- Asked by: Mr Brian Monteith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 22 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 6 October 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how many food professionals have called the healthyliving line in each month since it was established.
Answer
It is not possible to say howmany health professionals have called the healthyliving line as this informationis not collected as part of the routine monitoring of the line.
- Asked by: Mr Brian Monteith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 22 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 6 October 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how many calls there have been to the healthyliving line in each month since it was established.
Answer
The number of calls to the healthylivingadvice line since launch have been as follows:
Number of Calls to the HealthylivingLine from 6 January to 31 August 2003
| Month | Number of calls |
| January | 11,273 |
| February | 3,979 |
| March | 3,225 |
| April | 395 |
| May | 245 |
| June | 375 |
| July | 1,027 |
| August | 1,840 |
- Asked by: Mr Brian Monteith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 22 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 6 October 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive from how many phone numbers there have been calls to the healthyliving line in each month since it was established.
Answer
This information is not available.The healthyliving advice line is a confidential service and caller phone numbersare not recorded or tracked.
- Asked by: Mr Brian Monteith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 22 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 6 October 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how much the healthyliving line cost to (a) establish and (b) run on a monthly basis since inception.
Answer
The cost of setting up the healthylivingline was £33,696 (£39,592.80 inc. VAT). The monthly running costs are as follows:
Operational Costs (£) of Healthyliving AdviceLine During 2003
| Month | Ex. VAT (£) | Inc. VAT (£) |
| January | 54,685.43 | 62,703.74 |
| February | 47,869.96 | 55,363.66 |
| March | 35,574.96 | 41,248.41 |
| April | 20,545.13 | 23,940.28 |
| May | 24,965.55 | 29,228.41 |
| June | 23,039.91 | 26,963.38 |
| July | 30,324.78 | 35,429.71 |
| August | 35,689.90 | 41,666.54 |
- Asked by: Mr Brian Monteith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 15 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 1 October 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it provided funding for the bid to bring direct New York flights to Edinburgh.
Answer
The forthcoming Edinburgh toNew York (Newark) air service will be the subject of investment by theRoute Development Fund. This service will be aimed at improving business links andinbound tourism to Scotland.
- Asked by: Mr Brian Monteith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 30 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how much was given in the form of grants and subsidies to new and existing on-shore and off-shore wind farms in each of the last five years and what expenditure it intends to commit for such wind farms for 2004-05.
Answer
We announced on 28 August thisyear that the Executive will contribute £194,000 to Talisman Energy (UK) to assistin the development of a demonstration project for the world’s first deep water offshorewind farm. This commitment will be met from our existing programme budget for thepromotion of renewable energy. Information regarding future spending commitmentsis unavailable.
The developers of the offshorewind farm in the Solway Firth have been awarded an £18 million capital grant from theUKscheme operated by the Department of Trade and Industry. A third round totalling£44 million closed on 30 June this year. There are currently no plans for furtherrounds.
Generating stations using renewableenergy also qualify for support under the Renewables Obligation Scotland Order (2002).The additional costs imposed upon electricity suppliers under the obligation, estimatedto reach around 4-5% by 2010, are met by all electricity consumers. There is noadditional support available for onshore windfarms outwith the obligation.
- Asked by: Mr Brian Monteith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 01 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 29 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what the administrative cost of collecting non-domestic rates was in 2001-02, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
Information on the administrativecost of collecting non-domestic rates in 2001-02 can be found in the CIPFA RatingReview Actuals of Income and Expenditure booklet (Bib. number 17055) a copyof which is available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre.
- Asked by: Mr Brian Monteith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 29 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what funding it has provided for credit unions in each financial year since 1997-98 and what further funding it will provide in 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06.
Answer
There was no Scottish Executive budget for developing credit union activity prior to 2001. Since 2001-02,the Executive has provided financial support for credit unions, through implementationof the credit union Action Plan Unlocking the Potential. Spending under this programmetotalled £458,000 in 2001-02, and £193,000 in 2002-03.As I announced on 3 September 2003 inan answer to a written question S2W-2332, the Executive is allocating £400,000 tosupport credit unions in 2003-04, and £500,000 per annum in each of 2004-05 and2005-06. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’swebsite, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.
- Asked by: Mr Brian Monteith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 29 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken to reduce the incidence of Japanese knotweed.
Answer
Japanese knotweed is listed inSchedule 9 to the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. It is therefore an offenceunder the act to release the species into the wild, accidentally or deliberately.
Action to be taken in relationto problems caused by Japanese knotweed is a matter for individual local authorities.
The Scottish Executive is currently assessing key recommendations of the GB-wide Review of non-nativeSpecies Policy, published earlier in 2003, which considered the threats posedby invasive non-native species such as Japanese knotweed.
- Asked by: Mr Brian Monteith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 08 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 29 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W- 2296 by Mr Andy Kerr on 4 September 2003, whether it will provide financial support to assist local authorities with any costs incurred by them due to compliance with the Euro Preparations Guidance, issued by HM Treasury in June 2003.
Answer
The Scottish Executive will not be providing financial assistance to local authorities in orderfor them to follow the HM Treasury guidelines issued in June 2003. Costs incurredby local authorities in this regard are staff time involved in euro preparationsplanning and inclusion of euro compatibility in new or upgraded IT systems. Thestaff time spent is incidental to other duties, and the cost of including euro compatibilityin IT system upgrades is marginal to the cost of each upgrade.
