Parliamentary questions

Jim Hume

1,310 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

25 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects Scottish Water to complete (a) an environmental and (b) a habitats regulations assessment of plans to develop renewable energy projects on its estate.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: This information is not held centrally and I have asked the Chief Executive of Scottish Water to reply to you

25 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on the reported view of the timber industry that the national forest estate provides significant economic wealth for communities in terms of direct employment and support to timber processing companies, and what measures it is taking to ensure that competing land uses…

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The Scottish Government recognises the valuable contribution that the national forest estate makes to the delivery of social, economic and environmental outcomes, including the provision of employment and support for timber processing companies. Forestry is w…

25 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is legislation or guidance on (a) it and (b) its agencies maintaining a commercially viable national forest estate that sustains direct employment and timber processing companies.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The Forestry Act requires the Forestry Commission to promote the interests of forestry, the development of afforestation and the production and supply of timber and other forest products in Scotland. It is also required to endeavour to achieve a reasonable ba…

25 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it takes to assess the (a) economic and (b) environmental impact of replacing commercial woodland in the national forestry estate with wind energy projects and what mechanisms there are to ensure the long-term sustainable management of the estate.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Forest Enterprise Scotland is committed to maintaining annual timber production from the national forest estate at a sustainable level of between 3.3 and 3.5 million cubic metres per year. This guarantee of a stable and predictable timber supply helps to main…

25 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of the funds raised through renewable projects in the national forest estate has been reinvested in purchasing commercially viable land.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The recently announced renewables projects on the national forest estate are not yet producing income. Forestry Commission Scotland has, however, through its repositioning programme been buying land suitable for planting. Since 2005 it has acquired 18,574 hec…

25 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of the funds raised through sales of woodland by Forestry Commission Scotland’s reprovisioning exercise has been reinvested in purchasing commercially viable land since 2009.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The total disposal income since 1 April 2009 is £27,771,204, with the amount reinvested in purchase price of properties of £8,107,591 equates to 29.2%. We expect the figures to be 40% by the end of March 2011.

25 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive where woodland sold through Forestry Commission Scotland’s reprovisioning exercise has been located since 2009 and what the date was of completion of each sale.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Details of the location, date and woodland sold since 2009, through Forestry Commission Scotland''s repositioning programme is shown in the following table. <table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 > <thead> <tr > <td width=170 valign=top > …

25 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how (a) many hectares have been sold and (b) much money has been raised through Forestry Commission Scotland’s reprovisioning exercise since 2009.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Since 2009, 11,757 hectares have been sold under Forestry Commission Scotland''s repositioning programme raising £27,110,205 in the same period.

25 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of the funds raised through Forestry Commission Scotland’s reprovisioning exercise has been reinvested in (a) tree planting and (b) purchasing land for the national forest estate since 2009.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The amount reinvested in new planting since 2009 is £2,837,581 which equates to 10.2% of the total income through the repositioning programme and the amount reinvested in purchase price of properties of £8,107,591 equates to 29.2% although we expect this figu…

25 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is legislation or guidance on reinvesting funds in replanting like-for-like woodland from wind energy technology projects that are sited on commercial woodland in the national forestry estate.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: There is no legislation to this effect. Revenue from wind farms is re-invested by Forestry Commission Scotland to support delivery of the Scottish Forestry Strategy, with one of the key outcomes sought being the development of innovative and competit…

25 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is legislation or guidance on the replanting of like-for-like commercial woodland for parts of the national forestry estate that are allocated for wind energy technology projects.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: There is no specific legislation to that effect. Policy direction on woodland removal, including compensatory planting, is set out in the Scottish Government''s Policy on Control of Woodland Removal (June 2008), a key aim of which is to minimise ina…

25 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many hectares of commercial woodland have been planted in the national forestry estate in each year since 1999, also broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The amount of hectares planted in the national forest estate is listed in the following tables: <table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width=670 > <thead> <tr > <td width=144 valign=top > Local Authority Area </td> …

25 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many hectares of commercial woodland have been replanted in order to offset wind energy technology projects in the national forestry estate in each year since 1999, also broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: No compensatory replanting has yet taken place on the national forest estate but is being sought by Forest Enterprise Scotland for schemes submitted since the Scottish Government''s policy on control of woodland removal was published in June 2008.

25 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many hectares of commercial woodland from the national forestry estate will be required to be allocated to fulfil the wind energy proposal announced by the Minister for Environment on 20 February 2011, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Forestry Commission Scotland''s estimate of the wind energy capacity likely to be installed as a result of this announcement is 500MW. This is of course simply an initial estimate and the position will become much clearer in eight months time when the selecte…

25 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many hectares of commercial woodland from the national forestry estate have been allocated to wind energy technology projects in each year since 1999, also broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Forestry Commission Scotland does not hold this data by year (construction typically takes place over several years). Since 1999, woodland removal on the national forest estate has taken place for the following schemes, all of which have been built …

23 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Falahill alternative road and rail alignment proposal complies with the stipulated limits of deviation for that area set out in the Parliamentary plans of the Waverley Railway (Scotland) Act 2006.

Answer · Keith Brown: Part of the Falahill alternative road and rail alignment lies outwith the Limits of Deviation (LOD). I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-39815 on 3 March 2011. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s webs…

23 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many breaches of the limits of deviation set out in the Parliamentary plans of the Waverley Railway (Scotland) Act 2006 it expects to occur and where.

Answer · Keith Brown: It is not expected that works will be undertaken outwith the Limits of Deviation (LOD), unless they provide value for money for the public purse, and following consultation with affected parties specific to that solution. Currently, the potential works that m…

23 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what penalties can be applied to an authorised undertaker who breaches the limits of deviation set out in the Parliamentary plans of the Waverley Railway (Scotland) Act 2006.

Answer · Keith Brown: The Waverley Railway (Scotland) Act 2006 provides a package of powers to enable the authorised undertaker, Transport Scotland, to deliver the Borders Railway project. The act does not however preclude the submission of planning applications to permit alternat…

23 Dec 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will instruct NHS boards to implement the recommendations in the Scottish Good Practice Statement on ME-CFS and the Health Care Needs Assessment of Services for people living with ME-CFS.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-38588 on 26 January 2011. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Busines…

23 Dec 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on the recently published Scottish Good Practice Statement on ME-CFS and the Health Care Needs Assessment of Services for people living with ME-CFS and the impact that these publications will have on NHSScotland.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The Scottish Good Practice Statement and its supporting documents were developed over a period of more than five years, and a wide range of clinicians, people with ME-CFS and voluntary sector organisations were involved in the process. In our view, the docume…

23 Dec 2010 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its assessment is of the potential impact of the 2010-11 Scotland’s Winter Festivals programme.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The Scottish Executive has transferred operational responsibility for the delivery of St Andrew''s Day and Winter Festivals commitments to EventScotland from 2010 onwards. The change of delivery model will bring about a sharper economic focus to Winter Festiv…

15 Dec 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has investigated the possibility of amending the Scotland Rural Development Programme to provide incentives for food producers who produce local food and use native breeds and integrated farming systems.

Answer · Richard Lochhead: Support measures for activities that may assist food producers who produce food for the local market, use native breeds or use integrated farming systems already exist within the current Scotland Rural Development Programme through a combination of support th…

2 Dec 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what is the quota for wind-powered generators, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Jim Mather: The Scottish Government''s target is for annual renewable electricity generation to be the equivalent of 80% of gross electricity consumption by 2020. The aim is for the target to be met by a wide range of renewable sources including onshore and offshore wind…

2 Dec 2010 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on the benefits of telecare services for remote and rural communities.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: All 32 health and social care partnerships across Scotland have now received their 2010-11 Telecare Development Programme allocation of £4 million and all are pursuing and developing local Telecare services, many in remote and rural communities. Sig…

18 Nov 2010 · Written Question

Answer · Shona Robison: Data showing the number of practising dentists in Scotland is available at <a href="http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/5898.html">http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/5898.html</a>.

18 Nov 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) students enrolled on dentistry courses and (b) newly qualified dentists there were in (i) 2006-07, (ii) 2007-08, (iii) 2008-09 and (iv) 2009-10.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The information requested is not centrally available. However, NHS Education for Scotland has provided the information in the following table sourced from the Higher Education Statistics Agency and Scottish Dental Schools: <table border=1 cellspacing=0 …

18 Nov 2010 · Written Question

Answer · Alex Neil: Information about wealth by income decile is not available at Scotland level. Some information about the relationship between earned income and wealth at UK level is available in the income annex to the Wealth and Assets Survey annual report publishe…

11 Nov 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-37250 by Nicola Sturgeon on 11 November 2010, what the (a) total number of attendances for and (b) estimated cost of echocardiography was in 2008-09.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

4 Nov 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many community planning partnerships have (a) expressed an interest in and (b) committed to participating in the Low Carbon Vehicle Procurement Support Scheme.

Answer · Stewart Stevenson: All 32 Scottish Community Planning Partnerships have expressed an interest in and committed to participating in the Low Carbon Vehicle Procurement Support Scheme.

4 Nov 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have been referred for further investigation or treatment following screening by the Cardiac Assessment in Young Athletes programme, in each year since its launch.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Of the 885 individuals assessed so far by the Cardiac Assessment in Young Athletes (CAYA) programme, 176 have been referred for further treatment, in most cases because of raised blood pressure. None has been excluded from participation in competitive sports.…