- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 29 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will specifically monitor the impact of removing ring-fencing on flood investment.
Answer
As agreed in the Concordat,there will be a move towards a Single Outcomes Agreement with each local authority.This will be based on the agreed set of national outcomes (underpinned by agreednational indicators), and local outcomes to take account of local priorities. Eachlocal authority will be required to submit a single report setting out their progressand achievements towards the agreed national outcomes. The exact allocation of moniesto each authority for flood defence and coastal protection is under discussion withCOSLA.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 29 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will increase the current levels of expenditure on flood management and protection over the next three years.
Answer
As agreed in the jointConcordat, the support for Flood Prevention and Coast Protection is one of the grantswhich is being rolled up as part of the Local Government Settlement. The total packageof funding for local government, as published in the Spending Review 2007 is £34,730million across the period 2008-11 which is a increase of 12.6% across the period.Further details of the Local Government Settlement will be presented to Parliamentmid-December.
We will continue towork in partnership with local government partners to drive forward our priorities.For future years, funding which is included within the overall local governmentfinance settlement is the responsibility of each local authority, in conjunctionwith their Community Planning Partners, to allocate on the basis of their localneeds and priorities - taking into account their statutory obligations and the jointlyagreed set of national and local priorities, including the Scottish Government’skey strategic objectives and manifesto commitments.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 22 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what notional allocation has been made for local authorities to spend on flood management and coastal protection in each of the next three years.
Answer
As agreed in the jointConcordat, the support for Flood Prevention and Coast Protection is one of the grantswhich is being rolled up as part of the Local Government Settlement. The total packageof funding for local government, as published in the Spending Review 07, is£34,730 million across the period 2008-11. Further details of the Local GovernmentSettlement will be presented to Parliament in December.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 12 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Maureen Watt on 22 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S3W-5742 and S3W-5744 by Maureen Watt on 7 and 6 November 2007 respectively and the answer to the second supplementary to question S3F-125 by Alex Salmond on 6 September 2007 (Official Report, c. 1501), given that the second supplementary question referred specifically to the 22 school closures proposed in the Children & Families Estates Review: Rationalisation and Development Programme, published after May 2007 and approved by the City of Edinburgh Council’s ruling SNP/Liberal Democrat coalition on 23 August 2007, whether it will now retract the statement that “the so-called hit list was devised under a Labour administration”.
Answer
No. The paper entitledSchool Estate Review: Process 2004-2007 prepared for The City of EdinburghCouncil’s Education, Children and Families Committee meeting on 19 November 2007 summarises the consideration of school rationalisationthinking and proposals, both generic and specific, under the council’s previousadministration. The paper is available on the council’s website.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 22 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether its budget allocation for local authorities for flood management and protection is based on analysis of the different needs across Scotland.
Answer
The funding for floodingwill be provided by means of a block grant to each local authority. It will thenbe the responsibility of each local authority to allocate the total financial resourcesavailable to it on the basis of local needs and priorities having first fulfilledits statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local prioritiesincluding the Scottish Government’s key strategic objectives and manifesto commitments.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 21 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what benefits were identified as being delivered by the allocation of £40 million in Less Favoured Area Support Scheme payments in 2006-07 and how these were measured.
Answer
The RuralDevelopment Regulation 1698/2005 states that payments to farmers in areas withhandicaps should contribute, through continued use of agricultural land, tomaintaining the countryside as well as maintaining and promoting sustainablefarming systems. Research by the Macaulay Institute and others, for the ScottishExecutive Environment andRural Affairs Department in2006, found that Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (LFASS) made an importantcontribution to the viability of Less Favoured Area agriculture.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 21 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the extra £40 million in Less Favoured Area Support Scheme payments made by it in 2006-07 was additional money.
Answer
The £40 millionwas a supplementary payment in recognition of costs associated with the shiftin timing of the Less Favoured Area Support Scheme payments.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 21 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to avoid the gap in the 2007-08 agri-environment programme in this year’s budget.
Answer
There issufficient funding to cover the cost of all existing agri-environmentagreements and for new agreements. We are currently unable to enter into newagri-environment agreements due to delays in the approval of the Scottish Rural DevelopmentPlan and the consequentabsence of a legal basis for new agreements. My officials have asked the Commission to advise whetherthey can envisage any exceptional mechanism for approval of a one yearextension of agri-environment agreements expiring in 2007 and I await theCommission’s response.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 21 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive from where in the Environment and Rural Development budget the £40 million in Less Favoured Area Support Scheme payments made by it in 2006-07 came.
Answer
The £40 millionwas met out of the resources voted by the Parliament for the Less Favoured AreaSupport Scheme Level 3 of the Rural Development Level 2 in the 2006-2007Budget. Of the £61 million shown in the Budget, £48.5 million was the nationalfunding DEL element, from which the £40 million payment was made.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 19 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide any funding to cities in addition to the standard local government settlement in recognition of their complex role in supporting the economy.
Answer
Scotland’s cities will benefit from the newarrangements announced as part of the Strategic Spending Review on 14 November2007. The package of measures jointly agreed with COSLA marks a fundamentalshift in the relationship between the Scottish Government and local government.
One element of the package is a fair cash settlementfor local government. Other elements include the introduction of a Single OutcomeAgreement, a significant reduction in ring-fencing of separate capital andrevenue grants, streamlining bureaucracy and reporting requirements, and the retentionof efficiency savings.
These newarrangements, and the freedoms and flexibilities that they afford, will givecity-based local authorities greater scope to maintain their investment in cityinfrastructure as part of their vital role in supporting the economy.
