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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

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Question reference: S2W-26084

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 14 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average density of consented wind generation kilowatts per square kilometre is in each planning authority area.

As I advised Murdo Fraser inmy answer to question S2W-25204 on 24 April 2006,this information is not held centrally, but the following, based on a number ofsources, represents a reasonably comprehensive picture.

Can I also correct two textualerrors in my earlier answer, the first of which indicated that the Hagshaw Hillextension was in North Lanarkshire. In fact, like the original Hagshaw Hill wind farm, itis in South Lanarkshire. Secondly, the capacity ascribed to the Rothes wind farmwas incorrectly shown as 50.6 MW, rather than 56 MW. I therefore set out in thefollowing tables a corrected version of the previous tables.

In Operation

Name	Location	No of Turbines	Capacity (MW)
Hagshaw Hill	South Lanarkshire	26	15.6
Windy Standard	Dumfries and Galloway	36	21.6
Novar	Easter Ross, Highland	34	17
Beinn Ghlas	Taynuilt, Argyll and Bute	14	8.4
Thorfinn	Burgar Hill, Orkney Islands	1	1.5
Dun Law	Scottish Borders	26	17.16
Sigurd	Orkney Islands	1	1.3
Hare Hill	Cumnock, East Ayrshire	20	13
Burra Dale	Shetland Islands	3	1.98
Sainsbury	East Kilbride, S Lanarkshire	1	0.6
Deucheran Hill	Kintyre, Argyll and Bute	9	15
Myres Hill	Eaglesham, East Renfrewshire	2	1.9
Beinn an Tuirc	Kintyre, Argyll and Bute	46	30
Bu Farm	Stronsey, Orkney Islands	3	2.7
Thorfinn, Burgar Hill	Orkney Islands	1	2.75
Bowbeat	Innerleithen, Scottish Borders	24	31.2
Tangy	Kintyre, Argyll and Bute	15	12.75
Burra Dale Extension	Shetland Islands	2	1.7
Forss	Caithness, Highland	2	2.32
Ardrossan	North Ayrshire	12	24
Crystal Rig	Scottish Borders, East Lothian	20	62.5
Cruach Mhor	Cowal, Argyll and Bute	35	29.75
Causeymire	Caithness, Highland	21	48
Gigha (Community)	Argyll and Bute	3	0.675
Spurness	Sanday, Orkney Islands	4	11
Burray	Orkney Islands	1	0.85
Rothes (Cairn Uish)	Moray	22	56
Artfield Fell	New Luce, Dumfries and Galloway	15	19.5
Glens of Foudland	Aberdeenshire	20	26
Black Law	S Lanarkshire, N Lanarkshire, W Lothian	42	97
Boulfruich	Caithness, Highland	15	13
Hadyard Hill	Barr, South Ayrshire	52	120
Total			708

Under Construction

Name	Location	No. of Turbines	Capacity (MW)
Braes O’ Doune	Stirling	36	72
Paul’s Hill	Moray	28	65
Beinn Tharsuinn	Easter Ross, Highland	17	30
Boyndie Airfield	Aberdeenshire	10	20
Wardlaw Wood	North Ayrshire	6	18
Farr	Tomatin, Highland	40	92
Black Law “B”	S Lanarkshire, N Lanarkshire, W Lothian	12	27.6
Black Hill	Longformacus, Scottish Borders	22	28.6
Clachan Flats	Cairndow, Argyll and Bute	9	15.75
Tangy Extension	Kintyre, Argyll and Bute	7	5.95
Earlsburn	Stirling	14	32
Michelin Tyre Factory	Dundee City	2	4
Fintry (Community)	Stirling	1	2
Balnamoon (Community)	Keith, Aberdeenshire	1	0.85
Total			414

Consented

Name	Location	No. of Turbines	Capacity (MW)
Wether Hill	Dumfries and Galloway	14	18
Arnish Moor	Western Isles	3	3.9
An Suidhe	Argyll and Bute	24	30
Torrs Hill	Forrest Estate, Dumfries and Galloway	2	4
Over Enoch and Ardoch	East Renfrewshire	5	6.5
Tullo	Mearns, Aberdeenshire	8	12
Mid Hill	Deeside, Aberdeenshire	25	50
Arnish Moor II	Western Isles	6	12
Pentland Road (incorporating Beinn Mholach	Western Isles	6	12
Dalswinton, Pennyland Moor	Dumfries and Galloway	16	36
Drummuir	Moray	21	48
Findhorn Foundation	Moray	3	0.9
Millennium (Glenmoriston)	Highland	16	48
Novar Extension	Easter Ross, Highland	16	32
Minsca Farm	Dumfries and Galloway	17	42.5
Crystal Rig Phase 2	Scottish Borders, East Lothian	52	164
Ben Aketil	Skye, Highland	10	15
Causeymire Extension	Caithness, Highland	3	6.7
Beinn an Tuirc Extension	Kintyre, Argyll and Bute	19	38
Hagshaw Hill Extension	South Lanarkshire	20	26
Dun Law Extension	Scottish Borders	35	30
Craig	Westerkirk, Dumfries and Galloway	3	5
Total			641

The following table based onthe above revised statistics in that answer, and including the additional 322 MWof capacity since consented in respect of the Whitelee wind farm inEast Renfrewshire, South Lanarkshire and East Ayrshire, provides our data in respectof wind power density per square kilometre in each planning authority wherewe understand wind farms are in operation, under construction or approved. Any slight discrepancies between the two sets of figuresare due to rounding up.

Local Authority Area	Area (Sq Km)	Wind Farms	Capacity (MW)	Capacity kW per Sq Km
Aberdeenshire	6,313	5	109	17
Argyll and Bute	6,909	10	185	27
Dumfries and Galloway	6,426	7	146	23
Dundee City	60	1	4	66
East Ayrshire ¹	1,262	1	13	10
East Lothian¹
East Renfrewshire ²	174	3	330	1908
Highland	25,659	10	304	11
Moray	2,238	4	170	75
North Ayrshire	885	2	42	47
North Lanarkshire
Orkney	990	6	21	21
Scottish Borders²	4,732	6	333	70
Shetland	1,466	2	4	2
South Ayrshire	1,222	1	120	98
South Lanarkshire ¹^,²	1,772	5	172	97
Stirling	2,187	3	106	48
Western Isles	3,071	3	28	9
West Lothian¹
Totals	65,840	69	2,087

Notes:

1. In these instances parts of wind farms which cross local authority boundarieshave been allocated to that local authority in which the larger element of the developmentis located.

2. These local authority areashouse the major element of a wind farm that straddles boundaries.

Question reference: S2W-26310

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 13 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking, in partnership with Transport Scotland and First ScotRail, to improve train services between Perth and Edinburgh.

Performance for railservices between Perth and Edinburgh is monitored by Transport Scotland aspart of the Express service group. The Public Performance Measure (measuringreliability and punctuality) has shown consistent improvement, rising frombelow 80% 12 months ago to its current level of about 85%. This is a result ofa combined effort by First ScotRail and Network Rail to improve bothpunctuality and reliability across the whole Scottish rail network.

Scottish ministers arecommitted to developing a long-term rail strategy to contribute to asustainable, effective and efficient transport system for Scotland. Thisincludes consideration of options to improve Perth-Edinburgh services. TransportScotland will work with the rail industry and others to continue to develop railservices across Scotland.

Question reference: S2W-26309

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 13 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has undertaken any studies into the cost of dualling the A9 in its entirety between Perth and Inverness and, if so, what the findings were.

A Route Action Plan for theA9 reported in 1996. The cost of completing the dualling of the A9 estimated inthat report was £276 million in 1995 prices.

The economic benefits ofcompleting the dualling were found to be substantially less than the costs ofconstruction.

No estimate was made of theenvironmental impacts of completing the dualling.

Transport Scotland hasthe operational responsibility for this area, and can be contacted for moreinformation if required.

Question reference: S2W-26085

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 13 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to limit the amount of wind development to the capacity limit of a maximum average density of wind-generation of 150 kilowatts per square kilometre in any planning authority, as set out in Scotland’s Renewable Resource 2001.

Question reference: S2W-23610

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 February 2006
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 1 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether, further to the answers to questions to S2W-9099 by Mr Jim Wallace on 30 June 2004 and S2W-17703 by Nicol Stephen on 29 July 2005 which indicate that between 1997 and 2004 there were increases of 97,000 private sector jobs and 57,000 public sector jobs in Scotland, it will explain any discrepancy between these figures and those quoted in UK Competitiveness Index 2005, published by Dr Robert Huggins of the University of Sheffield, which state that between 1997 and 2004 there were increases of 35,000 private sector jobs and 121,000 public sector jobs.

The discrepancies arise fromusing different time periods and, more significantly, using different definitionsof the “public sector”. The preferred approach is based on the internationally agreednational accounts definition that is now used by the Office of National Statisticsand by the Executive for its quarterly Public Sector Employment in Scotlandseries.

The statistics used in S2W-9099and S2W-17703 were taken from the Labour Force Survey and at the time the writtenparliamentary questions were answered provided the best source of data. They havenow been superseded by the Executive’s data.

Finally, the statistics quotedby Dr Robert Huggins in his UK Competitiveness Indicators are based on employmentin the public admin, education and health sector which includes people working forprivate sector organisations.

Question reference: S2W-23611

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 February 2006
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 1 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the figures quoted in UK Competitiveness Index 2005, published by Dr Robert Huggins of the University of Sheffield, showing that between 1997 and 2004 there were increases of 35,000 private sector jobs and 121,000 public sector jobs in Scotland are correct.

The UK Competitiveness Index2005 does not use the standard definition of the public sector employed by the Officefor National Statistics and the Scottish Executive.

For more information I referthe member to the answer question S2W-23610 on 1 June 2006. All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website the search facilityfor which can be at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Question reference: S2W-25861

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 24 May 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria are applied by the Fisheries (Electricity) Committee when advising ministers of the impact of proposed hydro-electric power schemes on fisheries.

Question reference: S2W-25862

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 24 May 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many proposed hydro-electric power schemes the Fisheries (Electricity) Committee has advised ministers to (a) approve and (b) reject in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S2W-25859

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 24 May 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive who the members are of the Fisheries (Electricity) Committee.

Question reference: S2W-25860

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 24 May 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Fisheries (Electricity) Committee publishes guidelines to the developers of proposed hydro-electric schemes in relation to the criteria which the committee apply when assessing such schemes.

2001	1
2002	4
2003	5
2004	2
2005	4