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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-31326

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 5 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is standard policy to label early drafts of its papers intended for publication as “Restricted - Advice to Ministers”.

It is policy for the Scottish Executive to apply a Protective Marking to a document that meets thecriteria as detailed in the UK’s Protective Marking System guidance. In regard tothe use of the Advice to Ministers descriptor, the Cabinet Officemaintains a core descriptor list, however Departments may devise their owndescriptors and apply them to their information. The Advice to Ministers descriptor is used by the Executive to identifypapers which need to be handled carefully and is most commonly applied topapers during the development of policy.

Question reference: S2W-31324

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 5 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many drafts of the EU Business: Reviews of Engagement with Europe and of EU Office reports have been produced and, of these, how many have been circulated to ministers.

Question reference: S2W-31371

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 5 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many farmers there have been in each parliamentary constituency in each of the last five years, also showing year-on-year percentage changes.

Question reference: S2W-31373

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 5 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many forestry workers there have been in each parliamentary constituency in each of the last five years, also showing year-on year percentage changes.

The following table 1 shows thenumber of employee jobs in the Forestry, Logging and related service activitiesindustry (SIC 02.01 and 02.02) by parliamentary constituency for the last five years.

The following table 2 shows thepercentage change in employee jobs in the Forestry, Logging and related serviceactivities industry by parliamentary constituency over the last five years.

Table 1 Employee Jobs in theForestry, Logging and Related Service Activities Industry by ParliamentaryConstituency, 2001-05

	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Aberdeen Central	*	*	*	*	*
Aberdeen North	*	*	*	*	*
Aberdeen South	*	*	*	*	*
Airdrie and Shotts	*	*	*	*	*
Angus	*	*	*	*	*
Argyll and Bute	300	300	300	300	300
Ayr	*	*	*	*	*
Banff and Buchan	*	*	*	*	*
Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross	100	100	100	100	100
Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley	*	*	*	*	*
Central Fife	*	*	*	*	*
Clydebank and Milngavie	*	*	*	*	*
Clydesdale	*	*	*	*	*
Coatbridge and Chryston	*	*	*	*	*
Cumbernauld and Kilsyth	*	*	*	*	*
Cunninghame North	*	*	*	*	*
Cunninghame South	*	*	*	*	*
Dumbarton	*	*	*	*	*
Dumfries	200	300	200	200	200
Dundee East	*	*	*	*	*
Dundee West	*	*	*	*	*
Dunfermline East	*	*	*	*	*
Dunfermline West	*	*	*	*	*
East Kilbride	*	*	*	*	*
East Lothian	*	*	*	*	*
Eastwood	*	*	*	*	*
Edinburgh Central	*	*	*	*	*
Edinburgh East and Musselburgh	*	*	*	*	*
Edinburgh North and Leith	0	*	*	*	*
Edinburgh Pentlands	*	*	*	*	*
Edinburgh South	*	*	*	*	*
Edinburgh West	*	*	*	*	*
Falkirk East	*	*	*	*	*
Falkirk West	*	*	*	*	*
Galloway and Upper Nithsdale	200	300	300	300	300
Glasgow Anniesland	*	*	*	*	*
Glasgow Baillieston	*	*	*	*	*
Glasgow Cathcart	*	*	*	*	*
Glasgow Govan	*	*	*	*	*
Glasgow Kelvin	*	*	*	*	*
Glasgow Maryhill	*	*	*	*	*
Glasgow Pollok	*	*	*	*	*
Glasgow Rutherglen	*	*	*	*	*
Glasgow Shettleston	*	*	*	*	*
Glasgow Springburn	*	*	*	*	*
Gordon	200	100	100	100	100
Greenock and Inverclyde	*	*	*	*	*
Hamilton North and Bellshill	*	*	*	*	*
Hamilton South	*	*	*	*	*
Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber	300	300	300	300	300
Kilmarnock and Loudoun	*	*	*	*	*
Kirkcaldy	*	*	*	*	*
Linlithgow	*	*	*	*	*
Livingston	*	*	*	*	*
Midlothian	*	*	*	*	*
Moray	200	300	300	300	200
Motherwell and Wishaw	*	*	*	*	*
North East Fife	*	*	*	*	*
North Tayside	200	200	200	200	200
Ochil	*	*	*	*	*
Orkney and Shetland	*	*	*	*	*
Paisley North	*	*	*	*	*
Paisley South	*	*	*	*	*
Perth	100	200	100	100	100
Ross, Skye and Inverness West	200	300	200	200	200
Roxburgh and Berwickshire	100	100	100	100	100
Stirling	200	300	300	300	300
Strathkelvin and Bearsden	*	*	*	*	*
Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale	100	200	100	100	100
West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine	100	200	100	200	100
West Renfrewshire	*	*	*	*	*
Western Isles	*	*	*	*	*

Source: Annual Business Inquiry.

Notes:

*Data are restricted under the1947 statistics of trade act.

1. Figures have been roundedto the nearest hundred.

2. 2001-02 figures are basedon SIC 1992 codes and 2003-05 figures are based on SIC 2003 codes. This may leadto a discontinuity in levels.

3. Data for 2001-02 are basedon 1991 census wards. Data for 2003-05 are based on 2003 CAS wards.

4. These statistics are workplace based.

5. Parliamentary constituenciesbased on 1995 revision.

6. These data are based on asurvey and are therefore subject to a degree of error. Therefore any changes overtime may not be significant.

Table 2 Percentage Change inEmployee Jobs in the Forestry, Logging and Related Service Activities Industry byParliamentary Constituency, 2001-05

	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05
Aberdeen Central	*	*	*	*
Aberdeen North	*	*	*	*
Aberdeen South	*	*	*	*
Airdrie and Shotts	*	*	*	*
Angus	*	*	*	*
Argyll and Bute	-12.8%	-10.3%	17.0%	-12.7%
Ayr	*	*	*	*
Banff and Buchan	*	*	*	*
Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross	45.8%	-5.8%	29.6%	-22.9%
Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley	*	*	*	*
Central Fife	*	*	*	*
Clydebank and Milngavie	*	*	*	*
Clydesdale	*	*	*	*
Coatbridge and Chryston	*	*	*	*
Cumbernauld and Kilsyth	*	*	*	*
Cunninghame North	*	*	*	*
Cunninghame South	*	*	*	*
Dumbarton	*	*	*	*
Dumfries	40.3%	-28.0%	6.7%	-0.5%
Dundee East	*	*	*	*
Dundee West	*	*	*	*
Dunfermline East	*	*	*	*
Dunfermline West	*	*	*	*
East Kilbride	*	*	*	*
East Lothian	*	*	*	*
Eastwood	*	*	*	*
Edinburgh Central	*	*	*	*
Edinburgh East and Musselburgh	*	*	*	*
Edinburgh North and Leith	*	*	*	*
Edinburgh Pentlands	*	*	*	*
Edinburgh South	*	*	*	*
Edinburgh West	*	*	*	*
Falkirk East	*	*	*	*
Falkirk West	*	*	*	*
Galloway and Upper Nithsdale	12.1%	0.7%	11.1%	-19.3%
Glasgow Anniesland	*	*	*	*
Glasgow Baillieston	*	*	*	*
Glasgow Cathcart	*	*	*	*
Glasgow Govan	*	*	*	*
Glasgow Kelvin	*	*	*	*
Glasgow Maryhill	*	*	*	*
Glasgow Pollok	*	*	*	*
Glasgow Rutherglen	*	*	*	*
Glasgow Shettleston	*	*	*	*
Glasgow Springburn	*	*	*	*
Gordon	-39.6%	2.7%	26.7%	-24.5%
Greenock and Inverclyde	*	*	*	*
Hamilton North and Bellshill	*	*	*	*
Hamilton South	*	*	*	*
Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber	12.2%	-4.2%	10.3%	-13.6%
Kilmarnock and Loudoun	*	*	*	*
Kirkcaldy	*	*	*	*
Linlithgow	*	*	*	*
Livingston	*	*	*	*
Midlothian	*	*	*	*
Moray	60.1%	2.7%	6.0%	-27.9%
Motherwell and Wishaw	*	*	*	*
North East Fife	*	*	*	*
North Tayside	25.1%	-11.4%	3.9%	-15.6%
Ochil	*	*	*	*
Orkney and Shetland	*	*	*	*
Paisley North	*	*	*	*
Paisley South	*	*	*	*
Perth	108.3%	-32.6%	15.3%	-21.3%
Ross, Skye and Inverness West	83.9%	-24.2%	2.8%	-20.3%
Roxburgh and Berwickshire	65.8%	-28.6%	45.6%	-19.8%
Stirling	19.0%	0.8%	18.9%	-18.5%
Strathkelvin and Bearsden	*	*	*	*
Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale	63.0%	-18.7%	13.1%	-13.8%
West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine	42.2%	-23.4%	16.3%	-25.1%
West Renfrewshire	*	*	*	*
Western Isles	*	*	*	*

Source: Annual Business Inquiry.

Notes:

*Data are restricted under the1947 statistics of trade act.

1. Percentage changes are basedon actuals rather than rounded figures.

2. 2001-02 figures are basedon SIC 1992 codes and 2003-05 figures are based on SIC 2003 codes. This may leadto a discontinuity in levels.

3. Data for 2001–02 are basedon 1991 census wards. Data for 2003-05 are based on 2003 CAS wards.

4. These statistics are workplace based.

5. Parliamentary constituenciesbased on 1995 revision.

6. These data are based on asurvey and are therefore subject to a degree of error. Therefore any changes overtime may not be significant.

Question reference: S2W-31410

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 1 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration is being given to the provision of assistance to the owners and crews of deep water vessels.

At the December Council wesecured a six-fold quota increase for Rockall haddock in line with thescientific advice and a 10% increase in Northern shelf monkfish. Thesedevelopments will help in part to mitigate the economic impact of the decisiontaken on deep sea species at the November Council, which was necessary as thescience was very bleak and strong action had to be taken to safeguard thestocks.

We are also consideringchanges to the UK’s licensing regime, following extensive consultationwith the Fishing Vessel Licensing Review Working Group, which may offeradditional options for owners to restructure their business’s.

Question reference: S2W-31372

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 1 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many fishermen there have been in each parliamentary constituency in each of the last five years, also showing year-on year percentage changes.

Question reference: S2W-31123

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 31 January 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been allocated to each local authority from the (a) Strategic Waste Fund and (b) INCREASE programme in each year since their introduction, also showing year-on-year percentage changes and national totals.

Question reference: S2W-31121

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 31 January 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive to what extent applications for funding under the INCREASE waste strategy programme have exceeded the funds available, showing the numbers of successful and unsuccessful applications and the amounts involved in each case, broken down by local authority.

Through INCREASE, a total of£10 million was available. A total of £18,183,727 was applied for. £9,807,134 hasbeen awarded and £8,376,593 declined. Projects totalling £2,216,652 were withdrawn.

Further details on the informationrequested is given in Investment in Community recycling and Social Enterprise (INCREASE programme), a copyof which has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number41535).

Question reference: S2W-31122

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 31 January 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive to what extent the (a) Strategic Waste Fund and (b) INCREASE programme have been oversubscribed in each year since their introduction, broken down by local authority and also showing year-on-year budgets, percentage changes and national totals.

Question reference: S2W-31242

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 19 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 29 January 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive to what extent the weed known as ranunculus poses a threat to native species in the River Spey and other rivers and whether there are any plans to eradicate, or reduce the impact of, this weed and, if so, whether it will give details of such plans.

Scottish Natural Heritage hasadvised that the spread of river water-crowfoot (Ranunculus fluitans) in the Speymay be having some impact on freshwater pearl mussel and Atlantic salmon but thatthe extent of the threat which this represents for the integrity of these speciesis not clear.

I understand that Scottish NaturalHeritage and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency will be meeting with theSpey Fishery Board in the near future to discuss the matter and possible actionsfor the management of the situation.