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Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S2W-23304

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 February 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 21 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive when the report by James Mackay, in relation to the Shirley McKie and Marion Ross fingerprints was concluded; to whom it was communicated; whether it was passed to any civil servant of the Executive’s Justice Department; whether its contents were the subject of any report to the Justice Department, and whether its contents, or the conclusions of the report, or any of these, were reported by any civil servant to the Minister for Justice and, if so, whether it will provide copies of any such document in which the Minister for Justice was so advised.

The Mackay and Robertsonreport was a confidential report relating to a criminal investigation,completed on 20 October 2000. The report was submitted in full to the RegionalProcurator Fiscal at Paisley, the President of ACPOS and the Deputy ChiefConstable of Strathclyde Police.

The Scottish Executive wasadvised of the Lord Advocate’s decision (that there should be no criminalproceedings against employees of SCRO), which was made after consideration of the Mackay and Robertson report and a report by the Regional Procurator Fiscalat Paisley following his consideration of the Mackay and Robertson report.

Neither the Mackay andRobertson report nor the Regional Procurator Fiscal’s report was made availableto the Justice Department or to Justice Ministers.

Question reference: S2W-23303

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 February 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 20 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received the document referred to in the article on pages 38 and 39 of the Sunday Herald of 19 February 2006 as the “report by three experts at the UK’s national forensic training centre in Durham” in relation to the Shirley McKie and David Asbury fingerprints; if so, on what date and, if not, whether it has received advice as to its contents and, if so, on what date.

A report prepared by the NationalTraining Centre for Scientific Support to Crime Investigation was completed in June2001 and thereafter passed to the Crown Office. No Scottish minister outwith CrownOffice has seen this report. The previous Justice Minister was informed on 3 August 2000 that theeight chief constables had concluded, on the basis of investigations up to thatpoint, that four fingerprint officers at SCRO were to be suspended and of the reasonfor this. These investigations became part of a criminal investigation on whichno further information was made available to the Justice Ministers.

Question reference: S2W-23830

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 17 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what advice it has received from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) regarding the scheme of charges to be payable to SEPA in respect of energy schemes; whether it will publish that advice and what the reasons are for its position on the matter; whether it has been advised by SEPA that the initial scale of charges suggested by SEPA would make smaller-scale schemes, such as that proposed for the River Gynack, Kingussie, a hydro scheme, non-viable because of costs payable to SEPA; whether will meet any MSP who has a constituency interest in this matter before making any decision, and when a decision is expected or planned to be made.

The Scottish Executive is currentlyconsidering the Scottish Environment Protection Agency’s (SEPA) response to itsconsultation on the Water Environment charging scheme. The consultation resultedin a significant number of responses, including one from Kingussie Development Company,which detailed the impact of SEPA’s proposal on their industry. Due to the complexityof the scheme, it has taken longer than anticipated to consider a number of amendmentsproposed by SEPA, including one that acknowledges the importance of small scalehydropower in the development of renewable sources of energy. As I expect a formalannouncement to be made very shortly, I do not consider a meeting at this stageto be appropriate.

Question reference: S2W-23733

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 16 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether Fisheries Research Services (FRS) will be responsible for delivering the services of the regulator for the aquaculture sector and, if so, what the extra costs to FRS will be of so doing.

Question reference: S2W-23734

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 16 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will, prior to introducing any legislation which provides that there will be a regulator for the salmon farming sector, meet MSPs with a constituency interest in order to discuss the impact which the measure may have upon the industry and, in particular, on employment in the most rural peripheral and island communities.

Question reference: S2W-23732

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 16 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what its estimate is of the cost of the proposed regulator for the aquaculture sector.

Question reference: S2W-23731

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 16 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will postpone the introduction of any legislative measure which provides for a regulator for the salmon farming industry in order to allow a reasonable period in which to assess the effect and effectiveness of the code of practice, which has been published and which the industry will introduce on a voluntary basis.

Question reference: S2W-23735

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 16 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what previous experience Fisheries Research Services (FRS) has in relation to salmon farming and what expertise there is within FRS regarding the sector.

Fisheries Research Services’(FRS) previous experience in salmon farming principally resides with staff of theFish Health Inspectorate who visit salmon farms on a regular basis in the courseof implementing the statutory fish health regime. Extensive experience has beenacquired in the field and laboratory since the early days of the industry in Scotland.

Salmon farming expertise at FRScovers a wide range of disciplines including fish cultivation, fish biology, fishpathology, veterinary epidemiology and environmental management.

Question reference: S2W-23613

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 February 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 13 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive on what date or dates the Scottish Executive’s Cabinet has discussed the Shirley McKie case.

Question reference: S2W-23614

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 February 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 13 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive on what date or dates the Scottish Executive’s Cabinet has discussed the Scottish Criminal Record Office; in particular whether a complaint made in August 2001, referred to in a Sunday Times article on 26 February 2006, was raised expressly or by reference with the Cabinet or in any papers submitted to members of the Cabinet.