Parliamentary questions
Alex Johnstone
582 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
1 Jun 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all the task forces, working groups, review groups, action groups and similar committees established by the Minister for Rural Affairs and his deputy Minister since 6 May 1999 and when each group is expected to publish its report.
Answer · Ross Finnie: The information requested is as follows;<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=624><TR><TD WIDTH="62%" VALIGN="TOP"><P ALIGN="CENTER">GROUP</TD><TD WIDTH="38%" VALIGN="TOP"><P ALIGN="CENTER">REPORT TIMETABLE</TD></TR><TR><TD WIDTH="62%" VALIGN="TOP">…
1 Jun 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to grant Angus Council the necessary special borrowing consent to fund the replacement of the A92 bridge over the South Esk at Montrose.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: The Scottish Executive has no plans to provide Angus Council with special borrowing consent to fund the replacement of the A92 bridge over the South Esk at Montrose. It is for Angus Council to determine its spending priorities from within its overall capital …
31 May 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the contribution from public funds has been in the last three years towards (a) the acquisition of and (b) the management of land acquired by and for the benefit of the community groups.
Answer · Henry McLeish: In the last three years The Scottish Office and the Scottish Executive have provided resources to Highlands & Islands Enterprise and Scottish Enterprise to enable them to assist projects which involve the acquisition and management of land by communities.…
24 May 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-6426 by Peter Peacock on 10 May 2000, when the roll of St Vigeons Primary School will be assessed against the 80% requirement and whether any current actions by Angus Education Authority to discourage parents from sending their children to the school…
Answer · Peter Peacock: Legislation does not specify a date at which the school roll should be assessed. Authorities generally use the roll returned in annual school census preceding a closure proposal.
24 May 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what its policy is towards the provision of police cover in the small towns and villages of rural Scotland.
Answer · Jim Wallace: The rural and urban parts of Scotland are given equal priority by the eight Scottish police forces, all of which have a mix of communities to police. The existing formula for distributing resources to individual forces makes an allowance for the additional op…
24 May 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it will take to safeguard and secure local jobs and business interests that have previously received European funding after the withdrawal of Assisted Area Status from Arbroath.
Answer · Henry McLeish: The Assisted Areas map is a reserved matter. I understand that agreement has not yet been reached between the UK Government and the European Commission on a revised Assisted Areas map.<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">However, Scottish Enterprise and the relevant local ente…
24 May 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what powers it has to prevent the closures of village police stations such as that in the Angus village of Letham and whether it plans to exercise any such powers in this instance.
Answer · Jim Wallace: Decisions on the deployment of officers and other resources, including the viability of police stations, are operational matters for Chief Constables. Neither the Joint Police Board nor Scottish Ministers have powers to intervene.
24 May 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether Angus Council Education Authority has supplied it with a copy of its asset management plan and whether it will place a copy in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.
Answer · Peter Peacock: There is no requirement for education authorities to submit asset management plans to the Scottish Executive, and no such plan has been received from Angus Council's Education Department.
28 Apr 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what powers it has and what action it intends to take to prevent Angus Council from closing St Vigeans Primary School following the recommendations contained in the recent joint report by the Directors of Education and Property Services to the Angus Council Education Committee.
Answer · Peter Peacock: I understand that, at this stage, Angus Council have the position of St Vigean's Primary School under review, but that there is no formal proposal to close the school. If, after further consideration, they propose to close the school, there is a statutory req…
28 Apr 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria are used when deciding whether an area should be designated as a Nitrate Vulnerable Zone.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: Waters are assessed by the Scottish Executive against criteria in the EC Nitrates Directive (91/676/EEC). Article 3(1) of the Directive requires waters affected by pollution and waters which could be affected by pollution if action pursuant to Article 5 is no…
28 Apr 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what substantive evidence exists to support the decision to designate the River Ythan as a Nitrate Vulnerable Zone.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: The Ythan Nitrate Vulnerable Zone has been designated on the basis of criteria set out at Annex IA(3) of the EC Nitrates Directive (91/676/EEC), i.e. that the estuary is eutrophic, or in the near future may become eutrophic.<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">During its 1997 …
28 Apr 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the decision to designate the River Ythan as a Nitrate Vulnerable Zone has been made using the same criteria which have been used to identify other such 'ones in Scotland.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: The only previously existing Nitrate Vulnerable Zone (NVZ) in Scotland, at Balmacolm in Fife, was designated during 1996 on the basis of criteria set out at Annex IA(2) of the EC Nitrates Directive. Nitrate concentrations from water samples taken from the bor…
3 Apr 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to Scottish Executive News Release SE0926/2000, when the #1.6 million for capital marketing and processing grants was first announced, and on how many occasions this funding was referred to in press releases between this date and 30 March 2000.
Answer · Ross Finnie: The £1.6 million for capital grants towards the processing and marketing of agricultural products was first announced on 30 March 2000.
3 Apr 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to Scottish Executive News Release SE0926/2000, when the #1 million per year for a Marketing Development Scheme was first announced, and on how many occasions this funding was referred to in press releases between this date and 30 March 2000.
Answer · Ross Finnie: The Marketing Development Scheme was launched in June 1994 with a budget of less than £0.5 million. The funding details contained in the news release were those for 2000-01. This was the first time this funding had been made public.
3 Apr 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to Scottish Executive News Release SE0926/2000, when the #100 million annual funding for a range of activities designed to help the restructuring of areas dependent on farming was first announced, and on how many occasions this funding was referred to in press releases bet…
Answer · Ross Finnie: The reference to projected annual spend on rural development measures was included in the section of Scottish Executive News Release SE0926/2000 which described activities in Scotland which parallel the Action Plan for Farming, or which are already underway.<…
3 Apr 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to the Scottish Executive News Release SE0926/2000, when the grant scheme, with rates at 40 per cent, to help those farmers who find themselves in areas designated as Nitrate Vulnerable Zones was first announced, and on how many occasions this funding was referred to in pr…
Answer · Ross Finnie: The announcement of the proposed grant scheme to assist farmers in Nitrate Vulnerable Zones was made for the first time on 30 March.
3 Apr 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to the Scottish Executive News Release SE0926/2000, when the extra #2.5 million to specialist cereal growers from November 2000 was first announced, and on how many occasions this funding was referred to in press releases between this date and 30 March 2000.
Answer · Ross Finnie: The change in the base area arrangements under the Arable Area Payments Scheme which will lead to the specialist cereal growers in the Scottish non-Less Favoured Area receiving an additional £2.5 million was first announced on 26 August 1999. There were no fu…
3 Apr 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to Scottish Executive News Release SE0926/2000, when the #2 million funding for measures to assist with marketing, business support and other costs faced by Scottish farm businesses was first announced, and on how many occasions this funding was referred to in press releas…
Answer · Ross Finnie: The £2 million was first announced on 30 March 2000.
3 Apr 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to the Scottish Executive News Release SE0926/2000, when the "#3 million assuming the Commission agrees an increase in the maximum weight per animal under the Over Thirty Months Scheme" was first announced, and on how many occasions this funding was referred to in press re…
Answer · Ross Finnie: 30 March was the first date on which it was announced that Scottish cattle producers would benefit by around £3 million in the 2000-01 financial year from a European Commission decision to increase the maximum weight per animal under the Over Thirty Mont…
3 Apr 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to the Scottish Executive News Release SE0926/2000, when the #2 million funding for a pig restructuring package was first announced, and on how many occasions this funding was referred to in press releases between this date and 30 March 2000.
Answer · Ross Finnie: 30 March 2000 was the first date on which funding for a pig restructuring scheme, estimated to be worth £2 million to Scotland in the 2000-01 financial year, was announced.
3 Apr 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to the Scottish Executive News Release SE0926/2000, when the additional #12 million in the form of agri-monetary compensation to dairy, beef and sheep farmers was first announced, and on how many occasions this funding was referred to in press releases between this date an…
Answer · Ross Finnie: 30 March 2000 was the first date on which additional agri-monetary compensation to Scottish dairy, beef and sheep farmers worth £12 million was announced.
3 Apr 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to the Scottish Executive News Release SE0926/2000, when the additional #20 million for Less Favoured Areas in 2001 was first announced, and on how many occasions this funding was referred to in press releases between this date and 30 March 2000.
Answer · Ross Finnie: 30 March 2000 was the first date on which the additional £20 million for farming in Scotland's Less-Favoured Areas was announced.
27 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it plans to make public, and place copies in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre, the results of the tests, conducted both in the laboratory and on controlled sites, on the crops to be used in the farm scale trials in Aberdeenshire.
Answer · Ross Finnie: The independent scientific assessment of the genetically modified oil seed rape crop to be used in the Aberdeenshire farm scale evaluation is on the public register held by the Joint Regulatory Authority and has also been placed on the Scottish Executive's GM…
27 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether in the future it will be under any legal obligation to allow the full commercial release of genetically modified food or crops.
Answer · Ross Finnie: No GM crops or food will be grown or marketed commercially in Scotland until they have passed one of the most rigorous regulatory systems in the world. The Scottish Executive have powers to prohibit release or marketing of the GM crop or food where there is s…
27 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is under any legal obligation to licence (a) field trials and (b) farm scale trials of genetically modified crops.
Answer · Ross Finnie: My response to question S1W-5609 set out the obligations, placed on the Scottish Executive by governing European and domestic law, to licence trials of genetically modified crops.
22 Mar 2000 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures have been considered in order to alleviate any problems of dairy farmers on Islay following the closure of the island's creamery.
Answer · John Home Robertson: The Scottish Executive is very disappointed that the directors of the creamery found it necessary to appoint a Receiver. We have met with local farmers and consultation is now underway to remove Islay from the milk quota ring fence which will allow the island…
17 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether 15% of children admitted to hospital in Glasgow are found to be suffering from malnutrition.
Answer · Susan Deacon: Information on the percentage of children admitted to hospitals in Glasgow who are found to be suffering from malnutrition is not held by the Scottish Executive.<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Eating a healthy and balanced diet is an important factor in the prevention of …
17 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what alternatives to the complete removal of ring-fenced quota areas were considered during the current consultation exercise on amendments to the Dairy Produce Quota Regulations 1997 (1997 No.733).
Answer · Ross Finnie: Consideration was given to removing the prohibition on leasing milk quota whilst still maintaining the ring-fence for permanent quota transfers. This would have allowed milk producers on Shetland to lease out quota on a year-by-year basis to the mainland. It …
15 Mar 2000 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive in what way its land reform proposals will lead to the creation of new crofts and new crofting lands.
Answer · Ross Finnie: The proposals for creating new crofts and new crofting lands are explained in page 13 of the <I>Land Reform Policy Group Recommendations For Action</I> published in January 1999. The Partnership for Government indicated the intention of the Executive to legis…
19 Jan 2000 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what timescale it envisages for the withdrawal of the requirement for the removal of spinal chords from ewe carcasses.
Answer · Iain Gray: The Executive will continue to frame its statutory public health controls on the basis of the precautionary principle, underpinned by the latest available medical and scientific advice which is reviewed regularly. It is not possible to anticipate when such ad…