- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 12 January 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 22 January 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what levels of (a) dioxins, (b) polychlorinated biphenols, (c) toxaphene and (d) dieldrin were found in (i) farmed salmon, (ii) wild salmon and (iii) fish farming feedstuffs sampled by government agencies between 1990 and 2003.
Answer
This is a matter for theFood Standards Agency and industry trade associations. The informationrequested is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 January 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 21 January 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it intends to take to ensure that conditions are improved and enforced on pig farms in Scotland following the report in December 2003 by Advocates for Animals of unacceptable conditions in which pigs were being kept on Scotpigs' farms.
Answer
The Welfare of FarmedAnimals (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2003 introduced a range ofnew conditions to improve the welfare of pigs. In addition, the StateVeterinary Service will continue to monitor conditions on pig farms andappropriate enforcement action will be initiated if contraventions are found.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 January 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 21 January 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it plans to take following Advocates for Animals recent investigation into Scottish pet shops referring to a range of unacceptable practices, including a lack of guidance by local authorities, breaches of pet shop licence conditions and aspects of the pet trade being unregulated.
Answer
The Pet Animals Act 1951,which is the legislation that governs the licensing and operation of pet shops,is currently under review as part of a wider review of animal welfarelegislation. The information provided by Advocates for Animals will beconsidered as part of that review. Licensing and enforcement is theresponsibility of local authorities.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 05 January 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 14 January 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what modelling has been done on the impact, under the reformed Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), of basing the single payment on hybrids of area-based and historic approaches and how the results of any such modelling can be publicly accessed in order to inform responses to the second question on the single payment scheme in the consultation paper CAP Reform: Opportunities for Scotland.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has undertaken modelling of the impact of calculating the single farm paymenton various hybrid area‑based approaches and of the historic individualapproach. The results of the modelling are publicly available on the Executive鈥檚CAP Reform website:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/about/ERADA/AgriPol/00017653/Economic.aspx.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 05 January 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 14 January 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what data it has showing how funding would be redistributed across regions and agricultural sectors under single payments based on hybrids of area-based and historic approaches following Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has undertaken modelling into the redistributive effect of differentapproaches to calculating the single farm payment. This shows how funding wouldbe redistributed at regional level under the historic approach compared with anumber of hybrid area-based models. The results of the modelling are publiclyavailable on the Executive鈥檚 CAP Reform website:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/about/ERADA/AgriPol/00017653/Economic.aspx
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 05 January 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 14 January 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what action has been taken to ensure that the general public, in addition to farmers and crofters, is encouraged and enabled to contribute to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform consultation process.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has undertaken a wide-ranging consultation exercise to encourage debateon CAP reform. The Executive launched the three-month consultation with a conferencein Edinburgh on 6 October. The consultation paper was sent to awide range of stakeholders, including representatives of civic society. Theconsultation paper, along with background information and supporting analysis,is publicly available on the Scottish Executive website:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/about/ERADA/AgriPol/00017653/Economic.aspxTwelve public meetings havebeen held throughout Scotland to provide information on the CAP reform agreementand the consultation process. These were advertised nationally and locally, andwere open to the general public.
A series of regionalstakeholder discussion groups have also taken place, with numbers kept ataround 20 people representing a cross-section of regional interests. Thesemeetings were organised on behalf of the Scottish Executive by rural partnerships andcommunity planning partnerships, and participants included representatives fromvoluntary organisations.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 16 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive for which habitats Scottish Natural Heritage is the lead partner under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan and how much was spent on the management of each such habitat in the last year for which figures are available.
Answer
This is a matter forScottish Natural Heritage. The information requested is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 November 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 4 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress it is making in determining the extent of illegal fishing outside European Union quotas and regulations.
Answer
The ScottishFisheries Protection Agency devotes significant resources to the monitoring,control and enforcement of fisheries related legislation. However, illegalactivity, by its very nature is clandestine and, therefore, difficult toquantify. Nonetheless, variations in the patterns of suspected illegal landingsare gauged from intelligence received by the agency through the regularmonitoring of the movements and landing arrangements of fishing vessels and thereaction of fishermen when their vessels and catches are the subject ofinspection.
The agency鈥檚resources are utilised with the objective of deterring and detecting suchillegal activity.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 31 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 14 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what Common Agricultural Policy funds have been allocated within Scotland, broken down by region, and when this information will be published.
Answer
The amounts paid out bySEERAD under the main Common Agricultural Policy Schemes in 2002 and brokendown by region are as follows:
| 听 | 拢 million |
| North East Scotland | 81.49 |
| East Scotland | 131.35 |
| South Western Scotland | 84.86 |
| Highlands and Islands | 68.70 |
听
Summary details of the CAPpayments made are published in the:
Economic Report on ScottishAgriculture (published June 2003) and the Annual Report of the Administrationof Common Agricultural Policy schemes in Scotland (published August 2003).
Copies are available on the Scottish Executive website.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 5 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive which policy commitments in A Partnership for a Better Scotland it expects to be delivered through reforms made to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
Answer
The underlying objectives of the CAP reform agreement link closely with our own strategic objectives forScottish agriculture as set out in
A Forward Strategy for ScottishAgriculture. These also underpin many of the commitments set out in therural section of
A Partnership for a Better Scotland. The reform agreementtherefore will help deliver many of these commitments. Two of the maincommitments in the partnership document are:
seek reform of the CAP tosecure improvements for Scotland and to shift subsidies away from merelysupporting production to recognising the economic, social and environmentalcontribution that agriculture makes to rural development, and
implement land management contractsto deliver reformed CAP support which takes account of the diversity ofScottish agriculture and its economic, social and environmental impact.
The agreement itself verylargely achieves the first of these commitments - through decoupling. Theflexibilities available in the agreement also open up possibilities foradvancing the second commitment.
The Scottish Executive is undertaking a wide-ranging consultation on the implementation of theCAP reform and the flexibilities that are available. The consultation will lastthree months from 6 October 2003 to 6 January 2004, and decisions will be taken inFebruary-March 2004.
