- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 28 April 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 12 May 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is satisfied that recommended procurement practice has been followed in the tender process for the management and maintenance of the trunk road network in north-west and south-west Scotland where only two firms, rather than three, have been selected to bid and whether it will publish the advice that it has received on this matter.
Answer
Yes. The tender process is being carried out in accordance with EU procurement rules for public works contracts and the procedural guidance set out in the Scottish Executive’s Construction Works Procurement Guidance: Client Pack. This information is available publicly through the Scottish Executive website.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 April 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 12 May 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive who bears the risk of delays in relation to the awarding of contracts for the construction of the M74 extension; whether it will place in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre any contract documents providing for such risk, and whether there will be any provision in respect of who bears the financial responsibility for delays caused by (a) protest activity and (b) court proceedings by a third party, such as a judicial review of the decision to proceed, interdict action or other proceedings.
Answer
Our standard Design and Build contract conditions, which are proposed for the construction of the M74 completion scheme, place most of the risk for delays due to unforeseen circumstances on the contractor, since he is best placed to manage the consequence of reprogramming the works.
The Contract documents for the M74 completion scheme are not yet finalised and we will take a view on all relevant risks throughout their development. A copy of the draft M74 contract conditions will be placed in the Scottish Parliament’s Reference Centre once these have been issued to tenderers.
We will proceed to tender once the statutory procedures are secure and will consider with tenderers the appropriate sharing of risk in relation to all potential issues.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 April 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 5 May 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-15166 by Nicol Stephen on 24 March 2005, what specific role the new regional partnership in the west of Scotland will have in the development, management and monitoring of rail services in its area.
Answer
There are a number of tasks that we propose that the new regional transport partnership in the west of Scotland could perform:
Development – developing project proposals, including producing feasibility studies, developing the business case, through to securing parliamentary powers for infrastructure projects and acting to ensure delivery. It would also involve the development of proposals to improve the passenger journey in rail services and franchise-specific proposals.
Management and monitoring – on behalf of Scottish ministers supporting the national transport agency for Scotland in the day to day franchise management and monitoring activities including performance monitoring, ensuring that the franchisee meets the contractually committed targets and obligations, and analysing trends. These issues will be discussed in greater detail with SPT and the relevant councils over the coming months.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 08 April 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 5 May 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what the timetable is for the tender process for the provision of the appropriate bus infrastructure to support the use of Smartcards for concessionary travel.
Answer
The timetable is as follows
An OJEU (European Journal procurement notice) for interested parties (EOI) was published on 21 March. Replies close on 28 April. The notice reference number is 2005/S 56-054142.
The planned programme for the remainder of the process is:
w/c 2 May - evaluation of EOIs
w/c 9 May – tender document sign off by Executive
18 May - Document issue to tenderers
13 July - closing date for tenders
w/c 18 July - Tender evaluation
early August - recommendations for inclusion in the framework agreement.
From late August – implementation of installation plans.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 April 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 5 May 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what its estimate was of the cost of the public local inquiry on the M74 Special Road (Fullarton Road to West of Kingston Bridge) Orders prior to the inquiry commencing.
Answer
The estimated cost at the start of the PLI was £602,000.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 25 April 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 3 May 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it accepts the recommendations in the Calman report in respect of additional undergraduate medical student places and medical schools' admission policies; whether it will make a statement on its position, and when its decision on the report's findings will be announced.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is carefully considering the implications of Sir Kenneth Calmans report and will look to publish its response as soon as possible.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 31 March 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 28 April 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether a decision has been made in respect of which company or companies will provide the completion of access to broadband to rural areas and whether it will publish the terms of any tender awarded for provision of these services and the costs involved.
Answer
A contract was signed on 15 April with BT for the provision of broadband services in 378 exchange areas in Scotland.
An award notice will be published on the website of the Official Journal of the European Communities which will include details of the terms of the contract, including the costs. For information, the public sector is contributing £16.5 million of the total project value of about £30 million.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 11 April 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 27 April 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has a policy of using Scottish rather than English legal terminology in Parliamentary answers and ministerial statements.
Answer
The Scottish Executive’s policy is that parliamentary answers and ministerial statements shouldbe as clear, accurate and helpful as possible; and that any legal terminology whichis used is appropriate in the particular context.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 April 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 27 April 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will complete its records management policy in respect of computer-generated documents and electronic records.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is in the process of implementing a system for the electronic storage andarchiving of records. It is planned that the system will be fully implemented during2006. The same broad policies and principles of record keeping that apply to thepaper based system also apply to the storage of information in the new electronicrecord management system. Detailed guidance on keeping records in this system isnot finalised but will be published in October 2005.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 April 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 27 April 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any of its destroyed files have had the protective marking "SECRET", "CONFIDENTIAL" or "RESTRICTED"; whether it will confirm that none of the documents contained within files having this marking will be destroyed or, if not, whether it will, prior to any such documents being destroyed, consult the (a) Parliament and (b) Scottish Information Commissioner.
Answer
Yes, files which have at somepoint carried one of the protective markings listed have been destroyed. The Executivemanages its records in partnership with the National Archives of Scotland, whosestaff work alongside Executive staff to ensure that the proper procedures are followed.Files which reach the end of their scheduled life are reviewed in compliance witha retention schedule as recommended by the Code of Practice on Records Managementpublished under Section 61(6) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act2002. They are recommended for destruction when appraisal staff are satisfied thatthey contain no papers that are likely to be of continuing or historic interest.Protective markings often apply for only a limited period of time and have no bearingon the time for which a file should be retained. Thus the destruction offiles is part of the normal business of managing the Executive’s records, and thereis no requirement for the Executive to consult either Parliament or the ScottishInformation Commissioner as part of the process.
