Parliamentary questions
Murdo Fraser
2,062 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
6 Jan 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what studies are being conducted in prisons and other custodial and residential centres into the relationship between nutritional deficiencies and biomedical problems and violence and anti-social behaviour.
Answer · Jim Wallace: So far as is known, no such studies are currently under way. An application for a study of this kind has, however, been made to the Scottish Prison Service, and is being considered for funding in competition with other research proposals in the normal way.
6 Jan 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of prisoners that have committed suicide in prison in each of the last five years have been on prescribed selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor and neuroleptic drugs and/or Ritalin.
Answer · Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:<P>The information requested is not available.
6 Jan 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of inmates in young offenders institutions are prescribed Ritalin and/or other neuroleptic and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor drugs.
Answer · Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:<P>The information requested is not available.
6 Jan 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of children in private residential care homes have been prescribed Ritalin and similar class drugs in each of the last five years.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Prescription data collected centrally are not patient-specific.
6 Jan 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what auditing is done of neuroleptic and similar class drugs prescribed to children in private residential care homes.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Prescription data collected centrally are not patient-specific.<P>Care homes for children are now regulated by the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care (the Care Commission). The commission regulates services by inspecting them against the legislati…
16 Dec 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is the policy of Scottish Enterprise (SE) not to consider giving any assistance to, or hold any discussions about assistance with, any party with which SE is in litigation about matters unrelated to such assistance and what the reasons are for the position on this matter.
Answer · Iain Gray: This is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise.
16 Dec 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is the policy of Scottish Enterprise to attempt, where possible, to resolve disputes by means of mediation, rather than litigation, and what the reasons are for the position on this matter.
Answer · Iain Gray: This is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise.
4 Dec 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the purpose of the word "furthering" in the amended section 71(1)(j) of the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill is to introduce a comparative test of sustainable development whereby the proposed operation by the crofting community body is compared with the existing operation and, if not, …
Answer · Ross Finnie: The amendment to section 71(1)(j) of the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill was not intended to introduce a comparative test of sustainable development. <P>The Deputy Minister for Environment and Rural Development explained the purpose of the amendments to the Land …
3 Dec 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-31634 by Lewis Macdonald on 28 November 2002, whether it has any figures for the percentage of commercial vehicles and HGVs using the A9 trunk road between Perth and Inverness and, if so, how these figures compare with the national average for non-du…
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: Yes, the Scottish Roads Traffic Database (SRTDb) has two Automatic Traffic Classifier Sites (ATCS) located on the A9 between Perth and Inverness at Birnam and Tomatin. The percentage of HGVs at these locations is 9.5% and 14.26%<B> </B>respectively.<P>These f…
3 Dec 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-31634 by Lewis Macdonald on 28 November 2002, whether it has any figures for traffic levels on the A9 trunk road between Perth and Inverness on a monthly basis.
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: Yes, the undernoted traffic figures have been extracted from the Scottish Roads Traffic Database (SRTDb). The figures are two-way flows (i.e. northbound and southbound combined) and are shown as average daily flows for each month over the 12-month period betw…
2 Dec 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S1W-30836 and S1W-30837 by Ross Finnie on 18 November 2002, why, if the exercise of the crofting community right to buy under the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill must be in the public interest in order to be compatible with the European Convention on Human…
Answer · Ross Finnie: Article 1 of Protocol 1 of ECHR provides that no one shall be deprived of their possessions except <I>inter alia</I> in the public interest. This is why an acquisition under the crofting community right to buy must be in the public interest in order to be com…
2 Dec 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-30836 by Ross Finnie on 18 November 2002, whether there will be two public interest tests when an application is made under Part 3 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill, namely that the application is in the public interest using the qualified definitio…
Answer · Ross Finnie: As stated in the answer given to question S1W-30836, the purpose of section 71(2) of the bill is to elucidate the meaning of the phrase "public interest" as used in the bill. Whether or not ministers consider a proposed acquisition by a crofting com…
2 Dec 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-30835 by Ross Finnie on 18 November 2002, whether it is satisfied, bearing in mind the opinion of the Court of Session in the case of County Properties v the Scottish Ministers and, in particular, paragraph 19 of that opinion, that the approval of ap…
Answer · Ross Finnie: The approval of applications by Scottish ministers under Part 3 of the bill will be fair in that the provisions of that part are in accordance with the general principles laid down by the courts in both the County Properties and Alconbury cases. There is prov…
2 Dec 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, with regard to the estimate of one application per year to exercise the crofting community right to buy contained in the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill, as referred to in paragraph 324 of the Explanatory Notes to the Bill, how many such applications it estimates will contain a salmon fishin…
Answer · Ross Finnie: No estimate has been or can be made. There are too many uncertainties. If experience of existing community purchases is anything to go by, a significant proportion of crofting community bodies may not be interested in acquiring salmon fishings. However, we co…
2 Dec 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-30833 by Ross Finnie on 18 November 2002, why, if it is its policy to give crofting communities the opportunity to buy their croft land, it also plans to allow such communities to buy salmon fishings on contiguous land that is not theirs, with no fur…
Answer · Ross Finnie: The bill does not permit crofting communities to buy salmon fishings located on contiguous land. It is the salmon fishings themselves which have to be contiguous.<P>There are tests that apply to the acquisition of salmon fishings. These are the same as apply …
2 Dec 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-30831 by Ross Finnie on 18 November 2002, why it was not intended that salmon fishings on land contiguous to croft land should be subject to the additional tests found in section 74 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill.
Answer · Ross Finnie: If the acquisition of salmon fishings in accordance with the provisions of the bill was made subject to the highly restrictive tests in section 74, the outcome would be to ensure that a crofting community body could rarely, if ever, purchase salmon fishings. …
2 Dec 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-30830 by Ross Finnie on 18 November 2002, whether it will lodge an amendment to the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill that would enable crofting communities to buy salmon fishings on croft land and not those exercisable from croft land and what the reasons…
Answer · Ross Finnie: I see no need to change the bill in the manner proposed since the existing provisions fully meet our policy intentions.
2 Dec 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-30827 by Ross Finnie on 18 November 2002, why section 65(2)(d) of the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill provides for the purchase of "salmon fishings contiguous to" croft land when the intention of the bill is to provide for the purchase of salmon fishings…
Answer · Ross Finnie: It is my understanding that the terminology used in section 65(2)(d) is precisely what is required in order to achieve our policy intention.
2 Dec 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-30827 by Ross Finnie on 18 November 2002, what the difference is between "adjacent salmon fishings" which it states is not provided for in the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill and "salmon fishings contiguous to" croft land as stated in section 65(2)(d) of…
Answer · Ross Finnie: "Contiguous to" has a more precise and more strictly limited meaning than "adjacent" which can be interpreted as "close to" without necessarily conveying the concept of physical contact with the croft land.
15 Nov 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what level of traffic it considers is required before a trunk road, such as the A9, should be upgraded to dual carriageway status.
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: Decisions on choice of carriageway standard are based on the combined results of economic, operational and environmental assessments. A modern single carriageway such as sections of the A9 between Perth and Inverness can carry an average annual daily flow of …
15 Nov 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish its assessment of traffic levels on the A9 trunk road between Perth and Inverness in each of the last five years.
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The annual average daily flows at various locations along the A9 between Perth and Inverness are assessed as follows:<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=609><TR><TD WIDTH="39%" VALIGN="TOP"><P>Location</TD><TD WIDTH="11%" VALIGN="TOP"><P>1997</TD>…
21 Oct 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive under what circumstances a crofting community body will be able to dispose of land that it has acquired under Part 3 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill.
Answer · Ross Finnie: The Land Reform (Scotland) Bill contains no provisions that specify circumstances in which a crofting community body may or may not dispose of land acquired through the exercise of the right to buy. Any restrictions on disposal of land will be governed, where…
21 Oct 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-28090 by Ross Finnie on 26 August 2002, whether, in the light of that answer, the Minister for Environment and Rural Development will withdraw his statement that the essential requirement of compatibility with the European Convention on Human Rights …
Answer · Ross Finnie: No. What I said to the committee has to be considered in the context in which it was said. The discussion was about compensation and adequacy of compensation is the essential requirement in that context. I did not say that provision of adequate compensation i…
21 Oct 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends section 71(2) of the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill to qualify the meaning of "the public interest" contained in article 1 of Protocol 1 to the European Convention on Human Rights.
Answer · Ross Finnie: The purpose of section 71(2) of the bill is not to qualify the meaning of "the public interest" as used in article 1 of Protocol 1 to the European Convention on Human Rights, but to elucidate its meaning as used in the bill.
21 Oct 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, with regard to decisions in respect of applications under section 70 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill, whether Scottish ministers are an independent and impartial tribunal for the purposes of article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Answer · Ross Finnie: No. However, decisions by ministers to consent to or to reject a crofting community right to buy application can be appealed in terms of section 88 of the bill to the sheriff court which is an independent and impartial tribunal for the purposes of article 6 o…
21 Oct 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, with regard to the estimate of one application per year to exercise the crofting community right to buy contained in the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill, as referred to in paragraph 324 of the Explanatory Notes to the bill, how many such applications it estimates will contain a salmon fishin…
Answer · Ross Finnie: The provisions of the bill do not provide for the acquisition of salmon fishings located on land that is not eligible croft land nor do they allow areas of land in different ownerships to be covered by a single application. If, as we expect, crofting communit…
21 Oct 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive why no test of necessity forms part of the crofting community right to buy contained in the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill, given practices under standard compulsory purchase legislation.
Answer · Ross Finnie: The powers of compulsory acquisition in the bill do not seek to emulate compulsory purchase legislation in every respect. It is the policy of the Scottish Executive that crofting communities should have the opportunity to buy their croft land if the acquisiti…
21 Oct 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive why there will be no public hearings on the exercise of the crofting community right to buy contained in the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill, given practices under standard compulsory purchase legislation.
Answer · Ross Finnie: This legislation does not seek to emulate compulsory purchase legislation in every respect. Section 70 provides that ministers must publicise applications and seek views from those identified as interested parties in order to consider all relevant factors bef…
21 Oct 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive why salmon fishings were defined as "eligible croft land" in the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill as introduced after being defined as "eligible additional land" in the draft bill.
Answer · Ross Finnie: The handling of the crofting community right to buy salmon fishings in the draft bill text would not have delivered the intended policy outcome. The policy intention is that crofting community bodies should be able to apply for the right to buy salmon fishing…
21 Oct 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will lodge an amendment to the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill that would enable crofting communities to buy salmon fishings on croft land and not on adjacent land and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.
Answer · Ross Finnie: Since the provisions of the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill would not enable crofting communities to buy salmon fishings that cannot be exploited from croft land there is no need to amend the bill in the manner suggested.