- Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 13 December 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 20 December 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive which (a) ministers, (b) special advisers and (c) civil servants have spoken to journalists about the proposed development at the Menie Estate, Aberdeenshire, since September 2007, specifying in each case the relevant media outlets.
Answer
No records are keptof specific conversations between ministers, special advisers and civilservants with the media. However, I can confirm that communications officers onboth the Communications First Minister and Communications Finance desks have respondedto a range of media enquiries, as have media special advisers.
- Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 03 December 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 19 December 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how many of the strategies, plans or programmes that it has published have not been subjected to a strategic environmental assessment and what the reasons for the decision not to conduct a strategic environmental assessment were in each case.
Answer
The information requestedmay be divided into two specific categories under current Strategic EnvironmentalAssessment (SEA) legislation:
(a) Those strategies,plans and programmes to which the Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005 does not apply, and
(b) Those that havebeen pre-screened out because they have no or minimal effect in relation to theenvironment.
In relation to thosestrategies, plans and programmes that fall into “category a” this information isnot held centrally.
Those that fall into“category b” are entered onto the pre-screening register, which can be accessedon the Scottish Government internet site.
www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Environment/Pre-screening/Q/forceupdate/on.
- Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 03 December 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 17 December 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive who took the decision not to conduct a strategic environmental assessment on The Government Economic Strategy and when this decision was made.
Answer
Ministers consideredit more appropriate to focus Strategic Environmental Assessments on specific sub-strategiesand policies.
- Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 03 December 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 17 December 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers The Government Economic Strategy to be exempt from the provisions of the Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005 and, if so, under which section of the Act the exemption exists.
Answer
The strategy is notexempt from the provisions of the Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005.
- Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 03 December 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 17 December 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it sought legal advice on the requirement to conduct a strategic environmental assessment on The Government Economic Strategy.
Answer
The practice of the Scottish Government is neither to confirm or deny whether legal advice has beenreceived on any issue.
- Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 October 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 6 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what input it has given, or intends to give, to the General Register Office for Scotland following the published analysis of responses to the Spring 2007 Census Consultation.
Answer
A series of informaldiscussions have been held with the General Register Office for Scotland (GROS)in response to the Census Consultation. Further input across a range of issues in relation tothe Census will be provided to the GROS over the coming months as part of theon-going consideration being given to the topics for inclusion in the 2011 Censusquestionnaire. Under current plans, a provisional decision on the topics to be includedwill be taken by GROS by March 2008. That decision, incorporating also any subsequentchanges resulting from further testing of question wording in a few cases, willbe presented to Parliament later in 2008 for final agreement.
- Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 October 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 6 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it supports the changes proposed by the General Register Office for Scotland to the questions on religion in the 2011 census.
Answer
The Scottish Governmentis supportive of the importance of including some form of question on religion inthe 2011 Census. It recognises the strong level of support that was expressed byusers in response to the spring 2007 Census consultation for the exclusion of aquestion on religion of upbringing on the grounds that a question on current religionwould meet the majority of analysis needs.
- Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 September 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 22 October 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether an air quality assessment is required to comply with EU regulations on new road developments and whether such an assessment has been carried out in relation to the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route.
Answer
The requirement for assessment of air quality impacts is set out in Schedule 4 of the Environmental Impact Assessment (Scotland) Regulations and Annex IV of Council Directive 85/337/EEC as amended by Council Directive 97/11/EC.
Full details of the assessment and the findings for the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route can be found in the Environmental Statement which can be viewed on the project website ().
- Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 30 August 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 20 September 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what its plans are for the current Forth Road Bridge when a replacement crossing has been opened.
Answer
A range of optionsare potentially available for the existing Forth Road Bridge, including supplementing the multi-modal uses of the Forth Crossings. Theseare being looked at carefully in the context of the urgent need for a replacementcrossing and ensuring both the timing and level of investment is prudently deployed.
A short summary ofpotential options is included in Chapter 6 of Report 4 of the Forth ReplacementCrossing Study.
- Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 30 August 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 20 September 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what advice it has taken on the value of the land associated with the current Forth Road Bridge, its approach roads and of the materials constituting the bridge and whether the value of these assets could be realised when a replacement crossing has been opened.
Answer
The Forth Road Bridge is a Grade A listed structure and is managed and maintained by FETA.
Advice has not beensought on the value of the associated land, its approach roads or the material constitutingthe bridge.
The future of theForth Road Bridge will be decided once the on-going works and studies regarding the bridgecables has been completed.
