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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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S1W-09294

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 August 2000
Current Status: Answered by John Home Robertson on 11 September 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive how the importation of fish eggs for the ultimate purpose of stocking our freshwater fisheries is regulated, how many applications there have been for import in each of the last five years, how many applications were accepted and what type of eggs were imported.

Importation is regulated by the Fish Health Regulations 1997 and the Diseases of Fish Act 1937 for imports from EU and non-EU countries respectively.

Fish eggs of native species can be imported, without application, from EU zones and farms with fish health status equivalent to our own, provided consignments are notified in advance. No notifications have been made in the last five years. No applications from non-EU countries have been made or granted in the last five years.

Question reference: S1W-09279

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 August 2000
Current Status: Answered by John Home Robertson on 11 September 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what measures are being taken to assist fishermen in relation to the Food Protection (Emergency Prohibitions) (Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning) (West Coast) (Scotland) Order 2000 and the Food Protection (Emergency Prohibitions) (Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning) (West Coast) (No.2) (Scotland) Order 2000.

My answer to question S1W-9281 confirms the Scottish Executive's position on compensation and possible assistance for the scallop sector through the Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance (FIFG) programme.

In February this year, I introduced a relaxation to licensing and quota management provisions to allow certain vessels with Category C licences which were affected by the scallop fishery closures to fish for West of Scotland nephrops until the end of August.

In view of the most recent closures off the west coast, I have decided to extend this relaxation to the end of the year.

Question reference: S1W-09281

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 August 2000
Current Status: Answered by John Home Robertson on 11 September 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to make any financial assistance available for any fishermen who stand to lose income due to the current restrictions on scallop fishing.

Question reference: S1W-09293

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 August 2000
Current Status: Answered by John Home Robertson on 11 September 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has increased the resources available for research into the shellfish toxin Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning and, if so, by how much.

Following the widespread occurrence of Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning (ASP) in 1999 a new three-year research project, with an annual estimated cost of £27,498, was commenced in April 2000. The objectives of the project are to identify the algal species responsible for ASP and to assess their seasonal and geographical distribution.

In addition the Food Standards Agency is committed to spend nearly £1 million in the next three years on research into algal toxins, of which one third can be attributed to ASP.

Question reference: S1W-09292

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 August 2000
Current Status: Answered by John Home Robertson on 11 September 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has undertaken research into the impact of industrial fishing on freshwater fisheries and wild fish stocks and, if so, when this was carried out and what the results were.

During the 1990s, Fisheries Research Services participated in a number of collaborative projects to address the issue of whether the sandeel fishery had potential implications for wild salmonid stocks.

Direct impacts were investigated by placing observers on sandeel trawlers off the Scottish east coast. No by-catch of salmon smolts was encountered. Potential indirect effects include the suggestion that the sandeel fishery might remove an important source of food for salmonids. An assessment of this possibility concluded that sandeels were just one of many prey species taken by salmonids, and that a properly managed sandeel fishery was unlikely to threaten the availability of this particular food source.

Question reference: S1W-09283

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 August 2000
Current Status: Answered by John Home Robertson on 11 September 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what the value of the scallop industry in Scotland was for each of the last three years for which information is available.

Question reference: S1W-09297

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 August 2000
Current Status: Answered by John Home Robertson on 11 September 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what its expenditure has been on the freshwater fisheries sector for each of the last three years.

Question reference: S1W-09298

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 August 2000
Current Status: Answered by John Home Robertson on 11 September 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive how many submissions relating to Protecting and Promoting Scotland's Freshwater Fish and Fisheries it has received, whether it will continue to accept submissions and when it expects to publish its final proposals for consultation.

Question reference: S1W-08691

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 July 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 7 September 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of their annual capital depreciation each NHS Trust's formula capital allocation for the financial year ended 31 March 2000 represents.

Question reference: S1W-08508

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 July 2000
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 30 August 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-4815 by Mr Tom McCabe on 14 March 2000, on how many occasions since February 2000 it has asked back-bench MSPs to lodge parliamentary questions in order to enable it to make an announcement; whether it will provide a list of such questions, including the date on which they were lodged, and whether it is still the case that none of its officials have written authorisations to lodge parliamentary questions in the names of back-bench MSPs.

It has been possible to identify the following 68 written parliamentary questions lodged between 29 February and 10 July as being inspired by the Executive, using the same methodology as set out in my answer to question S1W-5379 on 23 March 2000.

4829, 4830, 4831, 5030, 5182, 5215, 5349, 5432, 5482, 5538, 5578, 5596, 5631, 5672, 5697, 5703, 5731, 5789, 5790, 5803, 5908, 5975, 5976, 6008, 6034, 6040, 6069, 6085, 6086, 6153, 6160, 6161, 6162, 6187, 6256, 6409, 6477, 6478, 6709, 6822, 6881, 6892, 6908, 7016, 7062, 7088, 7089, 7300, 7420, 7425, 7441, 7544, 7545, 7697, 7778, 7840, 7851, 7852, 7860, 7861, 7862, 7913, 7983, 8080, 8083, 8211, 8221 and 8248.

It remains the case that officials do not have authorisation to lodge questions on behalf of members.

Inspired PQs are an effective mechanism for bringing matters to the attention of the Parliament which are not so significant as to require a ministerial statement or debate. Without such a mechanism some of the wide range of activities of the Executive, which cannot all be the subject of parliamentary statements or debates, could not be notified to the Parliament as a whole.

The use of inspired parliamentary questions was considered by the Procedures Committee, at its meeting on 15 February, and was acknowledged by the committee as a useful method for bringing matters to the attention of the Parliament.