- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 19 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 27 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has for (a) maintaining existing and (b) building new sports facilities in Orkney to accommodate teams that use the area as a training base in the lead-up to the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Answer
It is a statutoryresponsibility of local authorities to provide adequate sporting facilities intheir area, maintaining existing facilities and building new facilities asdictated by the needs of the community.
The ScottishGovernment would like as many teams as possible to base a training camp in Scotland prior to the 2014 Commonwealth Games. We will buildon work already being done to ensure as many Scottish facilities as possibleare used as training camps in the lead up to the London 2012 Games.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 12 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 27 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made on the Biomass Action Plan.
Answer
The ScottishGovernment continues to work in partnership with stakeholders to pursue theaction plan, which provides a focus for maximising the opportunities forgrowth, jobs and sustainability offered by the expansion of the biomass sectorin Scotland. Good progress is being made. Forexample, the Scottish Biomass Support Scheme is providing a significant kickstart to the biomass sector by supporting around 75 projects from a wide rangeof organisations, from the supply side through to boiler and plantinstallation.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 21 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how much was paid to farmers and crofters by the (a) Executive and (b) UK Government as a result of the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in 2001 and what proportion of this was compensation for (i) the culling of livestock and (ii) economic losses.
Answer
All costs were met by the UK Government. Based on the Economic Report on Scottish Agriculture, the total compensation payments made to Scottish farmers and crofters for animals culled during the 2001 foot-and-mouth disease outbreak was £189.713 million. No payments were made for economic losses.
The following is the original answer (published on 21 November 2007); see below.
All costs were met by the UK Government. Based on the Economic Report on Scottish Agriculture, the total compensation payments made for animals culled during the 2001 foot-and-mouth disease outbreak was £189,713 million. No other payments were made for economic losses.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 08 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 20 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-4657 by Michael Russell on 24 October 2007, when it expects to reach a final conclusion on the action to be taken to address the implications for single farm payments of Scottish Natural Heritage management agreements and when farmers and crofters whose single farm payments have been affected by such agreements will be informed of the effect of the conclusion on their payments.
Answer
Following extensiveconsideration it is now clear that the terms of the Financial Guidelines formanagement agreements do not provide Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) with any basison which to make payments that compensate for loss of subsidies not linked to productionsuch as single farm payments. The concessionary payments sought by land managerswould not secure specific additional public benefit. On that basis, expenditureof public money for the purpose of making such concessionary payments could notbe justified. SNH will inform land managers who have raised concerns about thisissue with them as soon as possible. They will also be willing to advise on RuralDevelopment Contract options under the Scotland Rural Development Programme.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 15 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how much was paid to Scottish businesses other than farmers and crofters by the (a) Executive and (b) UK Government as a result of the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in 2001 and what proportion of this was compensation for economic losses.
Answer
A breakdown of figuresis not available but the UK Government did pay Scottish businesses, for examplehauliers, vets and valuers, for their work in relation to the 2001 outbreak of foot-and-mouthdisease. No compensation was paid to businesses for economic losses and no paymentswere made by the then Scottish Executive.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 25 October 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 6 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how many undergraduate degree places to study chemistry at Scottish universities were accepted in (a) 2004-05, (b) 2005-06, (c) 2006-07 and (d) 2007-08.
Answer
The number of undergraduatedegree places accepted by students wishing to study chemistry at Scottish universitieswere (a) 338 in 2004-05, (b) 395 in 2005-06, (c) 443 in 2006-07 and (d) 476 in 2007-08.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 25 October 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 6 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what estimate has been made of the cost of any network reinforcement work to ensure that electricity generated by Scottish renewable sources can be delivered to markets in England.
Answer
The Scottish Governmenthas not undertaken such an estimate. This is a matter for the transmission owners,and any such investment is approved by Ofgem.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 25 October 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 6 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made to the UK Government about ensuring that electricity generated by Scottish renewable sources can be delivered to markets in England.
Answer
The First Ministermet the Chair and Chief Executive of Ofgem on 20 September 2007. He made the case for a fundamental reform of the transmissionaccess and charging regime, to end unfair barriers to Scottish generators. The FirstMinister will put a detailed case to Ofgem on the need for reform when he next meetsOfgem’s Chair and Chief Executive. The First Minister also plans to meet the UKGovernment’s Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR), where he will likewise make this case.
The Scottish Governmentalso continues to discuss issues relating to access to the grid through BERR’s TransmissionWorking Group and is contributing to the current Transmission Access Review.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 25 October 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 6 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how many undergraduate degree places to study physics at Scottish universities were accepted by students domiciled in Scotland in (a) 2004-05, (b) 2005-06, (c) 2006-07 and (d) 2007-08.
Answer
The number of undergraduatedegree places accepted by students domiciled in Scotland, wishing to study physics at Scottish universities were (a) 198 in 2004-05,(b) 181 in 2005-06, (c) 214 in 2006-07 and (d) 231 in 2007-08.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 25 October 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 6 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how many undergraduate degree places to study engineering and technology at Scottish universities were accepted by students domiciled in Scotland in (a) 2004-05, (b) 2005-06, (c) 2006-07 and (d) 2007-08.
Answer
The number of undergraduatedegree places accepted by students domiciled in Scotland, wishing to study engineering and technology at Scottish universities were(a) 1,764 in 2004-05, (b) 1,626 in 2005-06, (c) 1,583 in 2006-07 and (d) 1,510 in2007-08.
