Rob Gibson

31 Aug 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many meetings have taken place since May 2007 between its Marine Directorate and the UK Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform or its predecessor regarding the devolution of further powers for the Scottish Parliament under UK marine legislation.

Answer · Richard Lochhead: There is regular dialoguebetween officials in the Marine Directorate and a variety of UK GovernmentDepartments in relation to marine issues. In relation to the UK Marine Bill, officialsfrom the Marine Directorate attend Department for Environment, Food and Ru…

31 Aug 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many meetings have taken place since May 2007 between its Enterprise, Energy and Tourism Directorate and the UK Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform or its predecessor regarding the devolution of further powers for the Scottish Parliament under UK marine legislati…

Answer · Jim Mather: The Enterprise, Energy and Tourism Directorate has not taken partin any such meetings. However, there is regular dialogue between officials inthe Marine Directorate and a variety of UK Government Departments in relationto marine issues. The Marine Directorate…

30 Aug 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many native cattle were introduced or retained on Scottish farms and crofts under the Rural Stewardship Scheme in each year since its inception, broken down by area.

Answer · Richard Lochhead: The information requestedis given in the following tables.</p><p>Table a - Number of native cattle introduced underthe Rural Stewardship Scheme</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3 width=503> <thead> <tr> <td width=142 valign=top> <p align=cen…

21 Aug 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it is taking to ensure that foreign motorists are adequately informed of motoring rules and regulations in Scotland.

Answer · Stewart Stevenson: Road Safety Scotland,funded by the Scottish Government, produces a multilingual leaflet for foreign visitors,which provide advice on how to drive safely on Scotland’s roads. A new series of leaflets, aimed particularly at migrant workers,was issued in April t…

21 Aug 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive for how many road traffic accidents foreign motorists were deemed to be responsible in each year since 1999.

Answer · Stewart Stevenson: Data about injuryroad accidents are collected by the police and reported to the Scottish Executiveusing the STATS 19 statistical report form. These returns cover only road accidentsin which one or more people were injured and which become known to the police.…

21 Aug 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many road traffic accidents have taken place in each year since 1999 on the (a) A835, (b) A836, (c) A837, (d) A894, (e) A897 and (f) A9 north of the Dornoch Firth bridge.

Answer · Stewart Stevenson: Data about injuryroad accidents are collected by the police and reported to the Scottish Executiveusing the STATS 19 statistical report form. These returns cover only road accidentsin which one or more people were injured and which become known to the police.…

21 Aug 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many road traffic accidents have taken place in each year since 1999 involving foreign motorists.

Answer · Stewart Stevenson: Data about injuryroad accidents are collected by the police and reported to the Scottish Executiveusing the STATS 19 statistical report form. These returns cover only road accidentsin which one or more people were injured and which become known to the police.…

29 Jun 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the value has been of the price cap placed by Ofgem on renewables obligation certificates in each of the last three years.

Answer · Jim Mather: The value of a RenewablesObligation Certificate (ROC) is determined through an open market mechanismwhereby suppliers purchase ROCs from generators and present them to Ofgem inorder to meet their Obligation. Ofgem does not cap the monetary value of ROCs,which…

29 Jun 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many of the 61 hydro stations constructed before 1990 which have obtained accreditation under the Renewables Obligation (Scotland) scheme since 2000 had already been refurbished between 1990 and 2000.

Answer · Jim Mather: The information requested isnot held centrally.</p>

29 Jun 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it was agreed, when 61 hydro stations constructed before 1990 were being considered for accreditation under the Renewables Obligation (Scotland) scheme, that some stations with an installed capacity above the 20MW qualifying limit would be refurbished to reduce capacity to below t…

Answer · Jim Mather: Since 1 April 2002, refurbishedhydro stations with a declared net capacity of up to 20 MW have been eligible forsupport under the Renewables Obligation (Scotland).</p><p>We are aware of 10 hydro stationswhose capacity was reduced to below 20 MW before 1 April…

29 Jun 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) increase or (b) decrease in installed capacity has been since 2000 in each of the 61 hydro stations constructed before 1990 and accredited under the Renewables Obligation (Scotland) scheme as a result of the refurbishment programme carried out by the owners.

Answer · Jim Mather: The information requested isnot held centrally.</p>

29 Jun 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been spent since 2000 on refurbishing each of the 61 hydro stations constructed before 1990 and accredited under the Renewables Obligation (Scotland) scheme in return for funding for refurbishment.

Answer · Jim Mather: Refurbishment is a matterfor station owners and is not funded by the Scottish Executive. The informationrequested is not held centrally.</p>

29 Jun 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many renewables obligation certificates have been issued during each of the last three years for each of the 61 hydro stations constructed before 1990 and now accredited for qualification under the Renewables Obligation (Scotland) scheme.

Answer · Jim Mather: The information requested isshown in the following table. This information has been provided by Ofgem, the bodyresponsible for administering the obligation.</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td nowrap rowspan=2 valign=bottom> …

22 Jun 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of today’s publication of the consultation paper, Managing Radioactive Waste Safely - A framework for implementing geological disposal, by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Department of Trade and Industry, the Welsh Assembly Government and the Northern…

Answer · Richard Lochhead: The Scottish Governmenthas explained to the UK Government that it does not endorse the consultation documentpublished today.</p><p>In July 2006 The Committeeon Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM) recommended geological disposal as the bestavailable approach …

13 Jun 2007 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made to the UK Government in respect of an upper limit of 0.1% in permitted contamination levels of GM-free foods at this month¿s Council of Ministers.

Answer · Michael Russell: The general approachon this was agreed at the December 2006 Council meeting, when the Executive reluctantlyaccepted that a 0.1% labelling threshold for accidental GM presence was impracticalfor the organic sector.</p>

30 May 2007 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to enhance the organic aid scheme.

Answer · Richard Lochhead: Support for organic farming willcontinue under the new Scottish Rural Development Programme and fall under RuralDevelopment Contracts. After my announcement last week on the SRDP budget I canconfirm that the allocation for support of organic farming will be £…

22 May 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what instructions have been given to Scotland TranServe and local authorities regarding the reclamation of costs incurred in the repair of safety barriers and other road furniture as a result of accidents caused by deer hitting vehicles.

Answer · Stewart Stevenson: No specific instructions on thismatter have been given to Scotland TranServ or local authorities.</p><p>Transport Scotland hasthe operational responsibility for this area, and can be contacted for more informationif required.</p>

22 May 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many accidents involving deer hitting cars have been reported on roads that are the responsibility of Scotland TranServ since it took over maintenance duties.

Answer · Stewart Stevenson: The Scottish Executive Road InformationSystem (SERIS) Accident database does not hold information specifically regardingdeer-related collisions as personal injury accident reports rarely record this.</p><p>A UK research projectbetween 2000-06 indicated that t…

22 May 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many accidents involving deer hitting vehicles on Scottish roads led to injuries or fatalities in each year since 1999.

Answer · Stewart Stevenson: The Scottish Executive Road InformationSystem (SERIS) Accident database does not hold information specifically regardingdeer-related collisions as personal injury accident reports rarely record this.</p><p>A UK research projectbetween 2000-06 indicated that t…

14 Mar 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive which priority species, listed in the EU habitats or birds directives, are known to be declining in either range or number in Scotland and what action is proposed to address such decline.

Answer · Sarah Boyack: The Habitats Directive identifies priority non-bird species whichare particularly vulnerable. None of these is known to occur in Scotland. The BirdsDirective does not list any priority species.</p>

14 Mar 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive which priority species, identified in the UK Biodiversity Action Plan, are declining in Scotland and what action is proposed to address their conservation needs.

Answer · Sarah Boyack: The most recent overview of implementationof the actions required to conserve and enhance the priority species and habitatslisted under the UK Biodiversity Action plan comes from an analysis of 2005 data.This data shows that 60 species are either stable or in…

14 Mar 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what funding streams it manages or utilises to fund the work necessary to meet its target of halting the loss of biodiversity by 2010, as set out in the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy, and what steps it is taking to enhance this funding to prevent a possible shortfall of £43 million per a…

Answer · Sarah Boyack: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-32380 on 27 March 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’swebsite the search facility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.…

14 Mar 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to ensure that its target of halting the loss of biodiversity by 2010 is met and what resources have been made available since 2005 for programmes to implement the species and habitat action plans that make up the UK Biodiversity Action Plan and the Scottish Bio…

Answer · Sarah Boyack: <p class=AnswerTextWA>The Scottish Executive iscommitted to working to meet the European Union’s target to halt the loss ofbiodiversity by 2010. The Scottish Executive achieves this by setting thepolicy framework and by funding implementation action directly …

9 Mar 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on whether the draft EU postal services directive will impact on the number of sub-post offices and post offices in Scotland, in particular those providing services in sparsely populated areas and on the islands.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The Directive relates to postal services and notto post offices and should not therefore impact on the number of post offices inScotland.</p>

8 Mar 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on whether and how Scotland will be represented on the regulatory authority provided for in the draft European postal service directive.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The functions of the regulatory authority provided for in the Directive proposal will be carriedout in the UK by the Postal Services Commission, Postcomm,which has a UK wide remit. It is governed by a Board ofCommissioners which is selected under the rules pe…

8 Mar 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the employment consequences of the draft European postal service directive.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: A draft EuropeanPostal Services Directive proposal was issued by the EU Commission in October 2006.It is currently under consideration by the European Council Working Group on postalservices, which has asked the Commission, inter alia, to consider the implica…

7 Mar 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the total cost will be of maintenance of the A830 from Fort William to Mallaig since the beginning of its upgrade from single to twin track road to completion, expressed in 2006 prices.

Answer · Tavish Scott: Work on upgrading the A830 trunkroad to twin track started in the late 1970s. Between 1 April 2001 and 31 March2006, around £3.5 million (at 2006 costs) was spent on maintenance of the A830.This is in addition to substantial sums spent on winter maintenance, …

7 Mar 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the total cost will be of upgrading the A830 from Fort William to Mallaig from single to twin track road since the beginning of the project to completion, expressed in 2006 prices.

Answer · Tavish Scott: Work on upgrading the A830trunk road started in the late 1970s andhas been completed in many stages. Construction of the final section to beupgraded, from Arisaig to Loch nan Uamh, will begin this summer and is due to becompleted in 2008.</p><p>Records of the…

23 Feb 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what average time has been taken to reach a decision on approving rural home ownership grants and to inform applicants in (a) Caithness, (b) Sutherland, (c) Orkney, (d) Shetland, (e) the Western Isles, (f) Ross-shire, (g) Inverness-shire, (h) Skye, (i) Lochalsh, (j) Badenoch and Strathspe…

Answer · Rhona Brankin: I have asked Angiolina Foster,Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:</p><p>The information requested isnot available. However, Communities Scotland aims to provide a grant applicant witha decision in principle within …

23 Feb 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many rural home ownership grants have been approved in (a) Caithness, (b) Sutherland, (c) Orkney, (d) Shetland, (e) the Western Isles, (f) Ross-shire, (g) Inverness-shire, (h) Skye, (i) Lochalsh, (j) Badenoch and Strathspey and (k) Argyll and Bute in each year from 2001 to 2007, showi…

Answer · Rhona Brankin: I have asked Angiolina Foster,Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:</p><p>Information is only availableby local authority area and at summary level. The following table sets out (a) thenumber of rural home ownership …