- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 29 July 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how it defines a “public building” in complying with the EU directive on the energy performance of buildings.
Answer
Public building means a building with a floor area of more than 1,000 square metres, which is occupied by public authorities and institutions providing public services, and which can be visited by the public. Guidance is also provided in Clause 6.9.3 of the Scottish Building Standards Non-Domestic Technical Handbook.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 17 July 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether farmers and crofters who have submitted statements of intent to make applications for funding under the Scottish Rural Development Programme in the last year, and received a red light response, are provided with (a) detailed reasons for such a response, (b) guidelines that they can follow to submit amended statements and (c) encouragement to submit amended statements.
Answer
All applicants (farmers, crofter, foresters, other land managers, rural businesses or rural community groups) who submit a Statement of Intent to the Rural Development Contracts – Rural Priorities element of the Scotland Rural Development Programme (SRDP) will receive feedback from their allocated Case officer. This feedback will include a red or amber rating and, where the rating is red, the reasons for awarding a red rating. These reasons will normally relate to the elements of the submitted Statement of Intent which do not accord with the published guidance.
The guidelines for submitting amended Statements of Intent are provided in the published guidance. Where there are straightforward aspects that need to be changed or added, Case officers will include this in the feedback, or they may direct applicants back to the relevant areas of the guidance for more detailed clarification of the requirements.
Rural Priorities is a competitive fund which is designed to deliver specific economic, environmental and social benefits for the people of Scotland. Applicants are given feedback on how well their proposed project fits with the agreed priorities for their area, on any potential negative impacts of the project and on the availability of funding.
A red rating is an alert, indicating that more work is needed to improve an applicant’s likelihood of success. This alert also prevents applicants from the unnecessary expense and effort of drawing up plans that are unlikely to be funded.
Where applicants are willing and able to undertake such work as required to deal with the issues highlighted in the case officer’s feedback, they are welcome to amend and resubmit their SoI as often as they wish. However, given the work involved, and the fact that funding cannot be guaranteed at this stage, it must be for the applicant to decide, on the basis of the feedback received, whether they wish to do so.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 17 July 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many farmers and crofters have submitted statements of intent to make applications for funding under the Scottish Rural Development Programme in the last year, broken down by SGRPID office area, and how many of the applications have so far received red light and amber light responses.
Answer
We are not able to identify the number of applicants to the Rural Development Contracts – Rural Priorities element of the SRDP who are farmers or crofters. The scheme is also open to a range of other land managers, rural businesses and community groups.
As at 30 June, 1,026 SoIs had been submitted, of which 232 had been awarded an amber rating and 258 awarded a red rating.
Applications can be submitted to any of the local offices of SGRPID, Scottish Natural Heritage or the Forestry Commission in Scotland. These cases are allocated to one of 11 Regions. The regional boundaries are shown on the SRDP website.
The breakdown of applications submitted by region is as follows:
Northern Isles – 64
Highland – 143
Grampian – 368
Outer Hebrides – 31
Tayside – 94
Forth – 78
Borders – 137
Ayrshire – 43
Clyde Valley – 19
Argyll – 47
Dumfries and Galloway – 96.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 26 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 17 July 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive when the Scottish Centre for Carbon Storage study into potential carbon storage sites will be completed.
Answer
The study, which is being co-ordinated by the Scottish Centre for Carbon Storage, with funding from the Scottish Government and a number of other partners, is due to be completed by the spring of 2009.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 17 July 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether copies of energy performance certificates will be available from the Land Registry and what its position is on the matter.
Answer
Copies of Energy Performance Certificates will not be available from Registers of Scotland, which is responsible for maintaining and administering the Land Register. The EU Directive that introduced Energy Performance Certificates does not require registration of that Certificate in the Land Register. The Land Register is a map-based register of title to land that contains information on ownership of land and related property rights and title conditions affecting the land. An Energy Performance Certificate does not affect the ownership of, or other legal rights, in the property to which it relates.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 26 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 26 June 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking in partnership with local authorities to address mental health problems.
Answer
Our partnership approach to improving the mental health and wellbeing of the people of Scotland is focussed on health promotion, prevention, recovery and ensuring quality, integrated mental health services are available for all who need them.
We are working with all partners to deliver that ambition.
Progress will be achieved through delivery of the specific HEAT targets and other commitments for mental health. I also expect the mental health priority to be reflected in single outcome agreements.
I expect these to be agreed with all 32 local authorities by the end of this month.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 19 June 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many crofters submitted applications to the Crofting Counties Agricultural Grants Scheme in 2006 before the deadline of 31 December 2006 without having in place the necessary economic status test documentation and, of this number, how many were (a) rejected because of the lack of such documentation and (b) accepted because they had been informed by the Crofters Commission that relevant alternative income information could be submitted in place of the missing documentation and had submitted such alternative information.
Answer
This is an operational matter for the Crofters Commission, which administers the Crofting Counties Agricultural Grants Scheme on behalf of Scottish ministers. I have asked the commission’s chief executive to write to you with the information you request.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 09 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 18 June 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it believes that there are equity profits to be made under non-profit distributing schemes.
Answer
A key feature in the non-profit distributing model is the lack of equity capital as it has a 100% debt funded structure. This means that the returns to the private sector are capped and that any surpluses generated are retained and used for the benefit of the public interest.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 09 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 18 June 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will set out the procurement, timetable and financing plans for the replacement Forth crossing before autumn 2008.
Answer
Decisions on these matters will be made before the end of 2008.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 09 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 18 June 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive which of the “14 possible options for work to be carried out under the umbrella of the Scottish Futures Trust”, described by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth on 5 June 2008 in motion S3M-2057, have been identified as suitable for financing the replacement Forth crossing.
Answer
As members have been informed previously, the procurement and financing options for the Forth replacement crossing will be brought to the Parliament in 2008.
