Parliamentary questions
Jim Hume
1,310 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
26 Sep 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many new farmers have entered the industry since the introduction of the new entrants to farming scheme.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: New entrants who meet the European Union definition of a new entrant to farming can apply for support under the “Setting up young farmers – interest rate relief” option within the Scotland Rural Development Programme Rural Priorities scheme. On the number of…
26 Sep 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding has been allocated through the new entrants to farming scheme in each year since its introduction.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: The following table shows the current funding allocation per year under the “Setting Up Young Farmers – Interest Rate Relief” Option in Rural Priorities, part of the Scotland Rural Development Programme. Year Value 2009 £305,933 2010 £301,094 2011 £…
13 Sep 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the impact of the Forestry Commissioners’ review of governance structures will be on Forestry Commission Scotland’s delivery of public benefits.
Answer · Stewart Stevenson: The Forestry Commissioner’s review of governance is underway and so it is not yet possible to say what impact this review will have on Forestry Commission Scotland or its delivery of public benefits. We have however made a manifesto commitment to maintain the…
13 Sep 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the impact of the Forestry Commissioners’ review of governance structures will be on research into sustainable forest management for public benefits in Scotland.
Answer · Stewart Stevenson: The Forestry Commissioner’s review of governance is underway and will clearly need to address potential impacts on research into sustainable forest management for public benefits in Scotland.
13 Sep 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the impact of the Forestry Commissioners’ review of governance structures will be on the functions of Forestry Commission Great Britain that service Scotland.
Answer · Stewart Stevenson: The Forestry Commissioner’s review of governance is underway and will clearly need to address potential impacts on Forestry Commission GB functions that service Scotland.
13 Sep 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has for a forestry bill.
Answer · Stewart Stevenson: There are currently no plans for a forestry bill.
13 Sep 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how the Forestry Commissioners’ review of governance structures will apply to Forestry Commission Scotland.
Answer · Stewart Stevenson: The Forestry Commissioner’s review of governance will include consideration of Forestry Commission Scotland. We have made a manifesto commitment to ‘keep the Forestry Commission as a publicly-owned body and our forestry estate as an asset for the nation’ and …
6 Sep 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to review the (a) Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005, (b) Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 and (c) Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010 with a view to introducing a village halls licence.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: Depending on the activities carried out in a village hall there may be a need for a particular licence. There are no plans for a specific village halls licence.
30 Aug 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what funding it has provided since 2007 for lipreading classes designed for those who require rehabilitation support.
Answer · Michael Matheson: The Scottish Government has provided a total of £21,280 for lipreading classes since 2007.
30 Aug 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance is used by NHS staff in audiology clinics when deciding upon whether it is appropriate to refer patients to lipreading services.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Lip reading services can be part of the wider rehabilitation support for patients with hearing loss visiting NHS audiology departments. At the present time no formal referral pathway exists between the NHS and support services such as lipreading. Patients are…
30 Aug 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will establish and fund a training course for lipreading tutors in order to secure a sustainable workforce for lipreading classes.
Answer · Michael Matheson: There are no plans at present to fund a training course to train lip-reading tutors.
30 Aug 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what support it provides toward the maintenance and expansion of lipreading classes in 2011-12.
Answer · Michael Matheson: Whilst the Scottish Government does not currently provide support toward the maintenance and expansion of lip-reading classes officials have recently met with both Action for Hearing Loss and the Scottish Council on Deafness to discuss and agree a way forward…
30 Aug 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what (a) action it has taken since 2007 and (b) future plans it has to promote awareness of the benefits of lipreading classes for those with hearing loss.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The Scottish Government has provided funding of £21,280 for lip-reading classes since 2007. Scottish Government officials have recently met with Scottish Council on Deafness and Action for Hearing Loss to discuss and agree a way forward for lip-reading provi…
29 Aug 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how Transport Scotland ensures timeous replies to freedom of information requests.
Answer · Keith Brown: The Scottish Government aims to respond to 100% of FOI requests within the statutory target of 20 working days. The majority of requests received are registered on the Scottish Government’s Information Request Tracker which automatically calculates the 20 wo…
29 Aug 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of freedom of information enquiries relating to the Forth Replacement Crossing have been answered by Transport Scotland within (a) 10, (b) 15 and (c) 20 days of receipt.
Answer · Keith Brown: (a) 21%, (b) 33%, (c) 25%.
29 Aug 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is aware of Transport Scotland taking at least 19 days from the date of receipt to respond to freedom of information enquiries regarding the Forth Replacement Crossing and, if so, what its position is on this.
Answer · Keith Brown: Transport Scotland aims to respond to 100% of freedom of information requests within the statutory target of 20 working days as set out in the Freedom of Information Scotland Act 2002. The majority of requests received are registered on the Transport Scotlan…
25 Aug 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S4W-00597 by Richard Lochhead on 17 June 2011, how much it expects to spend under the programme in 2011-12, broken down by delivery scheme.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: Scheme Forecast Expenditure 2011-12 Scottish Government Rural Priorities 94.8 Land Managers' Options 10.8 Land Management Contract Menu Scheme (Legacy) 5.2 Skills Development 0.7 Food Processing, Marketing & Cooperation Grants Scheme 8.5 Croft…
25 Aug 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, following the introduction of the European Commission's electronic identification system, what percentage of read rate must be achieved by a sheep farmer to prevent investigations being conducted to establish whether other elements of the identification and traceability rules have been a…
Answer · Richard Lochhead: A minimum of 3% of holdings where sheep are kept are selected for inspections by risk analysis and at random as laid down by European legislation. These inspections cover the full range of requirements of Council Regulation 21/2004 as amended. All elements o…
25 Aug 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, following the introduction of the European Commission's electronic identification system, whether sheep farmers will have to keep paper records of their flock.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: Farmers can choose to keep their flock records in any format they choose providing all the essential information is recorded.
23 Aug 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of enquiries received by Transport Scotland between 1 August 2010 and 1 August 2011 were answered within 21 days.
Answer · Keith Brown: Transport Scotland do not keep records for all enquiries. However, they hold records for all ministerial and chief executive correspondence, Freedom of Information requests and Environmental Information requests. The aim is to answer all of these within 20 wo…
23 Aug 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average time has been for Transport Scotland to respond to (a) emails and (b) written enquiries regarding the Forth Crossing Project in the last six months.
Answer · Keith Brown: From the period March 2011 to date, the average time taken to respond to enquiries to Forth Replacement Crossing project was 4.17 days. The form of correspondence is not recorded.
28 Jun 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how the forthcoming national strategy on housing for older people will seek to increase the supply of retirement accommodation across all tenures.
Answer · Keith Brown: The national strategy on housing for older people will set the policy direction for housing and housing-related support for older people in Scotland, to enable them to live independently in their own homes for as long as possible. It will identify five main o…
17 Jun 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the National Health Service (General Medical Services Contracts) (Scotland) Regulations 2004 allow health practices to dispense drugs to patients who reside within 2.5 miles of a local pharmacy and, if not, whether it plans to amend these regulations to allow them to do so.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Paragraph 44 (2) of the NHS (General Medical Services Contracts) (Scotland) Regulations 2004 provides that a Health Board may authorise or require a GP practice to dispense to its registered patients if, by reason of:- (a) distance; (b) inadequacy of means …
15 Jun 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has had discussions with any organisations regarding the replacement of DFDS as the operator of the Rosyth to Zeebrugge ferry service in the last 12 months.
Answer · Keith Brown: We have had no such discussions.
15 Jun 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it has taken to restore a passenger element to the Rosyth to Zeebrugge ferry service.
Answer · Keith Brown: We continue to work with DFDS in its efforts to develop a commercially sustainable freight service on the route, and to encourage the company to keep its decision last year to withdraw the passenger service under careful review. Any decision to restore a pass…
15 Jun 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on the need for four sailings per week from Rosyth to Zeebrugge; whether it is taking steps to ensure the reintroduction of a fourth sailing, and, if so, what steps.
Answer · Keith Brown: This is entirely a commercial matter for DFDS.
15 Jun 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when the contract for the Rosyth to Zeebrugge ferry service will next be put out to tender.
Answer · Keith Brown: The Rosyth to Zeebrugge ferry service is a commercial operation and is not subject to tender.
15 Jun 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much it has awarded to DFDS and Norfolkline since May 2009 to assist in the operation of the Rosyth to Zeebrugge ferry service and how the funding was calculated.
Answer · Keith Brown: The Scottish Government awarded Waterborne Freight Grant of €2 million (payable over three years) to Norfolkline/DFDS in May 2009. The level of grant was calculated by comparing the costs of the freight element of the ferry operation with the road alternative…
15 Jun 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it last had discussions with DFDS regarding the Rosyth to Zeebrugge ferry service and what the nature of the discussions was.
Answer · Keith Brown: The most recent discussions took place on 4 May 2011. They included updates on the performance of the route since the beginning of 2011 and on the announcement that DFDS had recently made about changes to its sailing schedule.
15 Jun 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how often it has met representatives of DFDS and Norfolkline to discuss the Rosyth to Zeebrugge ferry service following the reintroduction of services from Rosyth in May 2009.
Answer · Keith Brown: Officials have met representatives of Norfolkline/DFDS on at least 25 occasions and ministers on four occasions.