- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 29 January 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 10 February 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-30269 by Richard Lochhead on 27 January 2010, whether it will give an example of an Act in which the term public authority is undefined that might serve as a precedent to determine the meaning of the expression in the Marine (Scotland) Bill.
Answer
Acts frequently refer to public authorities without listing which authorities are covered, or defining them in detail.
The Human Rights Act 1998 is a good example. It contains no list or basic definition of public authority, and there is case law relative to the meaning of public authority in that act.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 29 January 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 10 February 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-30269 by Richard Lochhead on 27 January 2010, whether the group of public authorities to which the Marine (Scotland) Bill will apply will be most similar to the group of bodies defined as public authorities in (a) section 6(3) of the Human Rights Act 1998, (b) section 3 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, or (c) section 322 of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 or defined as public bodies or office-holders in section 58 of the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004.
Answer
The Scottish Government is of the view that any authority which is public for the purposes of the legislation referred to and which has devolved functions is also likely to be a public authority for the purposes of the bill.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 29 January 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 10 February 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list those public authorities that will be subject to the duty in section 11(1) of the Marine (Scotland) Bill to take authorisation or enforcement decisions in accordance with the appropriate marine plans unless material considerations indicate otherwise.
Answer
The Scottish Government cannot say definitively which authorities will be covered but does not think that there will be many cases where there will be any real doubt as to whether an authority is covered or not.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 21 December 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 27 January 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what the definition is of public authority under the Marine (Scotland) Bill.
Answer
It is not common practice to define the term public authority in a bill. The absence of such a definition is in line with other legislation and not expected to cause any problems in practice.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 21 December 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 27 January 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what the reasons are for appeals against decisions under section 22 of the Marine (Scotland) Bill being referred to a Sheriff Court rather than the Scottish Executive Inquiry Reporters Unit.
Answer
The Directorate for Planning and Environmental Appeals have a key role in determining appeals to Scottish ministers arising from decisions taken by other public bodies, mainly planning authorities.
In the present context, where an appeal is to be taken against a decision made by the Scottish ministers, it is proposed that any such appeal be heard by the courts.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 December 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 26 January 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to revise the definition of the protected geographical indication status for Scottish farmed salmon.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-30297 on 26 January 2010 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/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 December 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 26 January 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it received during 2009 asking it to revise the definition of the protected geographical indication status for Scottish farmed salmon; who made the representations, and what changes they were seeking.
Answer
We have received an application to amend the Scottish Farmed Salmon PGI from the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation. Once this application is finalised the Scottish Government will issue it for public consultation.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 21 December 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 26 January 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive whether appeals against licensing decisions under section 22 of the Marine (Scotland) Bill will be referred to a Sheriff Court even if the projects in question have received a decision on an application under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989.
Answer
Section 27 of the Marine (Scotland) Bill allows the marine licence and the Section 36 consent to be considered together. This will allow for a streamlined decision making process. If a project has received a section 36 Electricity Act consent it will still require the relevant marine licence for certain parts of the project to proceed. As such, it is only right that the applicant should have the right to appeal in the unlikely event that a marine licence is refused. In such cases appeal is likely to be to the sheriff court.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 21 December 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 26 January 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive how it will ensure that the powers provided under section 18(3) and (4) of the Marine (Scotland) Bill will not be used to require private sector organisations to collect information for generic public use beyond that required to support development applications.
Answer
The provisions within Section 18(3) and (4) allow Marine Scotland to collect information only for the purposes of allowing the effective consideration of an application and to make informed decisions when issuing a licence, attaching conditions to a licence or refusing a licence.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 21 December 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 26 January 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive whether minor engineering works associated with renewables developments, such as repairs to electrical cables and small-scale redesign of turbine layouts, will be prescribed under section 17A of the Marine (Scotland) Bill.
Answer
Under section 17A, Scottish Ministers may by regulations prescribe classes or descriptions of licensable marine activity which will be subject to pre-application consultation. This is a new provision introduced to the bill during stage 2 and as yet exact details of the marine activities which would fall within the scope of the provision have not been determined. There will be a full consultation process on any relevant regulations but it is likely that minor, small scale projects or repairs would fall outwith the scope of the provision.
