- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 April 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 9 May 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive which abattoirs which have applied for approval by the Intervention Board for slaughter purposes under the Livestock Welfare (Disposal) Scheme still await a determination, giving the date when the application was lodged for each abattoir.
Answer
The Intervention Board Executive Agency advise me that the abattoir at Annan submitted a tender to operate Livestock Welfare (Disposal) Scheme on 19 March, Kilmarnock on 4 April, Biggar on 23 March, Brechin on 21 March and Hawick on 20 March. All except Hawick, which has not been operational for some time, now have contracts to slaughter animals under the Livestock Welfare (Disposal) Scheme.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 April 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 9 May 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-14776 by Ross Finnie on 17 April 2001, why separate figures are not available for Scotland regarding the number of slaughtered animals under the Livestock Welfare (Disposal) Scheme and whether it will ensure that separate figures are made available.
Answer
The Livestock Welfare (Disposal) Scheme is operated by the Intervention Board Executive Agency on behalf of the GB Agriculture Departments. In the initial phases of the scheme, the main priorities within the Intervention Board lay in establishing the operation of the scheme - including tasks such as creating the call centre and securing slaughtering and rendering capacity. For the most recent statistics regarding the numbers of animals disposed in Scotland I refer to the answer given to question S1W-15158.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 April 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 9 May 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-14775 by Ross Finnie on 17 April 2001, of the 582 applications under the Livestock Welfare (Disposal) Scheme received by 9 April 2001, (a) how many had been processed, (b) how many had been rejected and (c) how many of those passed for slaughter had been slaughtered, as at 18 April 2001.
Answer
Since 17 April, the Intervention Board Executive Agency have entered all applications to the Livestock Welfare (Disposal) Scheme on to a database which has enabled duplicate applications to be identified. Consequently, I am now advised by IBEA that there were a total of 405 applications to the scheme in Scotland as of 17 April. These applications have been processed; none have been rejected although supporting veterinary information has been requested for a number of applications to confirm the existence of a welfare problem. As of 24 April, a total of 32,575 animals had been slaughtered in abattoirs in Scotland under the scheme. Officials from my department have since been working with the Intervention Board Executive Agency in the processing of Scottish applications. This will help to speed up the processing of claims.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 April 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 8 May 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive how many timber merchants were contacted by it to provide information on stock levels of railway sleepers and other timber material between November 2000 and February 2001.
Answer
The Scottish Executive and the Forestry Commission, from time to time, may carry out surveys of timber merchants for a variety of reasons including timber marketing and contingency planning for (inter alia) foot-and-mouth disease. Marketing surveys may be carried out at a local level.No such contingency exercise was carried out during the period referred to. As far as can be ascertained, neither the Forestry Commission nor the Scottish Executive carried out any survey for marketing purposes during that period.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 April 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 8 May 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what the purpose was of seeking information on timber stock levels from timber merchants between November 2000 and February 2001.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-15300.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 23 April 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 8 May 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to provide compensation to those with gra'ing lets who have lost income directly due to the ban on movement of livestock to gra'ing pastures and, if so, how that compensation will be calculated and when it will be paid.
Answer
At present there is no provision to pay compensation for loss of income through grazings not being let on account of foot-and-mouth disease. This will be looked at when assessing the wider financial impact of foot and mouth.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 April 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 8 May 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive which of the timber merchants asked to provide information on timber stock levels between November 2000 and February 2001 had never been asked to provide such information to it prior to November 2000.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-15300.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 15 February 2001
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Current Status:
Answer expected on 1 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S1W-3125 and S1W-9076 by Susan Deacon on 22 December 1999 and 8 January 2001 respectively, whether, in the light of the report published on 15 February 2001 in the journal Thorax, it will initiate an inquiry to investigate any age discrimination in NHSiS treatment.
Answer
Answer expected on 1 March 2001
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 April 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 17 April 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what the timescale is for processing animal disposal under the Livestock Welfare (Disposal) Scheme from (a) application submission to validation or otherwise, (b) validation to slaughter and (c) slaughter to payment of compensation.
Answer
I am aware that producers who have entered stock into the Livestock Welfare (Disposal) Scheme have experienced delays in their claims being processed and consequently their stock have not been slaughtered as quickly as they hoped. Since this became apparent, my officials have been in contact with the Intervention Board Executive Agency, who operates this scheme on behalf of the Agricultural Departments, to try and resolve any difficulties. They have been given assurances that significant slaughter throughput under this scheme will begin in the week commencing 9 April. The Intervention Board advises me that animals are dealt with in order of welfare priority and according to the availability of suitable slaughter and disposal facilities and it is therefore not possible for them to give precise time-scales in the form requested. However, the time between issue of the movement licence and collection of the animals must not exceed 24 hours. The Intervention Board will aim to make payments within 21 days of slaughter.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 April 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 17 April 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive how many applications for animal disposal under the Livestock Welfare (Disposal) Scheme have been (a) submitted and (b) validated since the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.
Answer
The Intervention Board Executive Agency operates the Livestock Welfare (Disposal) Scheme on behalf of the GB Agriculture Departments. They advise me that over 4,000 applications have been received for nearly 1.8 million animals across all of Great Britain. Applications are continuing to be received. At close on 9 April, Scottish applications accounted for 582 of the total, representing 115,915 sheep, 50,876 pigs and 8,658 cattle. Of these 14,225 sheep, 12,361 pigs and 537 cattle had been passed for slaughter.
