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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-05208

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 January 2004
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 14 January 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what data it has showing how funding would be redistributed across regions and agricultural sectors under single payments based on hybrids of area-based and historic approaches following Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform.

The Scottish Executive has undertaken modelling into the redistributive effect of differentapproaches to calculating the single farm payment. This shows how funding wouldbe redistributed at regional level under the historic approach compared with anumber of hybrid area-based models. The results of the modelling are publiclyavailable on the Executive’s CAP Reform website:http://www.scotland.gov.uk/about/ERADA/AgriPol/00017653/Economic.aspx

Question reference: S2W-05207

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 January 2004
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 14 January 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what modelling has been done on the impact, under the reformed Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), of basing the single payment on hybrids of area-based and historic approaches and how the results of any such modelling can be publicly accessed in order to inform responses to the second question on the single payment scheme in the consultation paper CAP Reform: Opportunities for Scotland.

Question reference: S2W-04702

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2003
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 16 December 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive for which habitats Scottish Natural Heritage is the lead partner under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan and how much was spent on the management of each such habitat in the last year for which figures are available.

Question reference: S2O-00897

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 November 2003
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 4 December 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress it is making in determining the extent of illegal fishing outside European Union quotas and regulations.

The ScottishFisheries Protection Agency devotes significant resources to the monitoring,control and enforcement of fisheries related legislation. However, illegalactivity, by its very nature is clandestine and, therefore, difficult toquantify. Nonetheless, variations in the patterns of suspected illegal landingsare gauged from intelligence received by the agency through the regularmonitoring of the movements and landing arrangements of fishing vessels and thereaction of fishermen when their vessels and catches are the subject ofinspection.

The agency’sresources are utilised with the objective of deterring and detecting suchillegal activity.

Question reference: S2W-03790

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 October 2003
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 14 November 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what Common Agricultural Policy funds have been allocated within Scotland, broken down by region, and when this information will be published.

The amounts paid out bySEERAD under the main Common Agricultural Policy Schemes in 2002 and brokendown by region are as follows:

	£ million
North East Scotland	81.49
East Scotland	131.35
South Western Scotland	84.86
Highlands and Islands	68.70

Summary details of the CAPpayments made are published in the:

Economic Report on ScottishAgriculture (published June 2003) and the Annual Report of the Administrationof Common Agricultural Policy schemes in Scotland (published August 2003).

Copies are available on the Scottish Executive website.

Question reference: S2W-03527

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 October 2003
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 5 November 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive which policy commitments in A Partnership for a Better Scotland it expects to be delivered through reforms made to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

The underlying objectives of the CAP reform agreement link closely with our own strategic objectives forScottish agriculture as set out in A Forward Strategy for ScottishAgriculture. These also underpin many of the commitments set out in therural section of A Partnership for a Better Scotland. The reform agreementtherefore will help deliver many of these commitments. Two of the maincommitments in the partnership document are:

seek reform of the CAP tosecure improvements for Scotland and to shift subsidies away from merelysupporting production to recognising the economic, social and environmentalcontribution that agriculture makes to rural development, and

implement land management contractsto deliver reformed CAP support which takes account of the diversity ofScottish agriculture and its economic, social and environmental impact.

The agreement itself verylargely achieves the first of these commitments - through decoupling. Theflexibilities available in the agreement also open up possibilities foradvancing the second commitment.

The Scottish Executive is undertaking a wide-ranging consultation on the implementation of theCAP reform and the flexibilities that are available. The consultation will lastthree months from 6 October 2003 to 6 January 2004, and decisions will be taken inFebruary-March 2004.

Question reference: S2W-02014

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 August 2003
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 10 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what improvements are being made to the National Grid infrastructure to ensure that the target of generating 40% of energy from renewable sources by 2020 is met.

We continue to work with theUK Government, the regulator Ofgem, and the industry to ensure that the grid isstrengthened in order to fully realise Scotland’s renewable energy potential. Both Scottish andSouthern Energy and Scottish Power have recently announced that they areundertaking the survey work necessary to support a significant strengthening of the transmission network in their respective areas.

Question reference: S2W-02012

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 August 2003
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 5 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-1227 by Ross Finnie on 30 July 2003, whether it will give the information requested on the numbers of live sheep, lambs and pigs exported for slaughter, further fattening and breeding, for Scotland only.

The information requested, for Scotland only, is given in the following tables:

2000	Live Sheep
Country of Destination	Breeding	Fattening	Slaughter
Belgium	155	0	0
France	1,180	0	0
Germany	92	0	0
Ireland (Rep)	6	0	0
Netherlands	44	0	0
Switzerland	13	0	0
Total	1490	0	0

2001	Live Sheep
Country of Destination	Breeding	Fattening	Slaughter
France	30	0	0
Ireland (Rep)	0	0	700
Total	30	0	700

2002	LIVE Sheep
Country of Destination	Breeding	Fattening	Slaughter
Belgium	9	0	0
France	30	5,890	0
Germany	1	0	0
Ireland (Rep)	58	0	0
Netherlands	34	0	0
Total	132	5,890	0

The above figures relate toconsignments of Scottish sheep which were certified for export directly abroad.Information is not available for Scottish consignments which transited anAssembly Centre outwith Scotland and were subsequently certified for export ascombined consignments with sheep from other parts of GB.

2000	Live Pigs
Country of Destination	Breeding	Fattening	Slaughter
Belgium	1,075	0	0
Denmark	83	0	0
France	2,000	0	0
Germany	4,589	0	0
Italy	2,654	0	0
Netherlands	2,004	0	0
Spain	5,513	0	0
Total	17,918	0	0

2001	Live Pigs
Country of Destination	Breeding	Fattening	Slaughter
Germany	2,679	0	0
Netherlands	545	0	0
Spain	400	0	0
Total	3,624	0	0

2002	Live Pigs
Country of Destination	Breeding	Fattening	Slaughter
Germany	1,360	0	0
Greece	22	0	0
Italy	451	0	0
Netherlands	933	0	0
Total	2,766	0	0

Question reference: S2W-02013

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 August 2003
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 1 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to ensure that wind farms are not excluded from Ministry of Defence tactical training areas.

Question reference: S2W-02017

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 August 2003
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 29 August 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what the process is for local community involvement in wind farm planning applications that are considered by it and not the local authority.