Chamber and committees

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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: S3W-36664

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 01 October 2010
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 21 October 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S3W-36066 and S3W-36059 by Stewart Stevenson on 30 September 2010, whether its “regular ongoing contact about ferry services in Scotland with a range of public bodies” included discussions with (a) Orkney Islands Council, (b) Shetland Islands Council and (c) Argyll and Bute Council regarding its plan to extend the Road Equivalent Tariff pilot on the Western Isles routes for a further 12 months before that decision was (i) taken and (ii) announced.

Question reference: S3W-36525

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 September 2010
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 4 October 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many applications there have been for Stage Four measures under the Energy Assistance Package; how many (a) were rejected, (b) were withdrawn and (c) are under consideration; for how many (i) the improvement work has been completed, (ii) the improvement work is underway, (iii) surveys have been undertaken but the improvement work has yet to start, (iv) surveys have yet to start, and what the average time is from the submission of an application to the completion of the improvement work, broken down by local authority area.

15,066 applications were referred to Stage Four of the Energy Assistance Package in the financial year 2009-10. Of these, five were duplicates, leaving 15,061. Of these 15,061 applications, by the end of August 2010:

a. 2,799 had been rejected because they were not eligible and a further 696 were cancelled before the initial screening process because the managing agent was unable to reach the customer, total 3,495;

b. 2,160 had been withdrawn, and

c. None were still under consideration.

i. 7,910 had received installations;

ii. 1,031 had work underway;

iii. 465 have had surveys undertaken but improvement work yet to start;

iv. None still had surveys yet to start.

The average time from referral to Stage 4 to installation was 68 days. An analysis by local authority area is given in the following table:

Energy Assistance Package: 2009-10 Stage 4 Applications Received and Processed by Local Authority Area: Status at End August 2010

	Applications	a. Rejected	b. Withdrawn	Stage 4 Measures			Average Delivery Time (Working Days)
	Applications	a. Rejected	b. Withdrawn	i. Installed	ii. Under-way	iii. Surveyed, Work Yet to Start	Average Delivery Time (Working Days)
Aberdeen City	349	87	38	198	17	9	75
Aberdeenshire	563	106	77	308	52	20	89
Angus	390	82	67	207	21	13	69
Argyll and Bute	404	70	81	198	38	17	96
Clackmannanshire	94	22	7	62	3	0	64
Dumfries and Galloway	713	117	154	367	50	25	93
Dundee City	506	114	55	312	16	9	55
East Ayrshire	240	53	34	145	4	4	58
East Dunbartonshire	302	90	52	156	2	2	54
East Lothian	222	46	37	121	12	6	65
East Renfrewshire	272	70	47	145	5	5	57
Edinburgh, City of	920	248	155	466	34	17	61
Eilean Siar	1,045	188	172	294	278	113	90
Falkirk	375	106	35	220	8	6	64
Fife	1,062	257	146	589	46	24	66
Glasgow City	1,209	356	153	667	22	11	55
Highland	1,262	267	175	565	185	70	88
Inverclyde	209	58	30	112	9	0	60
Midlothian	188	42	20	112	4	10	53
Moray	288	49	42	176	18	3	82
North Ayrshire	429	102	50	254	11	12	65
North Lanarkshire	692	166	65	442	9	10	53
Orkney Islands	141	26	28	42	39	6	82
Perth and Kinross	434	81	57	247	30	19	72
Renfrewshire	343	89	40	203	5	6	56
Scottish Borders	343	61	59	191	24	8	83
Shetland Islands	55	10	8	10	19	8	152
South Ayrshire	322	61	65	178	10	8	64
South Lanarkshire	771	208	90	434	33	6	60
Stirling	466	124	64	244	19	15	59
West Dunbartonshire	224	72	25	123	2	2	59
West Lothian	228	67	32	122	6	1	59
Scotland	15,061	3,495	2,160	7,910	1,031	465	68

Question reference: S3W-36059

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 03 September 2010
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 30 September 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all public bodies, including local authorities, it consulted during the period when it was considering extending the pilot of Road Equivalent Tariff fares on the ferry services to the Western Isles.

The Scottish Government has regular ongoing contact about ferry services in Scotland with a range of public bodies, including local authorities, VisitScotland, Regional Transport Partnerships, Public Corporations such as David MacBrayne Ltd and Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, as well as individuals. Recently this has included engagement through working groups and some 45 events, including 33 public meetings, as part of the Scottish Ferries Review, as well as Road Equivalent Tariff stakeholder meetings.

Question reference: S3W-36064

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 03 September 2010
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 30 September 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive when it began its consideration of an extension to the pilot of Road Equivalent Tariff fares on the ferry services to the Western Isles beyond spring 2011.

It would have been premature to end the pilot before the final evaluation study had been completed and fully considered. This decision was taken within the context of ongoing consultation and engagement as set out in the answer to question S3W-36059 on 30 September 2010.

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.

Question reference: S3W-36061

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 03 September 2010
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 30 September 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will detail the outcome of the studies made of the social and economic impact on Scottish Islands other than the Western Isles of an extension to the pilot of Road Equivalent Tariff fares on the ferry services to the Western Isles beyond spring 2011 before a decision was made to extent the pilot by one year.

Question reference: S3W-36060

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 03 September 2010
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 30 September 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all public bodies, businesses, organisations and individuals that made representations to it in support of an extension to the pilot of Road Equivalent Tariff fares on the ferry services to the Western Isles beyond spring 2011.

Question reference: S3W-36062

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 03 September 2010
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 30 September 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will detail the outcome of the assessment undertaken of the legality of an extension to the pilot of Road Equivalent Tariff fares on the ferry services to the Western Isles beyond spring 2011 before a decision was made to extent the pilot by one year.

Question reference: S3W-36063

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 03 September 2010
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 30 September 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive to detail the outcome of the assessment made of the cost of an extension to the pilot of Road Equivalent Tariff fares on the ferry services to the Western Isles beyond spring 2011 before a decision was made to extent the pilot by one year.

Question reference: S3W-36068

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 03 September 2010
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 30 September 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions took place with (a) VisitOrkney and (b) VisitShetland regarding its plan to extend the Road Equivalent Tariff pilot on the Western Isles routes for a further 12 months prior to that decision being (i) taken and (ii) announced.

Question reference: S3W-36065

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 03 September 2010
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 30 September 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has considered extending the pilot of Road Equivalent Tariff fares on the ferry services to the Western Isles to cover additional ferry routes to islands other than the Western Isles.