- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 15 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 13 July 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive in respect of how many consultations which were launched between May 1999 and June 2000 and where the consultation period is now closed have summaries of consultation responses received been compiled and who compiled each such summary.
Answer
This information is not currently held centrally. However such information will become available in the future as measures are being undertaken to improve the Scottish Executive's handling of consultations. The policy was set out in the statement I made on 1 June (Official Report Column 1205-1215)
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 15 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 13 July 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has adopted a policy of consulting more widely, in terms of both those consulted and the range of issues consulted upon, than was the case prior to May 1999; whether it has a policy of always consulting on certain types of issues; what criteria it uses in determining whether to consult on an issue and how it decides who should receive invitations to respond to different consultation exercises.
Answer
The management of consultations varies according to the type and scale of the consultation exercise. Measures are being undertaken to develop the Scottish Executive's handling of consultations. The policy was set out in the statement I made on 1 June (Official Report Column 1205-1215).
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 07 April 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 13 July 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will obtain copies of all the title deeds of the Black Cuillins on Skye recorded in the Register of Sasines, including evidence of the title of the current owner, a full prescriptive progress, all burden writs, and any undischarged security writs.
Answer
All title deeds in the Register of Sasines are publicly available.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 16 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 13 July 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what government funding Northern Constabulary has received this year and in each of the previous five years.
Answer
Direct funding of Northern Constabulary by the Scottish Executive in the current financial year and by the Scottish Office in the previous five years is shown in the table below. Forces also meet a proportion of their costs from local authority funding.
Year | 1995-96 £'000 | 1996-97 £'000 | 1997-98 £'000 | 1998-99 £'000 | 1999-2000 £'000 | 2000-01 (estimate) £'000 |
Police Grant | 14,089 | 14,920 | 15,901 | 16,884 | 18,116 | 18,806 |
Loan Charges | 1,379 | 1,357 | 1,310 | 1,365 | 1,690 | 1,636 |
Civil Defence Grant | 52 | 54 | 55 | 55 | 55 | 55 |
Millennium Funding | | | | | | 409 |
Additional 100% Funding | | | | | | 523 |
SDEA Funding | | | | | | 100 |
DNA | | | | | | 91 |
TOTAL | 15,520 | 16,331 | 17,266 | 18,304 | 19,861 | 21,520 |
Police Grant was cash limited from 1996-97 onwards. Loan charges depend on the capital projects within the force area at any given time.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Henry McLeish on 13 July 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the database being compiled by Learndirect Scotland will be completed prior to the introduction of individual learning accounts.
Answer
The national learndirect scotland database will be available prior to the full introduction of learn direct scotland and individual learning accounts this autumn. Thereafter the database will be refined and developed on a continuous basis to ensure that accurate, relevant and comprehensive opportunities continue to be available to potential learners across Scotland.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Henry McLeish on 13 July 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what the anticipated cost is of the marketing campaign for Learndirect Scotland.
Answer
While definitive figures are not available at this stage, it is anticipated that some £1.5 million will be available for the comprehensive marketing campaign learndirect scotland has planned for 2000-01.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sam Galbraith on 12 July 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive which persons were considered for appointment to membership of sportscotland and which have been appointed; of these, which came from or are associated with the Highlands and Islands and what were the reasons if none did come from or are associated with the Highlands and Islands.
Answer
All applications for public appointments are made in confidence. The names of the individuals who applied therefore cannot be made public. Vacancies are publicised widely. All applications received are considered equally on merit under a fair, open and transparent assessment process.
I announced the new members on 26 June. They are Mrs Wai-Yin Hatton, Dr Nanette Mutrie and Dr Linda Leighton-Beck. None of these appointees live in the Highlands and Islands and we have no information on whether they have any association with the area.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sam Galbraith on 12 July 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking in response to the findings in The Quality of Services in Rural Scotland that 20% of respondents were dissatisfied with primary schools, 29% dissatisfied with secondary schools and 33% with pre-school opportunities.
Answer
All our policies for schools are directed to ensuring that children benefit from education of the highest quality, and this objective is as important in rural areas as in other parts of Scotland. It is encouraging to note the report's findings that 91% of parents were satisfied with the primary school attended by their child and 88% were satisfied in the case of secondary schools. Since the data were collected, we have achieved universal provision of pre-school education for four year olds; and provision for three year olds in rural areas is growing rapidly.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 12 July 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what further action it intends to take in relation to high fuel prices and the falling number of petrol stations and post offices in rural areas in response to the finding in The Quality of Services in Rural Scotland that "for those without reliable transport, the trend towards distant services represents a significant problem".
Answer
Service provision is of key importance for rural communities. The Executive has recently asked the Scottish National Rural Partnership to bring together service providers to look at how services might be provided in innovative and imaginative ways in rural areas, as well as identifying ways of helping local Communities to assess their realistic service needs and to work with providers to achieve these.
The Executive has also commissioned an evaluation of the effectiveness of the rural transport fund which is due to report in October 2000. This will inform decisions on future support for rural transport in this autumn's Scottish Spending Review. The Executive is working in close partnership with the UK Government to maintain the rural Post Office network. It welcomes the announcement made by the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on 28 June that the current size of that network will be maintained until 2006, except where it is impossible to find replacements for departing sub-postmasters.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sam Galbraith on 12 July 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to in response to the findings in The Quality of Services in Rural Scotland that 62% of respondents to survey expressed dissatisfaction with activities for young children and 83% with activities for teenagers and in particular how it plans to increase the provision of activities for teenagers, given the role such activities can play in preventing teenagers becoming involved in drug taking and underage drinking.
Answer
Local provision is primarily a matter for local authorities to decide in the light of local priorities, needs and resources. The Executive operates a number of grant schemes to assist youth organisations and to support services in rural areas.
