Parliamentary questions
John Scott
560 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
21 Jan 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on the reasons for the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator not considering a request from the Ayrshire branch of the Multiple Sclerosis Society to defer approval of the new proposed UK constitution for the society.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: None. This is an operational matter for the independent charity regulator.</b></p>
9 Dec 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive , further to the answer to question S3W-37513 by Fergus Ewing on 26 November 2010, what the timescale is for ministerial consideration of proposed changes to the Firefighters’ Pension Scheme.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: It is proposed that the necessary changes to the Firefighters'' Pension Scheme in Scotland will be considered early in the New Year. The draft amendments will be subject to both consultation with stakeholders and the usual parliamentary consideration.</p>
25 Nov 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what reason it has made a reduction of 12.5% in the veterinary surveillance budget before the Kinnaird review of veterinary surveillance reports in January 2011.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: Like other areas of public spending, these services are subject to cuts because of the reduced funding from the Westminster Government. No final decision has been made yet on the funding to the Scottish Agricultural College (SAC) for the delivery of veterinar…
12 Nov 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers the Firefighters’ Pension Scheme Scotland is compliant with age discrimination legislation in relation to those who joined it aged 18 to 20 and, if not, what changes it plans to make to it.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: The rules covering contributions in the Firefighters'' Pension Scheme (FPS) in Scotland mirror those that apply in England and Wales. Following legal advice the Department for Communities and Local Government, which has responsibility for the FPS in England, …
9 Sep 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, following the reduction of quotas and days at sea, what action it is taking to maintain the viability of the demersal fishing sector and associated downstream industries.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: On 14 September 2010 the Scottish Fisheries Council endorsed the broad lines of a comprehensive four pillar fisheries management plan put forward by the Scottish Government. The plan will be refined in the light of discussion at the council and is designed to…
9 Sep 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to preserve the rights of Scottish scallop fishermen in the Isle of Man area.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: Scottish Government officials are in ongoing discussions with representatives of the Isle of Man and UK Fisheries Administrations about proposals by the Isle of Man Government for scallop management measures in the Isle of Man 3 to 12 nautical mile zone. Scot…
9 Sep 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the unilateral increase of their mackerel quotas by Iceland and the Faroe Islands, whether it has made representations to the European Commission to prevent those countries carrying out their declared intention to catch these quotas in EU waters.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: The Icelandic and Faroese unilateral quotas are for catches in their respective waters. Any attempt to catch these quotas in EU waters would be in contravention of international law. There is no indication that either party has or will attempt to fish its uni…
9 Sep 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has made representations to the European Commission to ask for action to be taken to deny Faroese fishermen access to Scottish and other EU ports.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: The Scottish Government has been working closely with the European Commission to examine every possible option to bring both Iceland and Faroes back to the negotiating table. I have twice written to Commissioner Damanaki and also spoken to her to request that…
25 Aug 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to raise with the EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Dacian Ciolos, the possibility of eggs being imported into the United Kingdom that have been produced to a lower welfare standard than those from Scotland and the rest of the UK from 1 January 2012.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: There is no need to raise this issue at Commissioner level as the European Commission have made it clear that they have no intention of allowing any member state to keep laying hens in conventional cages after 1 January 2012. However, my officials are keeping…
13 Aug 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the names and addresses are of the outlets where sales of the meat from cloned cattle or the progeny of cloned cattle took place; what quantity of meat was sold, and on what dates this meat was sold.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: In the course of its investigations the Food Standards Agency (FSA) traced eight animals born in the UK from eight imported embryos which were produced by a cloned cow in the USA. The cloned cow itself remains in the USA.</p> <p >As part of this investigatio…
5 Aug 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what estimates it has made of the additional cost to Scottish sheep farmers of electronic tagging of slaughter lambs compared with the cost in England and Wales.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: It is extremely difficult to make any direct comparison between the cost in Scotland and the cost in England and Wales due to different ways in which EID has been implemented by the different administrations.</p> <p >A full Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA)…
4 Aug 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether milk from cloned dairy cattle is entering the human food chain and, if so, whether authorisation is required for this.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: The Food Standards Agency (FSA) have advised me that there is no evidence of the presence of any cloned cattle in the UK, only the offspring of such animals, and that therefore no milk from cloned cattle has entered the food chain.</b></p> <p >They have also…
4 Aug 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many cloned (a) sheep and (b) cattle have entered the human food chain in Scotland.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: </p> <p ><![if !supportLists]>(a) <![endif]>Sheep:</b></p> <p >The Food Standards Agency (FSA) have advised me that there is no evidence of the current presence of any clo…
22 Jul 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what amount and area of productive woodland has been lost through habitat restoration in each of the last five years
Answer · Richard Lochhead: A breakdown of these figures into the various categories now requested is not readily available at present.</p> <p >To satisfy the requirements of felling control legislation, restructuring proposals are only agreed if they are in accordance with the princip…
22 Jul 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what amount and area of productive woodland has been lost through the creation of windfarms and access roads in each of the last five years.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: A breakdown of these figures into the various categories now requested is not readily available at present.</p> <p >To satisfy the requirements of felling control legislation, restructuring proposals are only agreed if they are in accordance with the princip…
22 Jul 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to encourage a greater proportion of productive conifer crop in forests.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: We recognise the importance of sustaining a predictable and stable supply of good quality timber to encourage continued investment in Scotland''s timber processing industries. To help achieve this, the Scotland Rural Development Programme offers grants for pr…
22 Jul 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what projections it has from (a) public and (b) private sector forest plans for the amount and area of woodland to be restructured that will be re-established in productive conifer crop
Answer · Richard Lochhead: The <i >National Forest Estate Strategic Plan </i>(published in 2009) states that the area of broadleaves on the national forest estate will be increased from the current level of 8% to around 20% of woodland cover. While this will mean a reduction in the rel…
22 Jul 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what amount and area of restocked woodland has been put back as productive conifer crop in each of the last five years
Answer · Richard Lochhead: There have been 45,400 hectares of conifers restocked over the last five years. These figures are taken from Forestry Facts and Figures that are available on the Forestry Commission website at <a href="http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/infd-7aqknx">http://w…
22 Jul 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what amount and area of productive woodland has been lost through the restructuring process in each of the last five years.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: A breakdown of these figures into the various categories now requested is not readily available at present.</p> <p >To satisfy the requirements of felling control legislation, restructuring proposals are only agreed if they are in accordance with the princip…
15 Jul 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what assurances can be given to claimants that future annual recurrent payments under the Rural Priorities scheme will be paid on time.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: We continue to improve the Rural Priorities payments process and our aim is to pay the vast majority of the 2010 annual recurrent claims by the end of March 2011. This is in line with the payments target for the long-established Less Favoured Area Support Sch…
15 Jul 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-34671 by Richard Lochhead on 30 June 2010, what new systems are being introduced to speed up the processing of annual recurrent payments for the Rural Priorities scheme.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: The new systems are (1) an improvement in the procedure for clearing computer generated errors involving the reclassification of some automated checks, and (2) a change to the associated IT payment calculation programme to operate on a nightly rather than a t…
2 Jul 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive for how long fishermen who decommissioned their vessel under the Fishing Vessels (Decommissioning) (Scotland) Scheme 2001 were permitted to retain quota.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-35109 on 30 July 2010. 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/Apps2/B…
2 Jul 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many fishermen who decommissioned their vessel under the Fishing Vessels (Decommissioning) (Scotland) Scheme 2001 still possess quota.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: Under the 2001 decommissioning scheme, the fixed quota allocation (FQA) units associated with the licences of decommissioned vessels could be transferred to other over 10 metre licences, licence entitlements or to fish producer organisation dummy licences. Th…
2 Jul 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what (a) training and (b) start-up funding is available for new entrants into commercial fishing.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: Training for new entrants into commercial fishing is delivered through a network of industry-led group training associations (GTAs) covering the whole of mainland Scotland and the Highlands and Islands. The GTAs are registered with the Sea Fish Industry Autho…
2 Jul 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the success of real-time closures.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: Article 13 of Council Regulation (EU) No 1342/2008 (the Cod Recovery Plan) provides for allocation of additional fishing effort for cod avoidance measures. The Scottish Government has implemented Article 13 through the conservation credits scheme (CCS), which…
2 Jul 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it is having with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) regarding effort trading between Scottish and English fishermen.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has decided, for the 2010-11 effort management period, to permit fishing vessels that it administers to transfer days at sea only to other vessels that it administers. The Department of Agricultur…
2 Jul 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list every new regulation applied to the commercial fishing sector since 1999, broken down by year of introduction.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: Marine Scotland has published a list of fisheries legislation detailing the year it came in to force at:</p> <p >www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/marine/Sea-Fisheries/Regulation/legislation/si.</b></p>
20 May 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to address skill shortages in the agricultural industry, particularly in the north-east.
Answer · Keith Brown: Encouraged by the Scottish Government, the employer bodies are working with Sector Skills Council, Lantra, to construct for the industry a level 2 Modern Apprenticeship (MA) framework which could be in place by September 2010. This is being developed as a veh…
20 May 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the UK Government’s proposed immigration policy will have an effect on the availability of seasonal workers in Scotland and if so, what effect.
Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The UK Government''s proposal to introduce an annual limit on the number of non-EEA migrants admitted into the UK is unlikely to have a significant impact on the availability of seasonal workers in Scotland.</p> <p >This is because there is currently no immi…
13 May 2010 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what date it anticipates making an announcement on the second tranche of its capital funding for the schools investment programme.
Answer · Keith Brown: We will announce the next tranche of funding from the new school building programme later this year.</p>