- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 July 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 1 August 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to reform regulations on the specifications of construction materials and waste management in relation to the use of aggregates and whether any such changes will lead to a lower proportion of waste material and produce environmental gain.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is fully committed to seeking opportunities for sustainable construction and current standards already encourage such techniques.
As an example, the Scottish Executive Development Department is a signatory to the latest May 2001 version of the Specification for Highway Works, which incorporates new specification clauses permitting wider usage of recycled or secondary materials in road construction, rehabilitation and maintenance. This Specification will be utilised for all trunk road new works projects and will also be available for use by other clients, such as local authorities, where appropriate. Additionally, the Scottish Executive's Trunk Roads Divisions are actively involved in research and site trials of recycled road materials where it is hoped that these will provide further valuable support in promoting a sustainable approach to techniques for road construction.
In relation to reform of regulations for waste management, there is a long-standing governmental commitment to review the exemptions set out in Schedule 3 of the Waste Management Regulations 1994. DEFRA is taking the lead on a UK basis, with a view to the production of a consultation paper by the end of this year. The purpose of the exemptions is to encourage the re-use and recycling of waste. Specifically in terms of Scotland, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency published, in 1999, the National Waste Strategy, which sets out a framework for reduction, re-use and recycling of waste.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 July 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 1 August 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will review the imposition of groundwater charges upon sheep producers.
Answer
The Executive has no plans to review the annual maintenance charge levied by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency on those sheep producers who require authorisation under the Groundwater Regulations 1998 for the disposal to land of spent sheep dip.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 July 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 1 August 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the imposition of groundwater charges upon sheep producers constitutes an unfair competitive disadvantage in comparison with the position of sheep producers in England and Wales.
Answer
The annual maintenance charge levied by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency under the Groundwater Regulations 1998 is not unfair. The charge, which for the great majority of farmers is £127 or less, covers the costs to the agency of monitoring and administering the scheme.
Special dispensation will be made for those sheep farmers that have lost stock because of foot-and-mouth disease. Charges will be waived for the current financial year and farmers wishing to delay restocking until 31 March 2005 will be able to have their authorisations revoked without incurring extra fees when reapplying.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 July 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 1 August 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will review its policy in relation to the dipping of sheep.
Answer
The Scottish Executive keeps its sheep dipping policy under review. There are no plans to change the policy at this juncture.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 July 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 1 August 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive how it expects demand for recycled aggregates to change in the next five years and what factors it expects to account for any change in the level of demand.
Answer
The Scottish Executive expects demand for recycled aggregates to increase in the next five years as a result of the introduction by the UK Government of a tax on primary aggregates in April 2002.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 May 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 30 July 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received or is aware of any veterinary advice that the human disease Ebola might reach the UK in consignments of smuggled meat.
Answer
The Ebola virus has not been found in meat imported into the UK. In countries where Ebola occurs, it may affect non-human primates. It has not been found in any other type of animal. As such the virus could in theory be present in meat from primates in outbreak areas. Import of meat from affected animals is however extremely unlikely, not least because infected primates develop the same severe illness as humans. Moreover, as most viruses require living cells in which to survive, it is highly unlikely that the virus would survive in meat.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 14 June 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 11 July 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make representations to ScotRail that it should review the reduction in the number of carriages from four to two operating on the Glasgow to Mallaig rail route on the 12:42 train from Glasgow and the 16:08 train from Mallaig.
Answer
This is an operational matter for ScotRail. If you wish details of the changes you may wish to contact ScotRail.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 22 June 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 6 July 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive how many objections Mouchel Scotland Ltd submitted during 2000 in respect of planning applications affecting access onto trunk roads which they were responsible for maintaining and in how many of these cases planning permission was (a) granted and (b) refused.
Answer
During 2000, Mouchel Scotland Ltd assessed 72 planning applications on behalf of the Scottish Executive. The Scottish Executive considered the information provided by Mouchel and recommended that 18 applications be refused.The responsibility for making final determinations on planning applications lies with the planning authorities and their decisions on these planning applications are not readily available to the Scottish Executive.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 22 June 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 6 July 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether BEAR Scotland Ltd are statutory consultees in respect of planning applications which affect access onto trunk roads which they are responsible for maintaining and whether, if they lodge an objection to such an application, this automatically results in the application being called in.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is a statutory consultee in respect of planning applications that affect trunk roads. BEAR Scotland Ltd provide the Scottish Executive with an assessment and recommendation on planning applications submitted by planning authorities in the North of Scotland. Any recommendation by BEAR Scotland Ltd to refuse an application is assessed by the Scottish Executive before a decision is recommended to the planning authority. If the planning authority ignores the Scottish Executive's recommendation, a decision is taken on whether the planning application should be called in.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 22 June 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 6 July 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1O-3599 by Ross Finnie on 21 June 2001, whether it will give an undertaking that no measures relating to the proposal to introduce a 20-day standstill period following movements of livestock will be implemented prior to their consideration by the Parliament.
Answer
No decisions have yet been taken on the 20-day standstill proposal. Any new requirements that may arise from the proposal or alternative suggestions will require legislative backing before introduction and, as mentioned in the consultation paper, a further consultation will be undertaken on the draft legislation. Any new legislation will be subject to scrutiny in the normal way before coming into force.
