Parliamentary questions

Fiona McLeod

516 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

1 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the #50.4 million allocated to the Strategic Waste Fund will be the only provision available to help local authorities implement Area Waste Plans.

Answer · Rhona Brankin: I refer the Member to the answer given to question S1W-19583.

1 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how it is encouraging the development of CFC recovery technology.

Answer · Rhona Brankin: The Executive does not operate a specific programme which encourages the development of CFC recovery technology. The Executive has written to waste metal recyclers and industry to inform them of the forthcoming legislation and discussed the need for this tech…

1 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether local authorities will be able to apply for funding to the Strategic Waste Fund once the Area Waste Plan relevant to their particular local area has been completed.

Answer · Rhona Brankin: Draft guidance on applications to the Strategic Waste Fund will be issued to local authorities for comment in due course.

1 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what funding it intends to make available to local authorities for the implementation of Area Waste Plans beyond 2004.

Answer · Rhona Brankin: This is a matter to be considered in future spending reviews.

30 Oct 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it has taken following the publication of the study by the Scottish Agricultural College Impact of Agricultural Practices and Catchment Characteristics on Ayrshire Bathing Waters.

Answer · Rhona Brankin: In July this year, the Scottish Executive issued advice for farmers on the prevention of pollution at bathing waters, based on the conclusions of the study, to farmers in Ayrshire and on Bute. The advice is available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib.…

26 Oct 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made to the European Union in respect of Directive 76/160/EEC on the quality of bathing waters.

Answer · Rhona Brankin: The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the bodies of the European Union on a wide range of issues including the Bathing Waters Directive (76/160/EEC).

26 Oct 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish the results of the beach management trials carried out at Whitesands, Troon and Ayr; whether it will extend the trials to other beaches and, if so, which ones and what plans it has to establish beach management committees for any beach included in the trials.

Answer · Rhona Brankin: Research on the feasibility of protocols suggested for the proposed revision of the Bathing Waters Directive (76/160/EEC) was carried out by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency at Troon, Ayr, Whitesands and Eyemouth during the 2000 bathing season. It w…

25 Oct 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether Glasgow Royal Infirmary's Orthopaedics Department has been understaffed at any time during the current year.

Answer · Susan Deacon: It is the responsibility of local NHS management to ensure satisfactory levels of service across all specialties and departments, within the increased resources available to the service.

25 Oct 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many orthopaedic consultants were employed at Glasgow Royal Infirmary in the financial years (a) 2000-01 and (b) 2001-02 to date and whether the number of orthopaedic consultants employed in these years was adequate for the provision of the orthopaedic service.

Answer · Susan Deacon: Information on staffing numbers is collected at a local level only, and is therefore not available in the form requested. I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-19400.

25 Oct 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance it has given to the water authorities and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency on the design of wastewater treatment systems in order to ensure that bathing waters are protected now and in the future under likely scenarios of climate change.

Answer · Rhona Brankin: Annex C of A Working Document for Dischargers and Regulators, published by the Scottish Office Agriculture, Environment and Fisheries Department in February 1998, provides guidance to the water authorities and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency…

18 Oct 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it took to mark World Standards Day on 14 October, particularly in the context of this year's focus on "The Environment and Standards: closer together".

Answer · Wendy Alexander: None. Such events tend to be marked by standards bodies rather than governments.

10 Oct 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the level of funding in the National Library of Scotland was in each of the past five years.

Answer · Allan Wilson: The information is set out in the following table:<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=2 WIDTH=361><TR><TD WIDTH="19%" VALIGN="TOP" ROWSPAN=2 HEIGHT=13></TD><TD WIDTH="55%" VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN=3 HEIGHT=13>…

4 Oct 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it plans to take to aid any colleges adversely effected by the Scottish Further Education Funding Council's financial recovery plan.

Answer · Wendy Alexander: Financial recovery plans, while requiring the approval of the Scottish Further Education Funding Council, are the property and responsibility of the individual college concerned.The Scottish Executive has recently made available £15 million in additional f…

4 Oct 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the #7 million allowance to support colleges in financial difficulty announced by the Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning on 3 October 2001 will go to North Glasgow College in Springburn.

Answer · Wendy Alexander: The Scottish Further Education Funding Council is responsible for allocating public funding to Scotland's further education colleges. The additional sum of £7 million being made available to the Funding Council by the Scottish Executive is part of an overall …

4 Oct 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what initiatives it is taking to promote lifelong learning amongst those aged between 50 and 65 who are not in receipt of state benefits but who have retired early on small occupational incomes.

Answer · Wendy Alexander: The promotion of lifelong learning is a key function of learndirect scotland which is making access to learning easier for everyone, regardless of age. The learndirect scotland helpline provides information and advice on almost 70,000 learning opportunities. …

25 Sep 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether Historic Scotland has been working with religious groups on the requirements under listed building and planning legislation in relation to the erection of telecommunications equipment, and, if so, whether any anomalies have been uncovered in the legislation in regard to such grou…

Answer · Allan Wilson: Proposals to repair or adapt listed buildings which may affect their architectural character or quality including the erection of telecommunications equipment are normally subject to listed building control and require the submission of an application for lis…

25 Sep 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what constitutes a completed development under Article 3(2) of The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Scotland) Amendment (No.2) Order 2001 (SSI 2001/266).

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The Executive cannot provide authoritative interpretation of statute. That is a matter for the courts.It is our view, however, that for a mobile phone base station, for example, to be considered complete, no further operations that constitu…

10 Sep 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-17046 by Rhona Brankin on 13 August 2001, what plans it has to require information regarding the bathing water and the water quality record to be displayed at every beach that is used for bathing.

Answer · Rhona Brankin: While signage has been put in place at many bathing and recreational waters by organisations such as local authorities and water authorities, the Executive has no plans at present to require information on water quality to be displayed.

10 Sep 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-17048 by Rhona Brankin on 13 August 2001, how many nominations for identification as bathing waters the Bathing Waters Review Panel examined during 1998-99 and how many nominated sites were not subsequently identified as bathing waters due to (a) an …

Answer · Rhona Brankin: 80 nominations were received, but some bathing waters were nominated more than once, so that 66 individual bathing waters were nominated. The independent Bathing Waters Panel made recommendations resulting in 37 new identifications. Of those which were not re…

10 Sep 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how recycling is defined for the purpose of measuring the performance of local authorities in relation to the disposal of household waste.

Answer · Rhona Brankin: This is a matter for the Accounts Commission. I understand that the commission is currently reviewing performance indicators including the one for refuse recycling.

3 Sep 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is any recorded incidence of wind farms interfering with airport radar.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is responsible for the regulation of safety in the UK civil aviation industry. The CAA is not aware of any incidents of wind farms interfering with the safe operation of air services in Scotland.

9 Aug 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has ever written to any Scottish football clubs asking whether they would consider leasing land to telecommunications companies for the purpose of erecting telecommunications masts.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: No. The location of telecommunications apparatus is a matter in the first instance for the telecommunication companies, in line with their operational requirements. Their decisions on location are, of course, subject to the new planning controls.

7 Aug 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what contribution Scotland will make to the United Kingdom targets to reduce the six-gas basket of greenhouse gas emissions by 12.5% below 1990 levels in the period 2008-12 as stated in Scottish Climate Change Programme.

Answer · Rhona Brankin: As stated in the Scottish Climate Change Programme (available on the Executive's website at <A HREF="http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library3/environment/ccm.pdf">www.scotland.gov.uk/library3/environment/ccm.pdf</A>), the Executive is committed to making an…

26 Jul 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria will be used when judging future planning appeals against refusals under the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Scotland) Amendment Order 2001 (SSI 2001/244).

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-17270 in relation to the revocation and replacement of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Scotland) Amendment Order 2001 (SSI 2001/244).In relation to appeals against refusa…

26 Jul 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether any work left uncompleted by 6 August 2001 under article 3(2) of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Scotland) Amendment (No.2) Order 2001 (SSI 2001/266) will be subject to any of the provisions of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Develo…

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Scotland) Amendment (No. 2) Order 2001 (Scottish Statutory Instrument 2001/266) revoked and replaced the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Scotland) Amendment Order 2001 (…

26 Jul 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether all developments to which article 3(2) of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Scotland) Amendment (No.2) Order 2001 (SSI 2001/266) applies must be completed within 14 consecutive days commencing on 23 July 2001.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: In order to benefit from the permitted development rights which existed under Class 7 of Schedule 1 to the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Scotland) Order 1992 prior to 23 July, development started before that date must be completed…

24 Jul 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a detailed breakdown of the #24 million financial package allocated to address the impact of water charge rises on people with low incomes for 2001-02 to 2003-04, stating whether any additional money has been added to this since the consultation process, as referr…

Answer · Ross Finnie: The funding for the Water and Sewerage Charges Reduction Scheme is £24 million as announced originally. This funding will be allocated to providing reductions in water and sewerage charges from 1 April 2001 to 31 March 2004.In 2001-02 the Water and Sewerag…

24 Jul 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a detailed breakdown of the Energy Efficiency budget for each year from 2000-01 to 2003-04, as referred to in Table 4.10 of The Scottish Budget.

Answer · Rhona Brankin: The breakdown requested is as follows (£ million):<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=538><TR><TD WIDTH="51%" VALIGN="TOP">Description</TD><TD WIDTH="12%" VALIGN="TOP">2000-01</TD><TD WIDTH="12%" VALIGN="TOP"><P ALIGN="CENTER"…

24 Jul 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a detailed breakdown of the budget for the Scottish Renewables Obligation for each year from 2000-01 to 2003-04, as referred to in Table 4.10 of The Scottish Budget.

Answer · Rhona Brankin: The budget provision shown against the Scottish Renewables Obligation (SRO) is to cover the Fossil Fuel Levy in Scotland, which is set by the energy regulator each year to cover the cost of renewable energy projects operating under the SRO. The levy in the cu…

24 Jul 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what finance it is making available to the water authorities in 2001-02, specifying any resources ring-fenced for specific purposes including meeting statutory requirements, and what their external financial limits are.

Answer · Ross Finnie: The finance being made available to the water authorities is set out in the latest Annual Expenditure Report of the Scottish Executive. In addition, £10 million is to be made available for the water charges relief scheme. Under resource budgeting, external fi…