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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-26903

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 16 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 30 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on (a) the number of calls made to Floodline from Scotland in each year since its establishment, also expressed as a percentage and (b) the annual cost of this line, and where the organisation is based.

Question reference: S2W-26902

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 16 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 30 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) homes and (b) businesses are at risk from flooding (i) in total and (ii) broken down by local authority, also expressed as a percentage of all such properties.

Information on the number ofproperties in Scotland at risk from flooding, and also broken down by localauthority area, can be found in table 4.3 of the Executive publication ClimateChange: Flooding Occurrences Review which is available at:http://www.scotland.gov.uk/cru/kd01/lightgreen/ccfo-15.asp.

Based on national assumptions, the research estimated the total number of propertiesat risk to be 92.5% residential and 7.5% commercial.

Question reference: S2W-26908

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 16 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 30 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has about any differences there will be between the flood maps being developed for Scotland by public agencies and those used by insurance companies.

Question reference: S2W-26858

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 30 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made in connection with a prioritisation scheme for applications for funding for flood alleviation schemes; when a draft scheme will be available; to what extent relevant parties have been, and will be, consulted on the scheme, and what criteria will be used for the purpose of prioritisation of applications.

With increasing demands on resourcesin the future, there may be a need for prioritisation of grant funding to localauthorities for flood prevention schemes. This issue has been discussed at the FloodingIssues Advisory Committee (FIAC) Alleviation Sub-Committee, and has resulted ina paper, FIAC2006(1), which can be viewed on the FIAC website at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/1223/0023586.pdf.

However, there are at presentno plans to introduce such a prioritisation system, as the schemes currently beingbrought forward by local authorities do not exceed the existing budget of £89 millionfor the period 2005-08. Of course, should circumstances change in the future, wewould consult relevant parties on any criteria which might be under considerationfor prioritisation of funding.

Question reference: S2W-27033

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 29 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what measures have been taken to support the recreational sea angling sector.

VisitScotland is representedon, and contributes funding to, the Angling Development Tourism Group, which hasbeen instrumental in the development of the FishScotland website. VisitScotlandalso has a section on its own website dedicated to sea angling, along with two pagesabout the sport in its Fishing in Scotland brochure. In addition, VisitScotland contributes somefunding to the Country Sports Tourism Group, which is looking at a number of projectsto further develop angling of all kinds in Scotland.

Question reference: S2W-26909

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 16 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 29 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the funding awarded to local authorities for flooding related activity has been allocated for consultancy services, also broken down by local authority.

Since 1 April 2004, grantto local authorities has been awarded at 80% of the estimated grant eligible expenditureto be incurred by local authorities on confirmed flood prevention schemes. Priorto 1 April 2004, the grant rate was 50%. Final invoices for each of theschemes funded since 2004 have yet to be submitted. Therefore, the estimated totalgrant eligible expenditure incurred on each scheme, the estimated grant eligibleexpenditure for consultancy services and estimated grant awarded since 1 April 2004 are tabulatedas follows for each authority.

Authority	Scheme	Estimated Total Grant	Estimated Total Expenditure	Estimated Expenditure for Consultancy Services
Moray Council	Lhanbryde	1,917,318	2,396,648	323,782
City of Edinburgh Council	Braid Burn	4,647,550	5,809,438	1,727,739
Perth and Kinross	Weem	525,797	657,247	55,373
	Earnbank	260,159	325,199.	37,354
	Milnathort	548,991	686,239	60,563
City of Glasgow	White Cart	3,305,750	4,132,188	1,894,451

Question reference: S2W-26827

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 29 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made in developing the academic and research expertise in renewable and clean energy technologies.

The Scottish Executive is currentlyconsidering research and development (R&D) issues for the renewable energy sectorthrough the Forum for Renewable Energy Development in Scotland. A taskgroup with representatives from the Executive, industry and academia has been establishedto scope the existing R&D capability in Scotland along with the future R&Drequirements of the renewables industry in Scotland.

We have already contributed over£3 million to establish world leading research and testing facilities at the EuropeanMarine Energy Centre, allowing performance research to be undertaken by marine technologydevelopers.

ITI Energy has also committedup to £1.5 million to create an innovative low-cost hydrogen handling material thathas the potential to store and release hydrogen at room temperature. This cleanenergy project is a collaboration between a French company who have relocated toScotland, and several Scottish universities.

Since April 2003, the Executive’sSMART, SPUR and SCORE research and development support schemes have funded 11 projectsoffering almost £640,000 to businesses to help them develop renewable and cleanenergy technologies.

Question reference: S2W-25836

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 27 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps have been, and will be, taken to support the development of a supply chain for the emerging offshore wind sector to ensure that Scotland derives maximum economic benefit from commissioned projects.

Question reference: S2W-26616

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 27 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what input it has had to discussions with the European Union in respect of changing the timing of the annual fishing quota negotiations that currently take place prior to Christmas and what progress these discussions have made.

The Commission has recently publisheda Communication on Improving Consultationon EU Fisheries Management. The documentcan be found here:http://ec.europa.eu/comm/fisheries/doc_et_publ/factsheets/legal_texts/docscom/en/com_06_246_en.pdf.

Whilst the Commission does notrecommend a change in the timing of the fishing year itself, it proposes a numberof measures designed to achieve greater stakeholder engagement and earlier and fullerdiscussions of proposals.

Question reference: S2W-26825

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 27 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many pre-school children are currently not registered with a dentist (a) in total and (b) broken down by (i) NHS board and (ii) local authority area and expressed as a percentage of children in the age group in each case.