Parliamentary questions
Richard Lochhead
2,448 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
13 Sep 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the total expenditure on fuel for vessels operated by the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency was in each of the last three years.
Answer · John Home Robertson: In 1997-98, 1998-99 and 1999-2000, SFPA has spent £654,179, £507,581 and £623,124 respectively for fuel in operating its Fishery Protection Fleet.
13 Sep 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what estimates have been made of (a) the amount and (b) the cost of fuel used by fishing vessels in each of the last three years.
Answer · John Home Robertson: There is no comprehensive information available about the amount of fuel used by Scottish fishing vessels. A survey of costs and earnings of UK fishing vessels was undertaken by the Sea Fish Industry Authority in 1997-98. The Fishermen's Handbook, which is av…
13 Sep 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to offer any financial assistance to the fishing industry to offset rising fuel costs.
Answer · John Home Robertson: I refer to the answer I gave to question S1W-9808.
13 Sep 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has had any discussions with Her Majesty's Government specifically regarding the impact of rising fuel costs on the fishing industry.
Answer · John Home Robertson: I refer to the answer I gave to question S1W-9808.
13 Sep 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it has taken to help the fishing industry to address rising fuel costs.
Answer · John Home Robertson: I refer to the answer I gave to question S1W-9808.
13 Sep 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-8129 by Mr John Home Robertson on 12 July 2000, whether it will commission a study in to the impact of fuel costs on the fishing industry.
Answer · John Home Robertson: Fuel duty and taxes are reserved matters and the Scottish Executive has kept in close dialogue with the UK Government on the effects of rising fuel costs on the industry. The UK fishing industry is already exempted from fuel duty payments, so taxation is not …
7 Sep 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many NHS dentists were there in the North East of Scotland parliamentary region in each of the last five years and whether it will conduct a study into the provision of NHS dental services in this region.
Answer · Iain Gray: Information by parliamentary region is not collected centrally. The table below shows the number of NHS Dentists in Grampian and Tayside Health Board areas over the past five years.<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">NHS Dentists in Grampian and Tayside Health Board as at 31 …
7 Sep 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is any shortage of emergency NHS dental provision in the cities of Aberdeen or Dundee.
Answer · Iain Gray: It is for Grampian and Tayside Primary Care NHS Trusts to make arrangements for emergency provision in their respective areas. Dentists in the Grampian and Tayside areas who have patients registered with them under NHS capitation or continuing care arrangemen…
7 Sep 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is any shortage of rural dental provision in the North East of Scotland and, if there is, what measures it has taken or plans to take to address this situation.
Answer · Iain Gray: The provision of dental services across their areas is kept under review by health boards, Acute Trusts and Primary Care NHS Trusts which work in co-operation to ensure availability of and improvements in services. In circumstances where Primary Care NHS Trus…
6 Sep 2000 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made in helping low income households pay their water charges.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: The Executive is currently considering whether it can improve on the assistance provided to many low income households through the link between water and sewerage charges and council tax bands. I expect to publish a consultation paper on this shortly.
1 Sep 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made in delivering aid to the pig sector.
Answer · Ross Finnie: After prolonged technical discussions between UK and European Commission officials, I am hopeful that the Pig Industry Restructuring Scheme will receive Commission approval by the end of November. If that timetable is met, then the Outgoers Scheme shall be op…
1 Sep 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make a statement on freedom of information in Scotland.
Answer · Jim Wallace: The Scottish Executive is committed to introducing an effective Freedom of Information regime. The Executive published a consultation document, <I>An Open Scotland</I>, on 25 November 1999. A total of 119 responses were received, and the Executive published a…
1 Sep 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any circumstances under which local authorities are required to transport children to school free of charge.
Answer · Peter Peacock: Under section 51 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980, education authorities have a duty to make such arrangements as they consider necessary for the provision of free transport, or for provision of other transport facilities as may be arranged, or for paying…
25 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any external finance limits were overshot by public bodies within its responsibility for the last financial year and, if so, by which bodies and what action was taken in response.
Answer · Jack McConnell: The table below details the 1999-2000 budget and outturn figures for those public sector bodies that are set external financing limits:<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=616><TR><TD WIDTH="53%" VALIGN="TOP"> </TD><TD WIDTH="26%" VALIGN="TOP"…
25 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any external finance limits were undershot for the last financial year by public bodies within its responsibility and, if so, by which bodies.
Answer · Jack McConnell: I refer you to the answer to question S1W-9428.
22 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-8781 by Mr Jim Wallace on 7 August 2000, how many of the accused subject to the orders referred to committed one or more subsequent crimes while on bail and whether any were bailed for a second time.
Answer · Jim Wallace: It is not possible to provide the level of detail requested from the information held centrally. The table below gives figures for the number of persons with a charge proved in sheriff and district courts in North East Scotland in 1997 and 1998, and the numbe…
22 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive to what extent a level of anticipated discards at sea is taken into account when deciding annual quotas.
Answer · John Home Robertson: Decisions on the size of quotas are based on scientific advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES). The ICES advice proposes sustainable levels of fishing for the forthcoming year and takes into account the estimated level of…
22 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what level of fish it estimates has been discarded by fishermen at sea for each of the last three years.
Answer · John Home Robertson: Levels of discards are estimated by fish species and sea area. These estimates are given in the Annual Report of the Advisory Committee on Fishery Management. The data below provides the estimated discard rates for the Scottish fleet for the main whitefish sp…
22 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it has taken to reduce discarding of fish at sea and what its policy is on this issue.
Answer · John Home Robertson: The Executive is committed to reducing discards of all species. The new EC Technical Conservation Regulation, which came into force on 1 January this year, introduced new measures to reduce discarding. Furthermore, the Scottish Executive recently made regulat…
21 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many households have (a) sought special payment schemes and (b) have made late payments due to being unable to pay their water bills on time for each of the last five years for which figures are available.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: Local authorities are responsible for the collection of water charges on behalf of the water authorities. A variety of payment methods are offered by local authorities to enable customers to pay their accounts.<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Information regarding those nu…
21 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the level of bad debt in the water industry was for each of the last five years for which figures are available.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: Information is only available for the four years during which the water authorities have been in existence. The figures represent the provision for bad debt as charged in the accounts.<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=616><TR><TD VALIGN="TOP" CO…
21 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many submissions relating to Protecting and Promoting Scotland's Freshwater Fish and Fisheries it has received, whether it will continue to accept submissions and when it expects to publish its final proposals for consultation.
Answer · John Home Robertson: As at 24 August, 186 responses had been received. The closing date for submissions, originally scheduled for 4 August, was extended to 31 August. An analysis of the responses will be undertaken and a statement on follow-up action will be made in due course.
21 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what its expenditure has been on the freshwater fisheries sector for each of the last three years.
Answer · John Home Robertson: The Scottish Executive's primary investment in this area is through the Freshwater Fisheries Laboratory (FFL), part of Fisheries Research Services. SERAD expenditure at FFL for the years 1997-98,1998-99 and 1999-2000 was £1.28 million, £1.27 million and £1.77…
21 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish in summary form the results of any recent government-sponsored studies into the impact of the introduction of non-native fish stocks to Scotland's rivers on native fish stocks.
Answer · John Home Robertson: There are currently no government-sponsored studies into the impact of the introduction of non-native fish stocks. However, the Freshwater Fisheries Laboratory maintains a watching brief on the distribution of freshwater fish species.
21 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what controls there are relating to the use of non-native species as live bait in the freshwater fisheries sector.
Answer · John Home Robertson: The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 makes it an offence to release any fish not native to Great Britain into the wild without a licence. The Import of Live Fish (Scotland) Act 1978 also gives powers to Scottish Ministers to prohibit the import, keeping or r…
21 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how the importation of fish eggs for the ultimate purpose of stocking our freshwater fisheries is regulated, how many applications there have been for import in each of the last five years, how many applications were accepted and what type of eggs were imported.
Answer · John Home Robertson: Importation is regulated by the Fish Health Regulations 1997 and the Diseases of Fish Act 1937 for imports from EU and non-EU countries respectively.<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Fish eggs of native species can be imported, without application, from EU zones and farms w…
21 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has increased the resources available for research into the shellfish toxin Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning and, if so, by how much.
Answer · John Home Robertson: Following the widespread occurrence of Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning (ASP) in 1999 a new three-year research project, with an annual estimated cost of £27,498, was commenced in April 2000. The objectives of the project are to identify the algal species responsi…
21 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has undertaken research into the impact of industrial fishing on freshwater fisheries and wild fish stocks and, if so, when this was carried out and what the results were.
Answer · John Home Robertson: During the 1990s, Fisheries Research Services participated in a number of collaborative projects to address the issue of whether the sandeel fishery had potential implications for wild salmonid stocks.<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Direct impacts were investigated by pla…
21 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the value of the scallop industry in Scotland was for each of the last three years for which information is available.
Answer · John Home Robertson: The value of scallop and queen scallop landings into Scotland by UK vessels in the last three years was £17.81 million in 1997, £17.98 million in 1998 and £16.48 million in 1999. The Scottish Executive does not hold figures for the sell-on value to the scallo…
21 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list those government or external fisheries advisory or policy making groups (a) sponsored by the Rural Affairs Department or (b) on which the Scottish Executive is represented.
Answer · John Home Robertson: The Scottish Executive has established a number of standing advisory groups on fisheries matters, including the Scottish Inshore Fisheries Advisory Group, the Tripartite Working Group and the Aquaculture Health Joint Working Group, and also sets up ad hoc gro…