Questions and answers

Chamber and committees

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 ��˿�� 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: S1W-12324

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 January 2001
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 26 January 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive whether a co-ordinator should be appointed to ensure effective co-ordination of local and national salmon monitoring and research programmes and, if so, when such a co-ordinator will be appointed.

Question reference: S1W-12291

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 January 2001
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 26 January 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is considering any further measures, other than those contained in the Salmon Conservation (Scotland) Bill, in relation to the conservation of salmon; if so, what measures are being considered; what stage such consideration has reached and what measures will be introduced.

The terms of the Salmon Conservation (Scotland) Bill are deliberately non-prescriptive to allow district salmon fishery boards to apply for a range of conservation measures. The Executive expects individual boards to put together a package of conservation measures which will address the problems in their particular district.In the meantime, the analysis of responses to the consultation exercise on "Protecting and Promoting Scotland's Freshwater Fish and Fisheries" currently in progress, will no doubt raise a number of issues for consideration.

Question reference: S1W-12295

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 January 2001
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 26 January 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will introduce a decommissioning scheme for Scottish registered fishing boats and, if so, when and with what budget.

Question reference: S1W-12293

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 January 2001
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 26 January 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has made representations to Her Majesty's Government regarding the banning of drift netting off the North East coast of England, as opposed to reducing it by the means of the issue of fewer licences.

Question reference: S1W-12457

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 12 January 2001
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 26 January 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what assistance is currently provided to farmers and crofters on lower incomes and in particular to those whose net income is below that of a full-time worker in receipt of an income based on the minimum wage.

There are a wide range of agricultural support measures available to farmers and crofters regardless of income levels. In addition the Scottish Agricultural Wages Board sets a minimum hourly rate of pay for agricultural workers. The rate for an adult worker is currently 18% above the national minimum wage.Farmers and crofters on low incomes are entitled to the normal social security assistance. Social Security is reserved to the UK Parliament.

Question reference: S1W-12455

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 12 January 2001
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 26 January 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make representations to Her Majesty's Government to secure additional agrimonetary compensation and, if so, what amount it will seek to secure.

The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the United Kingdom Government on a wide range of issues including agrimoney compensation. The Scottish Executive cannot decide unilaterally to pay compensation since agrimoney payments must be made on a UK-wide basis. That is why the subject was discussed along with other issues when I met with the other Agricultural Ministers on Monday 22 January.The United Kingdom Government has until the end of April 2001 to apply to the EU Commission for such aid. Since the precise amounts of agrimoney compensation available to the UK has yet to be determined by the EU Commission, it is rather pre-mature to discuss how much agrimoney compensation, if any, we will apply for. We will consider the matter in more detail once we have a clearer picture of precisely how much money is at stake.

Question reference: S1W-12285

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 January 2001
Current Status: Answered by Sam Galbraith on 25 January 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive whether additional measures are required in order to eradicate the feral mink population; if so, in which parts of Scotland and when such steps will be taken.

Feral mink are widely distributed over most of mainland Scotland and many offshore islands. Their impact on ground-nesting birds is well documented and it is widely believed that mink are also associated with the decline of the water vole.

The Scottish Executive is supporting Scottish Natural Heritage's application for EU LIFE-Nature funding to assist with the first phase of a mink eradication programme for the Western Isles.SNH continues to maintain an overview on the subject of mink predation and control as it relates to the natural heritage. In view of the extensive range which the species now occupies in Britain, total eradication of the species is not possible. Therefore, resources must be carefully targeted at key sites where long-term control is considered to be a practicable option.

Question reference: S1W-12284

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 January 2001
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 25 January 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has considered the use of non-lethal methods of control of seal populations; if so, what conclusions have been reached and, if not, whether it will now consider the issue.

The Scottish Executive has considered the use of non-lethal methods of seal population control. In 1998 the Executive asked the Special Committee on Seals (SCOS) of the Natural Environment Research Council to assess whether a recently developed Canadian method of contraceptive sterilisation of seals might be a feasible way to stabilise or reduce Scottish grey seal numbers.

On the basis of SCOS' advice it was concluded that there would be considerable practical and financial problems involved in attempting a successful sterilisation programme using this method in Scotland. In Scotland seal populations are more scattered and more wary of humans than in Canada and hence cannot easily be approached for effective sterilisation using this method. In order to stabilise the grey seal population at its 1997 level of 95,000 it was estimated that a total of 14,000 adult females would need to be sterilised in the first year with gradually reducing annual numbers thereafter reaching 3,000 after some seven years. In order to reduce the seal population below the 1997 level, much greater numbers of seals would need to be sterilised.There are no current plans to introduce contraceptive measures to control the Scottish seal population but the Executive will continue to assess the potential of any future non-lethal control measures.

Question reference: S1W-12286

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 January 2001
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 25 January 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the statement by the Deputy Minister for Rural Development on 23 November 2000 regarding the latest scientific advice from the special committee on seal population si'es (Official Report, col. 335), whether this information has been received; if so, when and whether it will place the information in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.

Question reference: S1W-12283

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 January 2001
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 25 January 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the methods of controlling the seal population provided for by the Conservation of Seals Act 1970 are sufficient.