- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 April 2013
-
Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 24 April 2013
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on opencast restoration.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 24 April 2013
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 April 2013
-
Current Status:
Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 16 April 2013
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will reconsider the inclusion of sites to protect seabird foraging areas in the proposed network of marine protected areas to provide resilience against extreme weather events.
Answer
There is already a range of work ongoing to identify seabird foraging areas for possible inclusion in the Scottish MPA network either as Nature Conservation MPAs designated under national legislation or marine Special Protected Areas (SPAs) designated under the EU Birds Directive.
The Report to Parliament on progress on identifying an MPA network was laid in Parliament on 14 December 2012, and was accompanied by Scottish Natural Heritage and Joint Nature Conservation Committee’s detailed scientific network advice. Both of these documents, which can be found on the Marine Scotland website, highlights six proposals for black guillemot, all of which contain areas used for foraging.
The report also highlighted that work is ongoing to identify SPAs at sea for other species of seabirds. This will include areas used by seabirds for foraging. Both the new Nature Conservation MPAs and the additional marine SPAs are intended to complement existing SPAs, 31 of which were extended into the marine environment in 2009 and already provide some foraging areas.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 April 2013
-
Current Status:
Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 16 April 2013
To ask the Scottish Government what impact the proposed network of marine protected areas will have on the recovery of sandeels.
Answer
Protected areas can help conserve the current populations of sandeels by protecting the sources of sandeel in Scottish waters.
Four inshore and offshore MPA proposals for sandeels have been identified and were included in the Report to Parliament in December 2012 in recognition of the importance of preserving the species in its own right but also given the importance of sandeels for key seabird species. Scottish National Heritage and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee have advised that the objectives for the MPA proposals should be to conserve sandeel. Evidence suggests that sandeel are not in decline in these areas because few are activities taking place likely to affect their conservation status. Populations of sandeel are also not considered to be in decline because of existing fisheries measures to protect sandeel, such as the measures that span the marine waters of the Forth, and the relatively quick turnover of sandeels.
Certain areas of the sea act as sources for populations of species. These sources add new individuals to increase the population numbers of the species. The role of the MPA network for sandeels is to protect sources for sandeel which supply young sandeel to other sandeel grounds around Scotland, thus promoting the health of the overall population. The MPA proposals for sandeels that were reported on in 2012 represent such sources of sandeel.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 April 2013
-
Current Status:
Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 16 April 2013
To ask the Scottish Government whether the proposed network of marine protected areas will protect sandeels in the River Forth.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-14069 on 16 April 2013. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Friday, 15 March 2013
-
Current Status:
Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 16 April 2013
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government on any changes to how environmental impacts will be assessed in Scotland under the UK Office for Unconventional Gas.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-13713 on 15 April 2013. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Friday, 15 March 2013
-
Current Status:
Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 15 April 2013
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with (a) the UK Government, (b) Dart Energy and (c) REACH Coal Seam Gas about the environmental impact of field development plans from 1997, 2006 and 2012 in relation to Petroleum Exploration and Development Licence (i) 133, (ii) 159, (iii) 161 and (iv) 163 and when.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-13713 on 15 April 2013. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Friday, 15 March 2013
-
Current Status:
Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 15 April 2013
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government about how environmental impacts are assessed under the licensing, planning and regulatory framework for onshore unconventional gas extraction.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-13713 on 15 April 2013. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Friday, 15 March 2013
-
Current Status:
Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 15 April 2013
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with (a) the UK Government, (b) Dart Energy and (c) REACH Coal Seam Gas about the environmental impact of Petroleum Exploration and Development Licence (i) 133, (ii) 159, (iii) 161 and (iv) 163 and when.
Answer
The Scottish Government has had no specific discussions with the UK Government on the environmental impacts of unconventional gases. The Government is advised on environmental matters by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) who sits on a UK wide unconventional gas regulatory group. SEPA’s position is set out in their document, Regulatory Guidance for Coal Bed Methane and Shale Gas, which is available at:
http://www.sepa.org.uk/customer_information/energy_industry/unconventional_gas/regulatory_roles.aspx.
The Scottish Government has had no specific discussions on environmental impacts with Dart Energy and REACH Coal seam Gas. The companies have engaged with SEPA in relation to obtaining the required environmental licences or permits. These would be required before any exploration or production works can occur within the Petroleum Development Licences 133, 159, 161 and 163. Such work would also require planning permission, for which SEPA is a statutory consultee and would specifically require SEPA authorisation under the Water Environment (controlled activities) (Scotland) Regulation 2011 (CAR).
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 March 2013
-
Current Status:
Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 15 April 2013
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions took place between its Rural Payments and Inspections Division and Raasay Crofters Association between 1 November 2011 and 14 December 2012.
Answer
On 1 November 2011, the Scottish Government Rural Payments and Inspections Division served Raasay Crofters Association notice that their lease for sporting rights would end on 28 November 2012. During the period from 1 November to
14 December 2012, a representative of the Raasay Crofters’ Association discussed the proposed advertising approach and timescales with an official in Rural Payments and Inspections Division. Another official sent the Raasay Crofters’ Association a copy of the particulars of let following a telephone call to request these details. There is no record of any further communication.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 March 2013
-
Current Status:
Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 15 April 2013
To ask the Scottish Government whether ministers were informed that its Rural Payments and Inspections Division had written to Raasay Crofters Association on 1 November 2011 with a notice to quit the lease for the sporting rights on Raasay.
Answer
On 1 November 2011, the Scottish Government Rural Payments and Inspections Division served Raasay Crofters Association notice that their lease for Raasay sporting rights would end on 28 November 2012. There is a long standing precedent for decisions on award of leases across Scottish Ministers estates being taken by officials, as most of these leases are of low financial value. Ministers were not informed of the notice to quit being issued or the advertisement of the contract. Ministers were first made aware of the decision having been taken to award the contract for the Raasay sporting rights (on 8 January) to South Ayrshire Stalking when Dave Thompson MSP verbally informed the Minister for Environment and Climate Change of the community’s concerns of the outcome on 14 January. This was closely followed by correspondence from Jamie McGrigor MSP.
