- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 January 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 22 January 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether further building development in Newtonmore, Kingussie, Boat of Garten and Nethybridge will be postponed for three years due to lack of capacity of the existing sewage works and, if so, what its position is on the matter.
Answer
Dealingwith development constraints in specific locations is an operational matter forScottish Water. Theseand other investment requirements, will be considered either in the currentQuality and Standards II programme, or in the Quality and Standards III processnow under way. Quality and Standards III will set out the future investmentprogramme for the water industry and will be the subject of a full publicconsultation planned for July 2004.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 December 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 21 January 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there was any audit exercise in relation to the Holyrood project prior to the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body taking responsibility for the project.
Answer
Capital expenditure on theHolyrood building project in 1998-99 amounting to £6.7 million by the thenScottish Office was subject to the normal annual audit of the accounts by the Comptrollerand Auditor General of the National Audit Office and his staff.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 January 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 21 January 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether its programme to fund outdoor pursuits for children will be provided all year round.
Answer
It is for local authoritiesto determine, in the light of local needs and circumstances, how and whenactivities supported by the available funding should be provided.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 08 January 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 21 January 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether, in relation to the East Lothian public private partnership schools project contract with Ballast plc, there was any provision of a performance bond, parent company guarantee or other measure designed to protect against the insolvency or non-performance of the contractor.
Answer
It is normal in many publicprivate partnership situations to have measures of the kind you mention. Theseare generally required by the consortium lenders. These protect the lenders,and ultimately the public sector by assisting the consortium to providecontinuity of service in the event of contractor default. As regards the East Lothiansituation, details of the consortium and its funding arrangements are mattersfor the council to consider in the first instance.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 December 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 20 January 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment has been made of the impact of downgrading the Belford Hospital in Fort William from an acute hospital on the travel costs of patients receiving elective treatment; what estimate has been made by NHS Highland of any additional travel costs incurred as a result, and what factors were taken into account when calculating such additional costs.
Answer
NHS Highland is responsiblefor planning and providing services at the Belford Hospital. TheNHS board has reached no decision about the future pattern of services. If the boardmakes any proposals for change to the existing arrangements, it will require toassess the financial consequences. But the scope of the assessment will be forthe board to determine.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 12 January 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 20 January 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the #69 million to fund outdoor pursuits for children has been allocated for capital expenditure and how this element will be spent.
Answer
None of the funding madeavailable under the Scottish Executive’s National Priorities Action Fund or the NewOpportunities Fund’s Activities Programme is specifically allocated for capitalexpenditure.
Funding to support thebuilding or refurbishment of sports or outdoor adventure facilities isavailable to local authorities from the New Opportunities Fund’s separate £52 millionFacilities Programme under the PE & Sport in Schools Initiative.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 12 January 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 19 January 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, in relation to the announcement of a #69 million programme to fund outdoor pursuits for children, how the total of #69 million was calculated, who will be responsible for implementing this programme, whether there will be a policy to avoid duplication of facilities, such as avoiding building new facilities where public, voluntary or private facilities exist, what attempts have been made to ensure that existing centres of excellence in this field are used, what consultation there has been, or will be, at community level about the programme and to what extent the operation of the scheme will involve teachers.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has been committed to providing support for out of school hourslearning activities since 1999. The £69 million referred to in a recent mediaarticle is the amount of funding being made available to local authorities upto 2005-06 by the Scottish Executive (£34 million under the National Priorities ActionFund) and the New Opportunities Fund (£35 million from the Activities Programmeof the PE and Sport in Schools Initiative), as part of that on-goingcommitment. It is for the local authorities to determine how best to use thatfinancial support in the light of local needs and circumstances.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 08 January 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 19 January 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish, or direct the local authority to publish, the contract documents in relation to the East Lothian public private partnership schools project contract with Ballast plc.
Answer
Publication of contracts isa matter for each client authority. The Scottish Executive encourages public authoritiesto comply with best practice on openness, for example, public authorities areexpected to publish final business cases. Information should only be withheldwhere disclosure would cause real harm to the legitimate commercial or legalinterests of suppliers, contractors, the public sector client or any otherrelevant party.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 08 January 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 19 January 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the impact on the East Lothian public private partnership schools project of Ballast plc being placed in administration, what steps it will take to ensure that sub-contractors receive the money that they are due and whether it has any plans to introduce provisions to allow public sector clients to make payments direct to any sub-contractor adversely affected by external factors, such as companies being placed in administration.
Answer
Wherea main contractor has been placed in administration, payments due to the maincontractor will usually form a part of that contractor’s assets and it is forthe administrator to determine whether any further sums are due from theconsortium.
The Executive does notconsider that any new provisions are required. In a public private partnership situation it is important to preserve the transfer ofrisk to the consortium which lies at the heart of the public private partnership contract and is the basis of value for money for thetaxpayer. Direct payments to sub-contractors would not be consistent with thesefundamentals.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 08 January 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 19 January 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make any representations to Her Majesty's Government in support of an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Ballast plc being placed in administration, in light of the impact of this matter on the East Lothian public private partnership schools project.
Answer
The Scottish Executive does not intend to make any representations to Her Majesty’s Governmentin support of an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Ballast plcbeing placed in administration.
