- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 September 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 11 October 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps have been taken to protect the freshwater pearl mussel and whether any link has been established between the level of such mussel populations and the decline in salmon and sea trout numbers.
Answer
The freshwater pearl mussel is protected from killing or exploitation by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. In addition to this, the Scottish Executive has identified 18 sites as proposed Special Areas of Conservation under the EC Habitats Directive, where the mussels and their habitat will be subject to protection from deterioration, damage and disturbance. 17 of these sites have been formally submitted to the European Commission, and one is currently the subject of consultation. Freshwater pearl mussels also occur in a number of additional cSACs and Sites of Special Scientific Interest which primarily provide protection for other conservation interests.
No link has been established between the level of freshwater pearl mussel populations and the decline of salmon and sea trout numbers in Scotland.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 September 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 11 October 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether its rural policy and development research programme for 2001-02 includes a review of research into rural development and, if so, what the timetable for any such review will be.
Answer
The Executive's rural policy and development research programme for 2001-02, published on 31 July 2001, includes a proposal to carry out a review of research on rural development. It is intended that this study will commence shortly.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 September 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 11 October 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what impact (a) climate change and (b) the lack of available food supply has had on fish stock levels in the North Sea.
Answer
Fish stocks are highly variable and it is not yet possible to make direct or measurable linkages between fish stock abundance and climate change for North Sea stocks. As to food supply, there is no evidence that a lack of food availability has contributed to declining stocks although in localised areas, shortage of food may result in a lower abundance of fish.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 September 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 11 October 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to reduce the level of industrial fishing in the North Sea.
Answer
The level of industrial fishing in the North Sea is determined annually at the European Fish Council of Ministers in December. The Executive has been working with DEFRA and Danish counterparts to collect evidence of the impact of industrial fisheries on whitefish species. We will be discussing these findings with the European Commission with a view to making a case for cuts in industrial fisheries.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 20 July 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 8 October 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what salaries and benefits are received by the chief executives and chairmen of each water authority and by what percentage these increased in 2001-02.
Answer
Scottish Executive guidance on
Public Appointments: Pay of Chairmen, Board Members and Chief Executives in 2001-02 was issued to the water authorities in July. The figures in the table include the recommended increase of 3%, which is still to be applied.
| Water Authority | NoSWA | ESWA | WoSWA |
| Chief executive | Katharine Bryan | Jon Hargreaves | Charlie Cornish |
| Salary package in 2000-01 | £115,0001 | £130,000 | Not applicable |
| Basic salary for 2001-02 (after 3% uplift) | £123,6002 | £133,900 | £123,600 |
| Performance-related bonus | Up to 10% of basic salary | Up to 10% of basic salary | Up to 10% of basic salary |
| Pension Contributions | 12% | 14.7% | 12% |
| Chairman | Colin Rennie | Bob Cairns | Alan Alexander |
| Basic Salary in 2000-01 | £27,813 | £27,809 | £25,466 |
| After 3% uplift for 2001-02 | £28,6473 | £28,643 | £26,230 |
| Pension Contributions | £3,000 | £1,696 | £3,000 |
Notes:1
Includes taxable benefit of £10,0002
Includes consolidation of taxable benefit and £5,000 uplift from 1 April 2001.3
Accountable expenses are received in addition.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 September 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 27 September 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken to improve the availability of dental treatment services in Grampian.
Answer
Steps taken include:
the availability of Scottish Dental Access Initiative grants to encourage practitioners to set up or expand NHS practices in areas such as Grampian of unmet patient demand or high oral health need;
approval of five posts to employ dentists directly salaried by the NHS;
approval of a pilot NHS emergency dental services scheme for unregistered patients;
the introduction in April of last year of a scheme to reward financially the commitment of dentists to the NHS;
the early years enhanced capitation fee scheme to encourage dentists to register and provide preventive advice and treatment on the NHS to 0 to 2 and 3 to 5-year-olds.
Problems of access to NHS dentistry within Scotland is one of the areas being looked at by the Implementation Support Group for the Action Plan for Dental Services in Scotland.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 August 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Iain Gray on 26 September 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive how many drug-related deaths there have been so far this year and in each of the last five years, broken down by health board area and expressed as a percentage of the population in each area.
Answer
Published information is available for 1995-99 and this is given in the table. Data covering 2000 will be published by the General Register Office for Scotland before the end of September.
Drug-related deaths, by health board area, 1995-99Number and rate per 100,000 population*Health boardarea | 1995 | | 1996 | | 1997 | | 1998 | | 1999 | |
No. | Rate | No. | Rate | No. | Rate | No. | Rate | No. | Rate |
SCOTLAND | 251 | 4.9 | 267 | 5.2 | 263 | 5.1 | 276 | 5.4 | 340 | 6.6 |
Argyll & Clyde | 24 | 5.5 | 19 | 4.4 | 20 | 4.7 | 26 | 6.1 | 29 | 6.8 |
Ayrshire & Arran | 17 | 4.5 | 12 | 3.2 | 9 | 2.4 | 7 | 1.9 | 29 | 7.7 |
Borders | 1 | 0.9 | 2 | 1.9 | - | - | 1 | 0.9 | - | - |
Dumfries & Galloway | 5 | 3.4 | 3 | 2.0 | 11 | 7.5 | 6 | 4.1 | 9 | 6.1 |
Fife | 5 | 1.4 | 10 | 2.9 | 20 | 5.7 | 15 | 4.3 | 11 | 3.2 |
Forth Valley | 9 | 3.3 | 6 | 2.2 | 11 | 4.0 | 9 | 3.3 | 19 | 6.8 |
Grampian | 15 | 2.8 | 31 | 5.8 | 27 | 5.1 | 31 | 5.9 | 42 | 8.0 |
Greater Glasgow | 98 | 10.7 | 96 | 10.6 | 69 | 7.6 | 94 | 10.3 | 112 | 12.4 |
Highland | 3 | 1.4 | 4 | 1.9 | 3 | 1.4 | 3 | 1.4 | 8 | 3.8 |
Lanarkshire | 16 | 2.9 | 13 | 2.3 | 22 | 3.9 | 28 | 5.0 | 27 | 4.8 |
Lothian | 40 | 5.2 | 53 | 6.9 | 46 | 6.0 | 37 | 4.8 | 38 | 4.9 |
Orkney | - | - | 1 | 5.1 | 1 | 5.0 | - | - | 1 | 5.1 |
Shetland | - | - | 1 | 4.3 | 1 | 4.3 | 1 | 4.4 | - | - |
Tayside | 18 | 4.6 | 16 | 4.1 | 23 | 5.9 | 18 | 4.6 | 14 | 3.6 |
Western Isles | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | 3.6 |
* Rates per 100,000 are given instead of percentages as the latter would be very small (the largest would be 0.01%).
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 August 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 26 September 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive how many individuals are on the alcohol misuse database in each health board area expressed as a percentage of the population in each area and as an overall percentage of misusers, and what the nearest equivalent figures are for each of the last five years.
Answer
There is no national alcohol misuse database. While some health boards do collect information about the level of alcohol misuse in their area, this information varies from board to board and is not collated nationally.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 August 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 26 September 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will give a breakdown of the recent #12 million schools repairs announcement by local authority, showing how much each local authority's allocation is per head of population and per school, and whether it will give any equivalent figures for each of the last three years.
Answer
The information requested is given in the table. The distribution of the School Buildings Improvement Fund was not made on the basis either of the population or number of schools in each authority's area. It was made on the basis of the education element of the formula which is used for the allocation of capital consents for local authority non-housing programmes. The formula was drawn up in consultation with CoSLA. This is the first year in which the School Buildings Improvement Fund has been available.
School Buildings Improvement Fund
| Amount per Head of Population | Amount per School |
Scotland | £2.35 | £4,195.80 |
Aberdeen City | £1.76 | £4,592.59 |
Aberdeenshire | £2.32 | £2,949.72 |
Angus | £2.53 | £4,000.00 |
Argyll & Bute | £2.93 | £2,600.00 |
Clackmannanshire | £2.35 | £4,750.00 |
Dumfries & Galloway | £2.31 | £2,533.83 |
Dundee City | £2.25 | £6,173.08 |
East Ayrshire | £2.45 | £4,933.33 |
East Dunbartonshire | £2.75 | £5,648.15 |
East Lothian | £2.30 | £5,121.95 |
East Renfrewshire | £2.66 | £7,242.42 |
Edinburgh, City of | £1.73 | £5,560.28 |
Eilean Siar | £3.90 | £2,000.00 |
Falkirk | £2.22 | £5,095.24 |
Fife | £2.36 | £4,543.96 |
Glasgow City | £2.05 | £4,404.93 |
Highland | £2.59 | £2,426.01 |
Inverclyde | £2.66 | £5,113.64 |
Midlothian | £2.60 | £4,652.17 |
Moray | £2.42 | £3,814.81 |
North Ayrshire | £2.40 | £4,970.15 |
North Lanarkshire | £2.66 | £5,178.57 |
Orkney Islands | £4.00 | £2,785.71 |
Perth & Kinross | £2.23 | £3,311.11 |
Renfrewshire. | £2.34 | £5,830.99 |
Scottish Borders | £2.39 | £3,109.76 |
Shetland Islands | £3.83 | £1,954.55 |
South Ayrshire | £2.42 | £4,758.62 |
South Lanarkshire | £2.59 | £5,096.15 |
Stirling | £2.50 | £3,803.57 |
West Dunbartonshire | £2.61 | £5,613.64 |
West Lothian | £2.57 | £5,025.00 |
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 06 July 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 25 September 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to introduce more stringent enforcement of the Specified Risk Materials Regulations 1997 in relation to imported beef carcasses.
Answer
The Food Standards Agency has advised that European Law requires specified risk material (SRM) to be removed at the slaughterhouse, and it is illegal for another EU Member State to send consignments of meat to the UK, which contain spinal cord. The Specified Risk Material Regulations, as amended, are enforced by the Meat Hygiene Service in licensed plants and local authorities in unlicensed premises. The agency has addressed SRM infringements through enhanced checks on imported beef and by raising the issue at high level with the Commission and the member state in question. The agency's policy is to seek for the plant's licence to be suspended in cases of systematic failures.
