- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 February 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Henry McLeish on 17 February 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive when the Scottish Utilities Forum will next meet, and whether it will discuss methods by which utilities operating in Scotland will be encouraged to remove any premiums or other charges which may discourage the use of "green" energy among lower income consumers.
Answer
The Scottish Utilities Forum will meet on 21 March. The Forum, which has been established by the private sector utilities in Scotland as a result of their participation in Pathfinders to the Scottish Parliament, will set its own agenda. I expect, however, that the promotion of renewable energy in Scotland, and issues of concern to low-income consumers are topics that will be addressed during its deliberations.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 February 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sam Galbraith on 17 February 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any Ministers have visited or intend to visit the Millennium Dome as part of their official duties and, if so, what lessons they learned or hope to learn from such a visit.
Answer
To date, no Scottish Ministers have visited the Dome in their official capacity, and there are currently no firm proposals for them to do so. However, it is possible that opportunities may arise for Scottish Ministers to visit the Dome later in the year.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 February 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 17 February 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make available to all those applicants under the Agricultural Business Improvement Schemes whose applications were not met in full, details of any proposals which it has or will bring forward for a new programme under the European development funding programme for the next five years designed to achieve the same aims as those of the original Agricultural Business Improvement Schemes.
Answer
Details of the proposed Highlands and Islands Special Transitional Programme, which includes proposed grant assistance to farmers and crofters, are already in the public domain. A copy has been lodged with the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 February 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by John Home Robertson on 17 February 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made with the proposals on infectious salmon anaemia, referred to in the Ministerial Statement of 15 December 1999 as having been submitted to the European Commission, in providing greater flexibility in handling the clearance of fish and in reviewing the criteria for how and when suspect sites should be designated; whether it has met with the Commissioner to discuss these proposals and, if not, whether it intends so to do, and when it will make an announcement to the Parliament as to the outcome of these discussions.
Answer
The formal Commission proposal to amend the relevant EC legislation to allow greater flexibility in clearance of fish from infected farms will be discussed in the European Parliament Fisheries Committee on 22 February prior to likely consideration at a plenary session of the Parliament on 1 March. Depending on the comments made, the current plan is to table the matter for discussion at a Council Meeting later that month. I will advise Members of the outcome in due course. Meanwhile consideration of how the flexibility will be exercised and the review of site designations are ongoing. Preliminary discussions on the latter have been held with the European Commission.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 February 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Henry McLeish on 16 February 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what role it has in the Information Society Initiative (ISI) and whether it will provide details of the number of programmes which have been launched in Scotland under the ISI Programme for Business and, in each case, at what cost.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is actively engaged in the application of the ISI in Scotland. Officials are in regular dialogue with the ISI team at the Department of Trade and Industry, and work to ensure that Scottish policy on related matters, such as the promotion of e-commerce, takes account of UK initiatives.
The ISI is a UK-wide initiative, and consequently there have been no ISI programmes launched solely in Scotland. ISI Centres in Scotland have received almost £1.5 million in UK Government grant-aid. Total grant expenditure on the ISI Centre programme across the UK is about £10 million.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 February 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Henry McLeish on 16 February 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive, in respect of each Information Society Initiative (ISI) Programme, whether it will state the activity level during the period May 1998 to December 1999 in terms of the numbers of (a) client throughput (organisations), (b) businesses assisted and (c) seminars/events delivered.
Answer
The ISI is a UK-wide initiative and statistics are not generally available on a territorial basis for individual ISI programmes. The ISI Centre programme is an exception, and the figures for the Scottish ISI Centres are as follows:
May 1998 - December 1999
(a) 14,620 client throughput (organisations)
(b) 6,330 businesses assisted
(c) 634 seminars/events deliveredThese figures represent activity levels of ISI Centres covering the Local Enterprise Company areas of Ayrshire, Borders, Dunbarton, Fife, Forth Valley, Glasgow, Grampian, Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire and Tayside, as well as the Highlands and Islands, and Edinburgh. The ISI Centres covering Dumfries and Galloway and West Lothian were only opened in January 2000 and therefore are not included in the figures.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 February 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 16 February 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make representations to Her Majesty's Government that additional "agrimoney" compensation be paid to Scottish families this year, whether it will place in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre copies of such representations, and whether it will provide details of how much compensation will be paid.
Answer
The precise amounts of agrimonetary compensation available to UK milk producers as well as other agricultural sectors have yet to be determined. These will not be known until the European Commission publishes a regulation later this month. Payments must be made on a UK wide basis. I am therefore liaising closely with other UK Agricultural Ministers and there is a clear understanding of the issues involved. I will inform the Parliament of the decision on payment at the appropriate time.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 14 January 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Henry McLeish on 14 February 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it has taken to account for the financial effect which the internet may have upon High Street business in Scotland and to ensure that such an effect is taken into account in the non-domestic rating system.
Answer
The effect of the internet on High Street business is still largely a matter for speculation. The rating system in Scotland is designed to have regard to changes in economic and trading conditions.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 November 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 11 February 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether water and sewerage charges for domestic customers in the North of Scotland Water Authority area will increase in 2000-01 and, if so, by how much; whether it considers any such increases to be excessive, and what steps it will take to protect the public from such increases.
Answer
I announced my decisions on the strategic review of charges to Parliament on 26 January 2000. As I made clear then, the larger increase for the north is based on a fundamental reassessment by the authority of the investment that it needs to meet its statutory obligations. Both the Commissioner's advice and my determination on charges were published then. It is now for each authority to submit its annual charges scheme to the Water Industry Commissioner for approval.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 November 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 11 February 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will set up a public inquiry, convened in Inverness, to inquire into the North of Scotland Water Authority's financial planning, in particular relating to projected revenue and expenditure, and whether it will guarantee that all information relevant to any such inquiry will be made publicly available.
Answer
These matters have already been reviewed. At my request, NoSWA commissioned a review of its corporate planning process. The Authority published the report of the review in January 2000 and is implementing its recommendations. In addition, the Water Industry Commissioner has carried out a strategic review of charges in all three water authorities for the period 2000-02, which encompassed their projected capital investment programmes and revenues. This advice and the Executive's decisions on charges were also published in January 2000.
