- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 10 December 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 20 December 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all those who have made representations that the Trump Organisation’s planning application for a golf development at the Menie Estate should be called in, subsequent to it being determined by the local planning authority.
Answer
We will in due course publisha list of all representations that have been received by the Scottish Government’sPlanning Directorate.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 10 December 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 20 December 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the First Minister has had contact with any representative of the Trump Organisation subsequent to his meeting with representatives of the organisation at the Marcliffe Hotel on 3 December 2007.
Answer
Mr Salmond has had nocontact with the Trump Organization in his capacity as First Minister. Themeeting referred to was undertaken by Mr Salmond in his capacity asconstituency MSP for Gordon.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 December 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Bruce Crawford on 20 December 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-6786 by Bruce Crawford on 3 December 2007, whether the review of the Scottish Ministerial Code will include consideration of having an independent adviser to investigate breaches of the code, similar to the approach taken by Prime Minister, Gordon Brown MP.
Answer
In line with the practice aftereach Scottish parliamentary election, the Scottish Ministerial Code is currentlybeing reviewed. The review will consider a number of issues and will be publishedin the near future.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 December 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Bruce Crawford on 20 December 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-6783 by Bruce Crawford on 3 December 2007, when the review of the Scottish Ministerial Code will be concluded.
Answer
The review is expected to beconcluded in the near future and a revised version of the code will be publishedby the First Minister soon after.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 December 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 20 December 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive in how many cases since May 1999 ministers have called in a planning application after the local authority has rejected it.
Answer
Scottish ministers have no powerto call in a planning application after the written notice of refusal has been issuedby a planning authority.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 December 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 20 December 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide details of all telephone calls about the Trump Organization’s planning application for a golf course, hotel and residential development on the Menie Estate in Aberdeenshire between civil servants, ministers or special advisers and representatives of (a) the Trump Organization and (b) Aberdeenshire Council since May 2007.
Answer
The Scottish Government doesnot hold this information.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 14 December 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 20 December 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide details of all the hospitality provided at the Trump National Golf Club, Westchester, New York during the VisitScotland event on 2 and 3 December 2007.
Answer
An event was held at the TrumpNational Golf Club to welcome participants to the Globalscot Conference and to givethem an opportunity to network with each other. This comprised a two and a halfhour-long reception at which food, refreshments and music were provided. The publicsector cost of the event was circa £15,000, for which sponsorship was provided byVisitScotland. A further cost in respect of branded drinks consumed was sponsoredby Pernod Ricard. There was no subsidy or sponsorship by the Trump Organization,to whom the full commercial rate for use of the facility, was paid by Scottish Enterprise.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 14 December 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 20 December 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth or the First Minister will apologise to the Parliament for any factual inaccuracies by special advisers on 13 December 2007 when briefing the media about the telephone conversations between the Chief Planner and Chief Executive of Aberdeenshire Council on 4 December 2007.
Answer
Special advisers didnot brief factual inaccuracies to the media.
All information given to Parliament on this issue hasbeen correct.
The BBC approachedScottish Government officials on 12 December 2007 with questions relating to the Chief Planner’s telephonecontacts with Aberdeenshire Council. Those questions were answered correctly onDecember 12. On December 13, the BBC refined its question by changing a limitednumber of words. During the course of a busy day in which we fielded a large numberof questions from a range of parties about the Trump application, officials didnot realise the question had been changed slightly and repeated an answer giventhe previous evening. Once the mistake was identified officials clarified the positionto the media at the earliest opportunity. We always strive to supply full and accurateanswers to media enquiries and I regret that this unfortunate but easily understooderror occurred on this occasion.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 14 December 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 20 December 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what events were attended by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth on his visit to the United States of America on 2 and 3 December 2007, showing (a) the host organisation, (b) the venue, (c) who paid, and (d) the names of all the guests and organisations they represented for each event.
Answer
On 2 December 2007, I attended the GlobalScot Welcome Reception, which washeld at the Trump National Golf Club, Westchester, New York. Scottish Enterprise arranged the reception and VisitScotlandBusiness Tourism Unit were the sponsor of the reception. The list of attendees isconfidential but I can confirm that no member of the Trump Organizsation was present.
On 3 December, I spokeat the Alexandria Real Estate Equities Conference which was held at the St RegisHotel in New York. The conference was arranged and paid for by Alexandria Real Estate.The list of attendees is commercially confidential to Alexandria Real Estate butI can confirm that no member of the Trump Organization was present. Alexandria RealEstate arranged for me to be flown by helicopter from central New York to Armonkto fulfil a speaking commitment and Alexandria paid for this trip.
I attended the AmericasGlobalscot Conference, which was held at the IBM Learning Centre, Armonk, New York. The conference was organisedand paid for by Scottish Enterprise although some of the costs were offset throughdelegate fees and sponsorship from IBM and VisitScotland’s Business Tourism Unit.The list of attendees is confidential but I can confirm that no member of the TrumpOrganization was present.
I then undertook atelevision interview at Fox Business News and a telephone interview with NationalPublic Radio. Officials from the Scottish Affairs Office in Washington, ScottishDevelopment International (SDI), my Private Office, and a representative of WeberShandwick - who act on media matters for SDI - were present.
In addition I visited Corporate Satellite Communications and met with the Presidentand Managing Director of CSC. Officials from the Scottish Affairs Office in Washington,SDI and my Private Office were present.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 14 December 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 20 December 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there was any sponsorship or in-kind support for any of the events attended by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth during his visit to the United States of America on 2 and 3 December 2007.
Answer
IBM Scotland provided £20,000in cash sponsorship towards the Americas Globalscot conference. VisitScotland BusinessTourism Unit provided £15,000 in cash sponsorship towards the Conference Networkingreception held at Trump National Golf Resort. Pernod Ricard provided “in-kind” supportfor the Globalscot Welcome Reception by providing branded drinks during the evening(the estimated value is £5,000). Alexandria Real Estate paid for a helicopter flightfrom central New York to the IBM Learning Centre in Armonk to enable me to fulfiltwo speaking engagements in close proximity.