- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 3 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration will be given to assisting existing domestic air services on less-used routes from smaller airports on which greater frequency and quality can be introduced and what mechanism will be used to assess such services in relation to the route development fund for air routes announced on 18 November 2002.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-31793 today. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa. The need to tackle issues of air service provision in remote areas has also been highlighted during the course of the current air transport consultation. The Executive will consider how best to address this concern as part of its response to the consultation.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 3 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether Highlands and Islands Enterprise will be involved in the assessment of bids to the Route Development Fund for air routes announced on 18 November 2002.
Answer
Highlands and Islands Enterprise will be consulted regarding the priorities for that part of the Interim Route Development Fund that is allocated to Highlands and Islands Airports Limited. Officials will meet to discuss this in the near future.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 3 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what benefits there will be for airports owned by Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd from the Route Development Fund for air routes announced on 18 November 2002.
Answer
The Interim Route Development Fund is primarily focussed on developing new European and UK routes that provide business, inward investment and in-bound tourism benefits. Given the special operating conditions in the Highlands and Islands and the social and economic development remit of Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HAIL), the intention is to provide a distinct part of this fund to HIAL to be managed against priorities which are agreed with the relevant stakeholders.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 3 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria will be used to assess applications to the Route Development Fund for air routes announced on 18 November 2002.
Answer
Officials of the Executive and Scottish Enterprise, together with expert consultants, are currently working on the detail of the appraisal framework for target routes and the qualifying criteria for each route and airport. Any airline wishing to operate a target route will be offered funding in line with the arrangements agreed for the airport involved, provided they meet the specified criteria for the route.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Iain Gray on 28 November 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it plans to take to support the Shetland economy in the light of job losses at the Sullom Voe terminal.
Answer
Our immediate priority is to provide support and assistance for those facing redundancy. This will be provided through the Executive's PACE (Partnership Action for Continuing Employment) framework. The type of support will be tailored to meet individual needs and local circumstances. This will include Jobcentre Plus services, one-to-one counselling, comprehensive information packs and access to high quality training.Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Shetland Enterprise are working within our framework strategy, A Smart, Successful Scotland to help develop a strong, diverse and sustainable economy in Shetland.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 14 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 26 November 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-30495 by Lewis Macdonald on 13 November 2002, whether it will undertake an assessment of the impact of Crown Estate seabed rentals for subsea cables on the laying of (a) power cables needed to harness renewable energy resources and (b) fibre optic telecommunications cables needed to provide fast information and communication technologies connections to the islands.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has no plans to undertake an assessment of the impact of any specific elements of the operational costs of laying power or telecommunications cables, such as Crown Estate rentals and royalties.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 25 November 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what its policy is in respect of apportionment applications in Environmentally Sensitive Area schemes on common gra'ings in relation to regulations that pertain to particular common gra'ings.
Answer
Policy in respect of apportionment' applications is a matter for the Crofters' Commission. The Executive is responsible for the administration of the Environmentally Sensitive Area schemes. The conditions of any Environmentally Sensitive Area scheme agreement, which may exist in relation to a common grazings, apply to all of the land and to all of the crofters who are members of the common grazings while the agreement is in force.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 08 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 22 November 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what assessments have been made of the effectiveness of agri-environmental schemes currently operating in Scotland, with particular reference to the Environmentally Sensitive Areas schemes; which bodies have carried out any such assessments, and when they were commissioned to carry out any such work.
Answer
Following a competitive tendering exercise, a 10-year contract to monitor the effectiveness of the Environmentally Sensitive Area schemes in Scotland was awarded in September 1994 to a consortium headed by the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute. The other members of the consortium are the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (formerly the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology), Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland and AOC Scotland Limited.A separate study to assess the socio-economic and agricultural impacts of the Environmentally Sensitive Area schemes was commissioned in September 1997. The study was carried out by the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute with Bell-Ingram Rural and the University of Aberdeen.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 08 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 19 November 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what its policy is with regard to the publication of reports commissioned by its Environment and Rural Affairs Department.
Answer
The Scottish Executive's policy with regard to the publication of commissioned reports is set out in the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information. As set out in the code, the assumption is that information should be released except where disclosure would not be in the public interest, as specified in Part II of the code.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 08 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 19 November 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the report commissioned by its Environment and Rural Affairs Department and compiled by the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute and others, referred to in page 10 of The Press and Journal on 6 November 2002, has been made available to (a) the Parliament and (b) the media and, if so, on what dates and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.
Answer
The report comprises 10 volumes setting out the results of the first five years of a 10-year monitoring programme for Scotland's Environmentally Sensitive Area Schemes, which commenced in 1994. The reports were published in 1999 and 2000 and have been publicly available since then. I have made arrangements for a copy of each of the volumes to be placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 25232).
