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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-10480

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 October 2000
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 20 November 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what the economic value was of the fish processing industry in each of the last five years.

The most current information on the economic value of the fish processing industry is provided in the table attached. The information comes from the Scottish Production Database where the most current data is for 1997.

Year	Gross Value Added at Factor Cost (£ million)
1993	98.8
1994	139.2
1995	121.2
1996	150.0
1997	154.5

Source: Scottish Production Database (SPD)

Definition: Gross Value Added at Factor Cost

Gross Value Added is Gross Output less the cost of purchases and industrial & non-industrial services received, adjusted for net duties and levies, and changes in stocks.

Question reference: S1W-10482

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 October 2000
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 20 November 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive how much government funding was made available to the fish processing industry in each of the last three years and what the nature was of any such funding.

The following assistance was paid, by way of grant, to the fish processing industry in Scotland from the Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance and the Scottish Executive Rural Affairs Department. This assistance was in respect of capital projects for the renovation or construction of new buildings and the purchase of plant and equipment.

Financial Year	£ million
1997-98	1.4
1998-99	2.6
1999-2000	3.5

Question reference: S1W-10847

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 November 2000
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 15 November 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what input and influence the National Farmers' Union had in relation to the remit of the former Deputy Minister for Rural Affairs.

Question reference: S1W-10824

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 November 2000
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 15 November 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of the overall spending block (a) its total rural affairs budget; (b) that part of the rural affairs budget which is not tied to European funding; (c) its total fisheries budget, and (d) that part of the fisheries budget which is not tied to European funding will represent in each of the next three financial years.

In the table below "overall spending block" figures are the Scottish Executive's Total Managed Expenditure as shown in Table 2 of Making a Difference for Scotland. Figures for the "rural affairs budget" are the plans for Rural Affairs spending by the Scottish Executive Rural Affairs Department (SERAD) shown in the table on page 22 of the same document.

2001-02

£ million

2002-03

£ million

2003-04

£ million

Scottish Executive Total Managed Expenditure (TME).

19,743.9

20,912.8

22,074.8

SERAD Rural Affairs budget.(% of TME)

621.9

(3.1%)

627.1

(3%)

628.5

(2.8%)

Amounts of SERAD budget "not tied to European funding."

(% of TME)

148

(0.75%)

158

(0.75%

162

(0.73%)

Fisheries Budget.

(% of TME)

6.9

(0.03%)

8.4

(0.04%)

8.4

(0.04%)

Non EU Fisheries Budget.

(% of TME)

(0.01%)

The Fisheries expenditure plans shown are those for the Fisheries Budget Level 2 in the table on page 22 of Making a Difference for Scotland. They exclude resources of over £50 million a year devoted to the Scottish Fisheries Protection and Fisheries Research Services Agencies which are included in the Level 2 Budgets for Agencies.

Question reference: S1W-10846

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 November 2000
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 15 November 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive why the circumstances surrounding the remit of the Deputy Minister for Rural Affairs as referred to in Mr John Home Robertson's speech in the Parliament on 1 November 2000 were not made public at the time.

Question reference: S1W-10825

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 November 2000
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 15 November 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of the Scottish fishing fleet's allocated quota for each species is expected to be caught this year.

The "Scottish fishing fleet" is not allocated fish quotas. Quotas are allocated to three fishing groups in the UK - producer organisations (20); the non-sector and the 10 metre and under fleet. There are around 70 UK quota stocks which are allocated to fishing groups. Uptake of UK quotas is routinely monitored at group rather than at individual vessel level.

Under the devolution settlement, a "Scottish boat" is defined by reference to its port of registration. It is possible for Scottish-registered vessels to be fishing out of English ports and vice versa. Similarly, some of the seven Scottish-based Producer Organisations may have in their membership vessels which are not registered in Scotland.

However, for the purposes of this answer, we have assumed the "Scottish fishing fleet" to mean the seven Scottish-based fish producer organisations. For west coast nephrops, however, the Scottish fleet also includes those vessels of under 10 metres in length and those in the non-sector (over 10 metre vessels not in membership of a fish producer organisation) since both groups have a significant interest in this fishery.

It is not possible at this stage to accurately predict the likely level of percentage uptake of quotas by the Scottish fleet since a number of factors such as availability of fish and weather conditions can bear on uptake levels in the weeks to end-December.

However, based on recorded uptake as at 9 November (the latest available figures), the following tables show the approximate percentage uptake of the main whitefish stocks by the Scottish Produce organisations based on current allocations:

North Sea	Cod	Haddock	Whiting	Saithe	Nephrops
	75%	66%	79%	89%	68%

West Coast	Cod	Haddock	Whiting	Saithe	Nephrops
	69%	55%	75%	52%	80%

Question reference: S1W-10845

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 November 2000
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 15 November 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-6754 by Ross Finnie on 7 August 2000, and in the light of its Comprehensive Spending Review, whether it will provide updated information for the same figures for the next three years.

The information requested, in respect of Rural Development portfolio spending by the Scottish Executive Rural Affairs Department (SERAD) is shown in the table below.

	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04
Value of spending (£ million).	148	158	162
Spending as a percentage of total SERAD Rural Development resource plans.	24%	25%	26%

The sums above constitute between 0.7% and 0.8% of the Executive's plans for Total Managed Expenditure. The values of the proportions shown for the expenditure here are highly sensitive to the value of "European" spending. The value of the department's significant expenditure on Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) on-farm payment schemes is very sensitive to factors such as the value of Sterling. While the Executive's plans for "non EU" spending shown above are fixed for the Spending Review 2000 period, its plans for CAP spending are classed as Annually Managed Expenditure (AME), outside the Scottish Block and formula arrangements. The spending is classed as AME because actual expenditure on CAP schemes is prone to considerable variance from plans. The proportions shown here therefore, based on comparisons between fixed and variable plans, do not allow meaningful conclusions to be drawn.

Question reference: S1W-10780

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 October 2000
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 14 November 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Deputy Minister for Rural Development intends to use the title of Fisheries Minister.

Question reference: S1W-10715

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 October 2000
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 13 November 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive who will represent Scotland at the next meeting of the European Community Fisheries Council.

Question reference: S1O-02471

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 November 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sam Galbraith on 9 November 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive when a scheme will be introduced to help low income families pay their water charges.