses is notheld centrally.