Questions and answers

Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for ��˿�� to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S2W-32674

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 March 2007
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 27 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans there are to build additional housing on Rum in each of the next five years; what provision will be made for affordable housing on Rum, and whether, in the work being considered in relation to Kinloch Castle, the Executive considers that holiday homes or timeshare properties should be incorporated.

Scottish Natural Heritage are currentlyexploring a number of options with the Rum Community Association for the provisionof housing and hostel accommodation on Rum to meet its aspirations for communitydevelopment and tourism, including various options for development of Kinloch Castle.Any proposals would be subject to the normal planning processes.

A detailed planning application for the Greenhouse hostel buildinghas been submitted to The Highland Council and is currently under consideration.At this stage, this is seen as part of a larger project involving Kinloch Castle,the nature of which would be dependent on consultation with key partners and onthe availability of funding.

Question reference: S2W-32346

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 March 2007
Current Status: Answered by Des McNulty on 27 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that it is appropriate for national park authorities to grant planning permission for the building of residential property in areas where there is a risk of flooding once in every 200 years and whether the Cairngorms National Park Authority has a policy in relation to residential properties being constructed on flood plains.

It is for the CairngormsNational Park Authority to consider planning applications. If, however, theauthority wishes to grant permission contrary to the advice of the Scottish EnvironmentProtection Agency on flood risk, the application has to be notified to the Scottishministers who may call it in for their own consideration.

The consultative draftCairngorms National Park Local Plan contains policies in relation todevelopment on the flood plain.

Question reference: S2W-32686

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 March 2007
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 26 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will place in the Scottish Parliamentary Information Centre all information that it received in relation to tail docking, including copies of any advice notes, aides memoire or notes of meetings held following a meeting in February or March 2007 with representatives of the Scottish Gamekeepers’ Association.

All responses to the consultation papers issued by the ScottishExecutive which dealt with tail docking have been placed in the Scottish Executivelibrary except where respondents specifically asked for their responses to be treatedconfidentially. There are no advice notes, aides memoire or notes of meetings heldfollowing the meeting with representatives of the Scottish Gamekeepers’ Associationwhich took place on 30 January 2007. There was no meeting with representatives of the Scottish Gamekeepers’ Association in February or March 2007.

Question reference: S2W-32451

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 16 March 2007
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 26 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many over-15-metre vessels were boarded by Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency officers in each of the last five years, also showing the nationality of each vessel.

The number and nationality of over15 metre vessels boarded at sea by officers of the Scottish Fisheries ProtectionAgency in each of the last five years is given in the following table:

	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
UK	659	632	530	541	496
Germany	15	16	11	14	17
Denmark	84	62	28	9	11
Spain	52	31	24	48	42
France	66	45	47	50	38
Faroe		5		3	1
Eire	12	2	11	9	19
Norway	95	44	46	47	45
Poland				2	1
Russia	5	2	10	13	8
Netherlands	11	17	11	10
Portugal			1	1
Sweden	4	1	9	1
Belgium	2		1

Question reference: S2W-32419

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 March 2007
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 26 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will take steps to provide broadband access to Drimnin; what factors it considers to be relevant in reaching a decision on this issue; whether cost should be a factor, and what its estimate is for the (a) capital and (b) revenue costs for broadband users in the area.

The Executive is aware of thebroadband access issue in Drimnin and confirms that it is being considered as partof our wider policy approach on the reach issue. We will consider all relevant factors,including the levels of known unmet demand as well as the cost and value for moneyaspects of providing a solution. We are not currently in a position to estimatethe specific capital and revenue costs for potential broadband users in this area.

Question reference: S2W-32418

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 March 2007
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 26 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it will take to provide broadband access to locations defined as “non-spots” and what financial provision will be made for this purpose.

The Executive has already allocated£5 million funding to extend broadband coverage where it is currently unavailable.

We have now agreed with BT thatthey will increase broadband availability in at least 20 exchanges which have capacityconstraints, and this will extend broadband coverage to more businesses and householdsacross Scotland. This is being achieved using some of the £1.5 millionsavings from our existing BT contract.

An additional £3.5 million hasbeen allocated to support solutions for “not-spot” locations, and we are currentlyprioritising areas according to known demand as well as the costs of potential solutions.We are in discussion with the industry and are engaging with potential suppliersand broadband users in the “out of reach” clusters to ensure an appropriately designedfinal approach. Delivery will take place next financial year.

Question reference: S2W-32690

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 March 2007
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 23 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how it determined the amount of funding for wheelchairs and wheelchair users announced on 16 March 2007 and whether it considers that £1 million is sufficient.

The further 1 million interim fundingannounced on 16 March 2007 is to allow the service in the short term to build onthe improvements already made in reducing waiting times as a result of the additional1.9 million interim funding in 2005-06. It is expected that the Spending Review,which will take place later this year, will consider what increased resources mightbe made available to address the recommendations from the independent review ofwheelchair and seating services in relation to the longer term needs of those services.

The Executives response to the reviewemphasises the need for boards also to address the recommendations at local level.

Question reference: S2W-32688

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 March 2007
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 23 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what additional provision it is making for the care of elderly people in the Highland Council or NHS Highland areas, in light of predictions about the increasing proportion of the population aged over 75.

In addition tothe money provided through the core settlement for care of the elderly, the ScottishExecutive is making additional provision through the local authority revenue settlementof 16.3 million in 2006-07 and 42 million in 2007-08 for the increased number ofolder people in Scotland. Highland Council’s share of this money is 671,000 in 2006-07and 1,730,000 for 2007-08. The distribution formulafor allocating the core settlement has been developed over several years in conjunctionwith COSLA and the distribution takes account of a number of demographic factors,including the proportion of elderly population.

In addition to this the Finance Ministerannounced in December 2006 an additional 201 million of which Highland Council willreceive 10.493 million. This was not provided for a particular purpose but in generalrecognition of a range of pressures on local authority services.

NHS Highland has been allocated atotal of 487.796 million in 2006-07, an increase of 31.012 million on the currentyear, and 513.03 in 2007-08. This money is distributed to the board on the basisof the Arbuthnott formula which is calculated each year and weighted to take intoaccount various factors specific to the population of each board area, includingthe age of its population. Any changes in the age profile of NHS Highland’s populationwill be reflected in the Arbuthnott formula and therefore impact on the level offunding the board receives.

It is however the responsibility of local authorities and NHSboards to provide appropriate service provision to meet the needs and prioritiesof their area.

Question reference: S2W-32328

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 March 2007
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 23 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether individuals entitled to object to a permanent Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) in respect of the Edinburgh trams scheme are entitled to object to the proposed temporary TRO and, if so, whether a public inquiry would be held to consider such objections, how long the Reporter to the inquiry could take to reach a conclusion, whether an inquiry would delay the construction work for the scheme and what impact any consequent delay would have on the costs of the scheme.

Question reference: S2W-32421

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 March 2007
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 23 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what investment is planned for major improvements to the A96 in each year to 2012.

Planned expenditure on the A96during this period may be found on the Transport Scotland website at http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/defaultpage1221cde0.aspx?pageID=20.

In addition, we are currentlyundertaking a design study for a dual carriageway improvement of the A96 betweenInverness and Inverness Airport. We have also invested in a major multi-modal transportcorridor study between Aberdeen and Inverness to provide the evidence to guide future investment prioritiesfor this route.