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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: S1W-26052

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 May 2002
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 2 July 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-25090 by Mr Jim Wallace on 30 April 2002, what percentage of the total number of European Council working group meetings its officials attended in the year to 28 February 2002.

Question reference: S1W-26887

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 June 2002
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 2 July 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive how much was spent on animal disease surveillance facilities by its Environment and Rural Affairs Department in each of the last three years and what the projected budget is for the next three years.

Question reference: S1W-26888

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 June 2002
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 2 July 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps have been taken by its Environment and Rural Affairs Department to increase the level of animal disease surveillance facilities in the past year and what plans there are to increase the level further.

Question reference: S1W-26478

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 June 2002
Current Status: Answered by Richard Simpson on 2 July 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive when each of the ministerial visits to drug agencies in the Grampian area in May and June 2002 were originally arranged.

Agreement was reached with Aberdeenshire Drug and Alcohol Action Team (DAAT) at the turn of the year that I would meet with the DAAT and visit local drug agencies during the Parliament's presence in Aberdeen at the end of May. Arrangements had to be revised due to unforeseen parliamentary commitments on Tuesday 28 May (the Queen's Address and a member's debate on drug misuse in the North East of Scotland). The visit to the DAAT went ahead on Wednesday 29 May and Mary Mulligan, Deputy Minister for Health and Community Care, also attended.The First Minister and I visited a local drugs project on the same day, the arrangements for which were made the previous day. I also formally opened the Drug Treatment and Testing Order Office in the Gallowgate, Aberdeen on Wednesday 29 May. This was arranged in mid-May.I unfortunately had to cancel, at short notice, two visits in my programme to Turning Point, Peterhead and the Kenmay Drug Project. This was due to my being called away on business related to the parliamentary debate on drug misuse in North East Scotland.

Question reference: S1W-26054

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 May 2002
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 1 July 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-25090 by Mr Jim Wallace on 30 April 2002, whether meetings of one working group held on consecutive days are counted as continued meetings or as separate meetings.

Whether the Council working group meetings are determined as continued meetings or separate meetings depends upon the meeting in question. If a meeting runs over two days and deals with the same topic on both days it would be considered to be the same meeting. However, in other cases different meetings on consecutive days come under the same generic topic but could actually be different working groups on each day (or indeed on the same day). These would be considered to be separate meetings.

Question reference: S1W-26840

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 June 2002
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 1 July 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive whether a scientific case was presented by the European Commission to support its change of policy over the regulation of the deep water fishery off Scotland's west coast.

Question reference: S1W-26839

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 June 2002
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 1 July 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it plans to take following the European Commission's support for the introduction of total allowable catch limits for deep water species and whether it plans to make representations against this decision.

At the meeting of the Council of Ministers on 11 June, it was decided that total allowable catches will be adopted for some deep sea species. It was also agreed that a permit system should be introduced for vessels landing deep sea species. Some details of the permit arrangements, based on technical information, remain to be settled in the Management Committee. These include the amounts of deep water species, per trip and per year, that vessels ought to be allowed to catch and retain on board, tranship or load, without having to have a permit. The UK will participate fully in these discussions, as well as preparing to return to the substantive issues in the review of the management of deep-water species envisaged for 2005.

Question reference: S1W-26841

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 June 2002
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 1 July 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it received any prior warning that the European Commission would support the introduction of total allowable catch limits as a means of regulating the deep water fishery and whether it will give details of the sequence of events leading to the decision at the recent European Fisheries Council in respect of the regulation of the deep water fishery.

The Commission's proposals for the management of the deep water fishery involved both total allowable catches and licensing (effort control). On 6 June, the Council Secretariat circulated the Spanish Presidency compromise proposal for discussion at the Council on 11 June. This also included both elements. On 10 June, Commissioner Fischler said publicly in London that he would not support the Presidency's compromise. On 11 June, during the Council meeting, the Presidency produced a further compromise proposal containing minor changes. The Commission decided to support this further compromise. The Commissioner did not give us any forewarning, though of course the UK was always aware that Commission support for a compromise solution could enable that solution to be adopted by qualified majority. The UK maintained its opposition because we did not think the changes made the proposal any less unacceptable.

Question reference: S1W-26687

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 June 2002
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 26 June 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive how many compulsory purchase orders were instigated and successfully completed by each local authority in each of the last five years, broken down by categories where appropriate.

The information held by the Executive is to be found in the table.The Executive holds information only on those compulsory purchase orders submitted to the Scottish ministers as confirming authority. We do not hold information on those orders instigated by a local authority but not submitted for confirmation or on the outcome of the order following confirmation by ministers.The table shows compulsory purchase orders submitted by local authorities to the Scottish ministers (or prior to July 1999 the Secretary of State for Scotland) and those confirmed by them. The table also shows the purposes for which the orders were made.Number of Local Authority Compulsory Purchase Orders Received and Confirmed in the Last Five Years

Council	Purpose	1997		1998		1999		2000		2001
		Rec'd	Conf'd	Rec'd	Conf'd	Rec'd	Conf'd	Rec'd	Conf'd	Rec'd	Conf'd
Aberdeen	Roads	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Planning	0	0	1	0	0	1	1	0	1	0
Angus	Roads	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1
	Planning	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Clackmannan-shire	Housing	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1
Dundee	Roads	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1
	Housing	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	0
	Planning	0	1	0	0	2	0	0	2	0	0
	Listed Buildings	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
East Ayrshire	Planning	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0
	Listed Buildings	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1
East Dunbartonshire	Roads	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0
	Planning	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
East Renfrewshire	Roads	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
Edinburgh	Roads	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Housing	1	0	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Planning	0	1	2	0	1	1	1	2	1	1
Falkirk	Planning	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Fife	Roads	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Housing	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
	Planning	0	0	3	0	0	1	1	0	0	0
Glasgow	Roads	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
	Housing	0	1	0	1	3	0	1	2	0	1
	Listed Buildings	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	0
Highland	Roads	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
	Housing	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1
	Planning	0	0	0	0	1	2	0	0	0	0
Inverclyde	Planning	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	0
North Ayrshire	Housing	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0
	Planning	0	0	2	2	1	1	0	0	0	0
North Lanarkshire	Roads	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
	Housing	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Planning	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
Perth and Kinross	Roads	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0
	Planning	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Renfrewshire	Roads	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
	Planning	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	1	1
	Listed Buildings	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1
Shetland	Roads	0	0	0	1	1	1	0	0	1	1
South Ayrshire	Roads	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2
South Lanarkshire	Roads	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	1
	Housing	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Planning	4	2	3	3	0	0	0	0	1	1
	Listed Buildings	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0
Stirling	Roads	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
	Housing	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0
	Planning	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
West Dunbartonshire	Roads	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
	Planning	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
Comhairle Nan Eilean Siar	Roads	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	1
Totals		11	16	20	11	16	12	15	12	15	20

Question reference: S1W-26686

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 June 2002
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 26 June 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive when the Minister for Rural Development last met the Scottish Fish Merchants' Association and when the next scheduled meeting will be.