Parliamentary questions

Richard Lochhead

2,448 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

17 Mar 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) mandatory drug tests and (b) drug tests at reception were carried out at each prison in each of the last 12 months and what the results of these tests were.

Answer · Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:The readily available information on mandatory drug tests is given in a document which is available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. …

17 Mar 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans there are to establish temporary accommodation blocks at HM Prison Craiginches and in the Scottish Prison Service as a whole.

Answer · Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:The SPS has at present no such plans, but continues to examine best value options including temporary accommodation, for developing the p…

17 Mar 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when the new arrangements for prisoner escort duties will be in place and what level of resources this will free up in the prison service.

Answer · Jim Wallace: A tendering exercise is currently under way. Subject to the progress of discussions with tenderers, a decision is expected in the summer of 2003. The resources freed up for the criminal justice system will depend on the outcome of the tender process.

17 Mar 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken to measure the level of reoffending upon discharge from each prison and what the most recent results are for each prison.

Answer · Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:This information is not collected.

17 Mar 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make representations to Her Majesty's Government to take the necessary steps to enable the allocation of the ?150 million additional European Union money referred to in the resolution of 10 March 2003 in the European Parliament on the white fish sector.

Answer · Ross Finnie: No such additional funds exist. The Commission's proposal is for an additional €32 million across the Community for an emergency scrapping fund, but this has not been approved by the Council and the European Parliament.

17 Mar 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it supports the call from the European Parliament for the European Union to allocate ?150 million to offset the impact of the decisions made at the Fisheries Council meeting in December 2002.

Answer · Ross Finnie: The Executive has already moved swiftly and put in place more than £50 million in additional support for the industry, in recognition of the implications of the decisions taken at last December's Agriculture and Fisheries Council.On additional European fun…

17 Mar 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it had with Shell UK prior to the company's announcement of 350 job losses.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with Shell about a wide range of matters, and was aware that the company was considering changes to its offshore operations. The restructuring decision was one for the company itself to take.

17 Mar 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many Council of Ministers meetings its ministers have attended since May 1999, expressed as a percentage of the total number of council meetings.

Answer · Jim Wallace: The following table gives the percentage of formal Council of Ministers meetings attended by Scottish Executive ministers since 1 July 1999.<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=372><TR><TD WIDTH="43%" VALIGN="TOP">Period</TD><TD WIDTH="57%" VALI…

17 Mar 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to introduce training to raise awareness of the availability and purpose of different European Union grants and to provide assistance in the preparation of such grant applications.

Answer · Peter Peacock: The Scottish Executive has encouraged the five Programme Management Executives (PMEs) (who implement the programmes on the ground on behalf of the Scottish Executive) to pursue actively a range of activities to raise awareness of the availability of European …

17 Mar 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what level of match funding it has allocated to projects involving a European Union grant in each of the last five years, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Peter Peacock: The Scottish Executive makes no direct contribution to match funding at project level. Match funding for European Structural Funded projects is provided by the individual project sponsors, the funding for many of whom comes directly from the Scottish Executiv…

17 Mar 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what average level of match funding it provides in respect of European Union grants.

17 Mar 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on the operation of departmental expenditure limits in respect of European Union funding.

Answer · Andy Kerr: Provision for expenditure related to EU funding channelled through or claimed direct by the Scottish Administration is included in Scotland's Assigned Budget. Common Agricultural Policy-related expenditure is classified as Annually Managed Expenditure (AME) a…

17 Mar 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with Her Majesty's Government about the impact of departmental expenditure limits on the allocation of European Union funding within the Executive's budget.

Answer · Andy Kerr: The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the UK Government on financial issues.

17 Mar 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what European funding programmes are available to organisations in Scotland.

Answer · Peter Peacock: There are four Structural Funds available in Scotland:The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) primarily supports productive investment, infrastructure and SME development. The Guidance Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fu…

17 Mar 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the take-up level is of European Union (EU) grants, expressed as a percentage of total EU grants available and what information it holds on take-up of such grants by (a) other regions and nations within the United Kingdom and (b) EU member states.

Answer · Peter Peacock: The extent of take up of European Structural Funds by other UK regions is a matter for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, the Department for Trade and Industry and the European Commission. Take-up by other member states is a matter for the European Comm…

17 Mar 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of available sources of funding from European institutions and how many staff are engaged to ensure adequate take-up of such funding by organisations in Scotland.

Answer · Peter Peacock: The Scottish Executive, in partnership with other bodies such as the Programme Management Executives, the enterprise networks, local authorities and voluntary organisations, seeks to take full advantage of the various sources of funding from European institut…

17 Mar 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding has been received from programmes overseen by the European Union in each of the last five years, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Peter Peacock: The following tables show the annual amounts available from the European Commission for allocation to projects within European Structural Funds programmes for calendar years 2000-03 and relates to the 2000-06 programme period. Most of the figures for 1999 rel…

17 Mar 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has made any assessment of how much funding would be required to purchase all track record and entitlement currently allocated to vessels known to have been decommissioned and, if so, how much it estimates this figure to be.

Answer · Ross Finnie: The department does not maintain records of the value of FQA units. Consequently, no assessment has been made.

17 Mar 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what level of track record has been allocated to former fishing vessels whose owners surrendered their fishing licences under the 2001 decommissioning scheme and how much this track record is currently worth on the open market.

Answer · Ross Finnie: At the end of the 2001 decommissioning scheme, 98 vessels had been decommissioned and the licences associated with these vessels contained 317,151 FQA units.The department does not maintain records of the value of FQA units.

17 Mar 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what level of track record was decommissioned during previous decommissioning schemes and whether this level was equal to the total level accounted for by the vessels included in such schemes prior to being decommissioned.

Answer · Ross Finnie: Departmental records are only available for the last decommissioning scheme in 2001. At the end of this scheme, 98 vessels had been decommissioned and the licences associated with these vessels contained 317,151 FQA units.However, these FQA units were not …

17 Mar 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what level of quota is allocated to vessels known to have been decommissioned.

Answer · Ross Finnie: None. Decommissioned vessels are no longer active in the fishery.

17 Mar 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its budgetary projections are for financial support to sea fisheries for each of the next two years, showing the percentage allocated to (a) enforcement, (b) decommissioning schemes, (c) Fisheries Research Services and (d) other purposes.

Answer · Ross Finnie: The information requested is set out in the following table. In compiling the data, "enforcement" has been taken to mean spending by the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency. A detailed breakdown of figures on "sea fisheries" is not readil…

17 Mar 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what level of financial support it has provided to sea fisheries in each of the last four years, showing the percentage allocated to (a) enforcement, (b) decommissioning schemes, (c) Fisheries Research Services and (d) other purposes.

Answer · Ross Finnie: Details are set out in the following table. In compiling the data, "enforcement" has been taken to mean spending by the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency. A detailed breakdown of figures on "sea fisheries" is not readily available: data…

14 Mar 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many foreign-owned fishing vessels were on the Scottish register (a) in 1997 and (b) on the most recent date for which figures are available and whether it will give the figures for tonnage and power of such vessels if they can be calculated.

Answer · Ross Finnie: At 31 December 1997, 38 fishing vessels regarded as being wholly or partly owned or controlled by foreign interests were based in Scotland. The combined tonnage of these vessels was 10,526 Gross Tonnes (GT) and engine power totalled 33,709 kWs.As at 31 Dec…

14 Mar 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any representatives from the fish processing sector on the Seafish Industry Authority and what the reasons are for the position on this matter.

Answer · Ross Finnie: The processing sector is currently represented on the board of the Sea Fish Industry Authority by Mr Iain MacSween and Mr Jeff Evans. The eight industry members of the board are appointed to represent interests across the sea fish industry, striking a care…

14 Mar 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has received about whether the current days-at-sea restrictions and quota allocations will remain in place until the end of 2003 or whether they will be replaced by a different regime on 1 July 2003, as originally agreed by Her Majesty's Government and the European Uni…

Answer · Ross Finnie: The provisions made under Council Regulation (EC) No. 2341/2002 will remain in force until 31 December 2003 unless amended or replaced by other measures. We await proposals from the Commission both on amendments to Annex XVII of the Regulation (days at sea co…

14 Mar 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will respond to the latest proposals regarding the future of the Scottish Agricultural College's Aberdeen campus at Craibstone and, in particular, whether it plans to allow the proposals to proceed unchallenged.

Answer · Ross Finnie: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-34655 today. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at <A HREF="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/searc…

14 Mar 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is aware of any new or existing European funds, previously unallocated or applied for, to help fishing communities and, if so, what progress is being made with any application for such funds and whether it will give details, including the outcome, of any relevant discussions wi…

Answer · Ross Finnie: We are aware of no such funds. The Commission has proposed an additional 32 million euros across the Community for an emergency scrapping fund, but this has not been approved by the Council and the European Parliament.

12 Mar 2003 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it plans to introduce in order to reduce drug-related crime in the north east.

Answer · Hugh Henry: Combating drug misuse, and associated crime, is a police priority. Over the next three years, funding for the Scottish Police Service will increase significantly, with grant aided expenditure for Grampian Police up by £16.7 million (or 23%) to £89.1 million c…

11 Mar 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding has been allocated to the rates relief scheme for the white fish industry announced on 11 March 2003.

Answer · Andy Kerr: The maximum cost to the Executive is estimated at £1.8 million. The actual costs will depend on decisions made by local authorities on the applications for hardship relief.