- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 13 January 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Henry McLeish on 27 January 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive how many businesses there were in Scotland at the time of publication of Making it Work Together, and of them, how many were (a) small, and (b) large and what its estimate is of these figures for each of the next ten years.
Answer
The latest estimates available for the number and size of businesses in Scotland are for November 1998. At that time there were an estimated 299,110 enterprises operating in Scotland. Of these, 293,705 were small enterprises (0-49 employees), 3,275 were medium-sized enterprises (50-249 employees) and 2,130 were large enterprises (250+ employees).Further details are available in a Government Statistical Service News Release which was published on Wednesday 26 January 2000. A copy is available in SPICe.The Scottish Executive does not make statistical projections for the number of businesses operating in Scotland in future years.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 13 January 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Henry McLeish on 27 January 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive in what way its mentoring scheme will differ from previous schemes, and (a) what is its estimated annual cost; (b) what will each mentor be paid; (c) who will choose mentors, and (d) from what business organisations it has taken advice regarding the scheme.
Answer
The introduction of a national mentoring scheme is a Programme for Government commitment, and we are on course to introduce Business Mentoring Scotland in April as planned. We hope to be able to announce details of the scheme within the next month or so.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 13 January 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Henry McLeish on 27 January 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it has taken and will take in order to achieve the target of creating 100,000 new businesses in Scotland by 2009.
Answer
Wider national economic performance is likely to be the main determinant of trends in small business creation and the prospects for the Scottish economy remain good. However we have also been working closely with Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise to improve the availability, consistency and quality of support for people wishing to start a business.
A number of positive measures are in hand: improvements to the Scottish Enterprise Network through the establishment, from April, of a single brand in the network and new programmes on start-up and small business support; work by Scottish Enterprise to review the Business Birth Rate Strategy to further encourage entrepreneurship and start-ups - including from non-traditional sources, like women and youth; and the continuation of local events under the Personal Enterprise Campaign. We have also set increased targets for number of start-ups assisted by the Enterprise Network, and are working to improve the availability of web site based business support. New start-ups with growth potential also have access to support from the £12 million Business Growth Fund and, from April, to our new national mentoring scheme - Business Mentoring Scotland.This represents a significant contribution by the Scottish Executive to improve Scotland's performance in business creation.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 13 January 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 27 January 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received written representations from the Scottish Council of Development and Industry opposing the decision to abandon the policy of a common UK non-domestic poundage and in particular to set a provisional poundage which is 10.1% higher than that in England.
Answer
Yes.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 13 January 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Henry McLeish on 27 January 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will introduce a similar body in Scotland to the American body "The Small Business Administrator".
Answer
The Scottish Executive has no plans to introduce in Scotland a body similar to the Small Business Administration in the United States of America. Public sector support for small businesses in Scotland is delivered primarily through Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise, and we are currently reviewing the existing Enterprise Network in Scotland. We will also give careful consideration to any recommendations which emanate from the inquiry into Scotland's local economic development services by the Scottish Parliament's Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Committee. The Executive is determined to ensure that public sector support for business in Scotland meets the needs of the twenty-first century.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 13 January 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Henry McLeish on 27 January 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will take any steps to reduce regulation of small businesses and, if so, what steps it will take.
Answer
The Improving Regulation in Scotland Unit will pursue business concerns about the burden of regulation and will work closely with small business representative groups to ensure that the particular needs of small businesses are kept to the forefront of policy making throughout the Executive. My officials in the IRIS Unit will soon be arranging the first of a series of meetings I plan to have with business across the country to hear at first hand about the regulatory problems they are encountering.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 13 January 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 27 January 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish for each of the past five years (a) the total number of evictions raised by local authorities and (b) the number of tenants in such actions who purchased their home from the local authority under the Right to Buy scheme and thus avoided eviction.
Answer
This information is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 13 January 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Henry McLeish on 27 January 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider the introduction of the American policy of corporate venturing to promote growth of small businesses.
Answer
The Scottish Executive believes that corporate venturing can bring significant benefits to both small businesses and their larger corporate partners, and we want to encourage the establishment of more such relationships in Scotland. The Executive therefore fully supports the UK Government's commitment to introduce corporate venturing tax incentives in this year's Finance Bill and we have asked Scottish Enterprise to consider specific initiatives to help stimulate a culture of corporate venturing in Scotland.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 13 January 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 27 January 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what the total value is of financial assistance that has been provided in Scotland for each of the past five years to the pig industry.
Answer
The CAP pigs regime does not provide direct support to pig farmers. This sector does benefit indirectly through EU funded private storage aids and export refunds, although the benefit to the Scottish industry cannot be accurately quantified.The following table lists offers of known financial support which have been made to this sector over the past five years.Offers of financial assistance made to the pig industry 1995-1999 (£'000s)
1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 |
547 | 578 | 100 | 319 | 3,100 |
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 13 January 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 27 January 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether its plans to introduce probationary tenancies are necessary given existing legislative measures to curb anti-social behaviour by tenants including powers to evict, provisions contained within the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and powers under section 48 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987.
Answer
Yes. Changes are necessary to provide a mechanism to offer probationary tenancies to former tenants who have been guilty of anti-social behaviour. This is not possible under existing legislation.
