- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 22 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 5 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what research is being carried out, or has been instructed, into technologies to assist in the detection of illegal meat imports.
Answer
Research has been conducted into the use of x-ray machines for both passengers and freight. A trial was carried out at Southampton and further trials are planned at Southampton and Felixstowe.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 22 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 5 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has had any discussions on any measures towards establishing a single agency approach to deal with any future animal disease epidemic, as referred to in the House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee Seventh Report of Session 2001-02, Illegal Meat Imports, and whether such an approach would establish such an agency in Scotland separate from any other such agency in the United Kingdom.
Answer
The Scottish Executive was fully involved in the study undertaken by the Machinery of Government Secretariat of the Cabinet Office which examined the existing arrangement, administering the importation of legal and smuggled meat. Its report concluded that the responsibility for detecting and seizing illegal meat imports should be transferred to HM Customs and Excise and that, in the longer term, consideration should be given to establishing a single agency to deal with legal meat imports.Discussions on the best way to implement this recommendation are on-going and no decision has been taken on the form and size of any new organisation.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 22 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 5 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how many additional staff have been recruited to police controls as referred to in the debate on its response to the foot-and-mouth disease inquiries on 21 November 2002 (Official Report, c 15674) of the meeting of the Parliament.
Answer
An additional £1.5 million has been made available this financial year for additional checks on imports with an additional 18 staff to be recruited for enforcement purposes.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 22 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 5 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether x-ray equipment has been introduced to scan containers and personal luggage to detect the presence of illegal food imports; if so, where the equipment is located and how many items of equipment there are.
Answer
Customs and Excise, in conjunction with the Ports Health Authority at Southampton, ran some containers through their commercial size x-ray equipment. Unfortunately the initial reaction from the port health officers was that this is not a promising route to identify smuggled meat.More trials are needed and both Felixstowe and Southampton will be engaged in further work.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 3 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how many local authorities have (a) applied and (b) been granted permission to introduce quality contract schemes under the Transport (Scotland) Act 2001 since 7 August 2002.
Answer
None.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 3 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to review quality contract schemes under the Transport (Scotland) Act 2001 to assess whether the complexities in the tendering process have hindered applications from local authorities.
Answer
I have no current plans to review quality contract schemes nor to review the guidance issued by the Executive on Part 2 (Bus Services) of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2001.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 3 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any local authority that has applied to introduce quality contract schemes under the Transport (Scotland) Act 2001 since 7 August 2002 has sought subsidies to secure the services listed within its application and, if so, how much each such authority received.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-31807 today. 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/webapp/search_wa.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 3 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how many tenders for quality contract schemes under the Transport (Scotland) Act 2001 were above the utilities sector threshold and needed to be advertised in the Official Journal of the European Communities.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-31807 today. 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/webapp/search_wa.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 October 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 2 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the ministerial statement by the Minister for Environment and Rural Development on 30 October 2002, what scientific data is available on the impact of power station seawater coolants on fish stocks; whether it is estimated that 2 million fish per day per filter are killed, and what information it has which countries have banned the use of sea water coolants at power stations and what the EU policy is on this issue.
Answer
Scientific assessments have been carried out at selected power stations around Scotland. The results of the studies show that some fish are being killed when power stations abstract water, but a figure for fish killed per filter per day cannot be extrapolated from the data. A relevant scientific report titled, Are coastal power stations affecting Northern European inshore populations?, of which a copy is available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 25349).
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 15 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 27 November 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to the Deputy First Minister and Minister for Justice's letter to me of 7 November 2002 regarding preliminary investigations into the proposal for a new criminal offence of "grooming" to cover adult behaviour towards a child for the purpose of facilitating sexual contact, whether it will extend these preliminary enquiries to include the "grooming" of vulnerable adults.
Answer
We are considering whether to strengthen the law in this area and in particular whether we need a specific offence of grooming. We will include other vulnerable groups in this consideration.
