Parliamentary questions

Mrs Margaret Ewing

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

21 Oct 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects the assessment of each of the three-lane sections of the A96 to be completed and when it will publish the findings of such an assessment.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The assessment is expectedto be completed by the end of January 2004 and the summary report completed bythe end of March 2004.

21 Oct 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress it has made in its assessment of each of the three-lane sections of the A96, as referred to in its letter dated 11 September 2003 to the Secretary of Lennox Community Council.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: An initial assessmentmeeting about the A96 climbing lanes took place between Scottish Executive officials, representatives of BEAR Scotland Ltd and the police on 23 September 2003. the Scottish Executive’s Area Manager for the A96 met with representativesof L…

21 Oct 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the anti-dementia drug donepe'il (Aricept) is available to NHS patients and, if so, which NHS boards prescribe it and what the level of prescription has been in each NHS board area in each year since it was first prescribed.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Donepezil (Aricept®) becameavailable for use in 1997 for use in the treatment of mild to moderate dementiain Alzheimer’s disease. There are patients in all health board areas receivingtreatment with donepezil (Aricept®). The information in the table is given …

24 Sep 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many children are eligible for immunisation against haemophilus influen'a type b and what the uptake has been in each year since 1992, broken down by NHS board area.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: I refer the member to the answergiven to question S2W-2899 today. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for whichcan be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa"…

24 Sep 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the uptake has been of haemophilus influen'a type b immunisation, including booster doses, in each NHS board area in each year since 1992.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Uptake information is availablefrom 1995 onwards. The percentage uptake of haemophilus influenza type bimmunisation in children aged 24 months in each year since 1995, by NHS board, isset out in the following table.<table class=MsoNormalTable borde…

24 Sep 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the level of incidence of haemophilus influen'a type b has been in each year since 1992, broken down by NHS board area.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The number of cases of invasivehaemophilus influenzae type b reported to the Scottish Centre for Infection andEnvironmental Health (SCIEH), by NHS board, since 1992 is set out in the followingtable.<table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr…

16 Sep 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the relevant timescale is for a complaint against a local authority or a specific councillor to be processed by the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.

Answer · Tavish Scott: The Scottish Public ServicesOmbudsman Act 2002 does not provide timescales for the processing of complaintsby the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman. The ombudsman is wholly responsible forthe consideration and management of complaints received by her office.…

16 Sep 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with the Department for Trade and Industry regarding the impact of the European Working Time Directive in communities where oil and gas is the major industry.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the Department of Trade and Industry on a widerange of issues, including the impact of the European Working Time Directive inthe oil and gas industry.

5 Sep 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to ensure that short limited duration tenancies or limited duration tenancies will be in place for the Martinmas term in November.

Answer · Ross Finnie: Implementation of Part 1 of the Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act 2003, which introduces the new short limitedduration tenancies and limited duration tenancies, will be informed by theoutcome of the current consultation about the content of the order which…

5 Sep 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the total number of employees is in each of its rural affairs department offices; where these are located, and how many clients each has on its register.

Answer · Ross Finnie: The current number of permanent employees in each area office is set out in column 1 of the table.The best estimate of the number of clients for each office is detailed in column two of the table. This information has been obtained from the most comple…

5 Sep 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list agricultural areas affected by environmental measures related to Nitrate Vulnerable Zones; how many tenant farms will be affected, and whether any compensation will be made available to landowners, tenant farmers and adjoining non-commercial neighbours.

Answer · Ross Finnie: Four Nitrate VulnerableZones (NVZ) have been designated in Scotland: Aberdeenshire, Banff, Buchan and Moray;Strathmore and Fife; Lothian and Borders, and Lower Nithsdale.They amount to 14.3% of the land area of Scotland. An estimated 12,000 farms are affected…

5 Sep 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects to be able to announce progress on the disposal of fallen stock and what consideration it has given to the impact of such disposal on public health.

Answer · Ross Finnie: The EU Animal By-Products RegulationNo 1774/2002 generally bans the routine on-farm burning and burial of fallen stockin all member states but provides for a derogation in certain circumstances.Following extensive consultationswith the industry and neg…

5 Sep 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress it has made on the provision of national envelopes as part of the process of decoupling under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), with particular regard to the protection of certain types of production in remote areas.

Answer · Ross Finnie: The agreement on CAP reformreached in June 2003 will introduce a new system of support to farmers wherebypayments will be decoupled from production. The agreement also provides somekey flexibilities in how the new system will be implemented, including aprovis…

5 Sep 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with the National Farmers Union Scotland regarding the single farm payment, proposed as part of the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP); which ministers are directly involved in the negotiations on the reform, and whether ministers will attend the pr…

Answer · Ross Finnie: The Scottish Executive has held pre-consultation meetings with a wide-range of stakeholders -including the National Farmers’ Union Scotland - on implementation of the CAPreform agreement and the consultation process.The council regulation whichcovers t…

5 Sep 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the total payment from the Extensification Premium Scheme (a) was for 2002-03 and (b) has been for the current financial year and how many farmers are currently awaiting payment from the scheme.

Answer · Ross Finnie: The Extensification PaymentScheme runs on a calendar year basis (1 January to 31 December inclusive).Payments begin as soon as possible after 1 April the following year. The totalextensification payments made between 1 April 2002to 31 March 2003 were:E…

5 Sep 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the current level of cow beef produced in Scotland is; what the level was in (a) 1995, (b) 1997 and (c) 1999, and how much was produced in each of those years for (i) domestic and (ii) export markets.

Answer · Ross Finnie: The production of cow beef, thatis beef from cattle aged over 30 months, has been banned since May 1996 followingthe introduction of the Over Thirty Months Scheme (OTMS). This means that in 1997,1999 and 2002 the level of cow beef production in Scotland wasze…

5 Sep 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with the National Farmers Union Scotland on possible changes to the Over Thirty Months scheme for cattle and what conclusions have been reached.

Answer · Ross Finnie: There have been a number of meetingsand written exchanges with the National Farmers’ Union Scotland (NFUS) regardingthe Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) review of the Over Thirty Months (OTM) rule andits likely impact on the Over Thirty Months Scheme (OTMS) and …