- Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 November 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 14 November 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether an assessment was carried out of the potential impact on Scottish farmers, in terms of cost of reduced exports, of undertaking a compulsory bluetongue vaccination scheme should the rest of the United Kingdom not undertake compulsory vaccination.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-17468 on 14 November 2008. 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/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.
- Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 November 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 14 November 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what consultation was carried out with the farming industry to assess the potential impact on Scottish farmers, in terms of cost of the vaccination, of undertaking a compulsory bluetongue vaccination scheme should the rest of the United Kingdom not undertake compulsory vaccination.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-17468 on 14 November 2008. 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/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.
- Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 November 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 14 November 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what its reasons are for undertaking a compulsory bluetongue vaccination scheme while the rest of the United Kingdom is not doing so.
Answer
Veterinary advice and the analysis by EPIC is that mass vaccination campaign against bluetongue virus 8 would be in Scotland best interests. In the light of this advice and evidence of likely take up under voluntary initiatives industry stakeholders advocated a compulsory campaign to achieve the mass coverage required to prevent bluetongue virus 8 from becoming established in Scotland.
- Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 November 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 14 November 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether an assessment was carried out of the potential impact on Scottish farmers, in terms of cost of the vaccination, of undertaking a compulsory bluetongue vaccination scheme should the rest of the United Kingdom not undertake compulsory vaccination.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-17468 on 14 November 2008. 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/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.
- Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 November 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 14 November 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what the result was of any assessment of the potential impact on Scottish farmers, in terms of cost of the vaccination, of undertaking a compulsory bluetongue vaccination scheme should the rest of the United Kingdom not undertake compulsory vaccination.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-17468 on 14 November 2008. 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/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.
- Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 November 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 14 November 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many suckler cows have been farmed in (a) 2003-04, (b) 2004-05, (c) 2005-06 and (d) 2006-07, broken down by region.
Answer
The requested information is given in the following table:
Number of Suckler Cows by Agricultural Region
| Suckler Cows |
2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
Agricultural Region | Number | Number | Number | Number | Number | Number |
Shetland | 2,022 | 2,001 | 2,111 | 2,038 | 1,934 | 1,960 |
Orkney | 28,486 | 28,938 | 28,362 | 28,096 | 27,259 | 26,565 |
Eileanan an Iar | 2,854 | 2,895 | 2,886 | 2,873 | 2,870 | 2,799 |
Highland | 55,119 | 55,657 | 55,184 | 53,817 | 52,210 | 51,242 |
North East Scotland | 95,399 | 95,854 | 96,260 | 95,352 | 94,471 | 92,626 |
Tayside | 38,124 | 38,247 | 37,601 | 37,440 | 36,397 | 36,065 |
Fife | 14,239 | 14,122 | 13,899 | 14,503 | 13,951 | 13,722 |
Lothian | 13,476 | 13,711 | 13,721 | 13,622 | 13,436 | 13,696 |
Scottish Borders | 48,853 | 49,137 | 50,290 | 49,331 | 46,789 | 45,371 |
East Central | 13,561 | 13,679 | 13,643 | 13,475 | 13,152 | 12,976 |
Argyll and Bute | 22,852 | 23,297 | 22,958 | 22,251 | 21,300 | 20,901 |
Clyde Valley | 33,197 | 34,323 | 34,415 | 32,900 | 31,896 | 31,543 |
Ayrshire | 30,589 | 30,804 | 31,017 | 31,222 | 29,993 | 30,168 |
Dumfries and Galloway | 88,362 | 90,208 | 89,972 | 90,274 | 86,566 | 84,720 |
Scotland | 487,133 | 492,873 | 492,319 | 487,194 | 472,224 | 464,354 |
Source: Scottish agricultural census. Data refers to first, non-Sunday, day in June each year.
The information for 2003 to 2007 is already available, through separate publications for each year, in the annual Scottish Agricultural Census Summary Sheets publication.
The information can be accessed through the agriculture and fisheries statistics website at:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Agriculture-Fisheries/PubScottishCensus.
- Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 November 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 14 November 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what obligation private bull hire enterprises will have to provide bulls for hire to crofters in the most remote communities.
Answer
The Scottish Government has had no discussions with private hire companies about the market opportunities which will become available to them in future as a result of the removal of subsidised state hire provision. No obligation can be placed on such companies either to provide bulls for hire in remote areas or to ensure competition. However, assistance to mitigate the transport costs of private hire should ensure that hiring in remote areas is no more costly than on the mainland and thus encourage greater competition.
Private individuals or enterprises intending to offer bull hire services must comply with statutory requirements to provide appropriate care for livestock. The Scottish Government has no reason to consider that private commercial companies would be less than diligent in meeting such requirements.
- Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 November 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 14 November 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what alternative financial support will be available to crofters in relation to the costs of hiring a bull when the Scotland Rural Development Programme ends.
Answer
It is too early to say what the arrangements for EU support might be after 2013.
- Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 November 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 14 November 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the statement by Michael Russell on 1 October 2008 (Official Report c. 11309), what proportion of bull hire costs will be met by the Scotland Rural Development Programme.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-17655 on 14 November 2008. 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/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.
- Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 November 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 14 November 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has an estimate of the number of crofters who own a bull and what proportion of crofters that represents.
Answer
The June 2007 Agricultural Census indicates that 470 registered crofts, or holdings containing crofts, had a total of 735 bulls on them. In the same year, the Crofters Commission provided a total of 121 hires. It is not known how many of the remaining bulls were owned by crofters. As at 13 November 2008, there are 17,885 crofts registered with the Crofters Commission.