- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 August 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 18 September 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether, in light of the report in the Sunday Herald on 19 August 2001 regarding toxin emissions in cement production at the Blue Circle factory near Dunbar, it will commission an independent analysis of the production processes there and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.
Answer
The Executive has no plans to commission an analysis of the production processes at the Dunbar plant. The toxicity of substances used in building materials is controlled through environmental and health and safety legislation. Responsibility for assessing the effectiveness of monitoring procedures for emissions at particular sites lies with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and for occupational health matters with the Health and Safety Executive.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 August 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 18 September 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether, in light of the report in the Sunday Herald on 19 August 2001 regarding toxin emissions in cement production at the Blue Circle factory near Dunbar, it will commission a study into any impact on cows' milk, farm crops and other food, whether for human or animal consumption, produced in and around the area.
Answer
This area of work is now the responsibility of the Food Standards Agency (FSA) which informs me that it currently has no plans to commission a study of food and feedstuffs produced in the vicinity of the Blue Circle cement factory.However, I am advised that the FSA, in its role as a statutory consultee of the regulator SEPA (the Scottish Environment Protection Agency), will shortly be reviewing the operations carried out by Blue Circle at Dunbar in the context of the company's application for a permit under the terms of the Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) Regulations 2000.If the agency has concerns about the impact of emissions on the foodchain, it will advise SEPA accordingly and will, if necessary, recommend that additional safeguards be instituted.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 August 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 18 September 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive how many acts of self-harm were logged at each Scottish Prison Service prison in (a) 1999-2000, (b) 2000-01 and (c) 2001 to date.
Answer
I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:
| Self-Harm 1999-2000 | Self-Harm 2000-01 | Self-Harm 01.04.01-31.08.01 |
| Aberdeen | 0 | 18 | 3 |
| Barlinnie | 31 | 26 | 4 |
| Castle Huntly | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Cornton Vale | 81 | 23 | 21 |
| Dumfries | 9 | 5 | 4 |
| Edinburgh | 26 | 11 | 1 |
| Glenochil | 13 | 20 | 3 |
| Greenock | 27 | 8 | 2 |
| Inverness | 18 | 12 | 6 |
| Low Moss | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| Noranside | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Perth | 16 | 3 | 0 |
| Peterhead | 14 | 4 | 1 |
| Polmont | 30 | 29 | 11 |
| Shotts | 27 | 6 | 4 |
| Zeist | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Total | 296 | 166 | 60 |
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 August 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 18 September 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether, following the report in the Sunday Herald on 19 August 2001 regarding toxin emissions in cement production at the Blue Circle factory near Dunbar, it will commission a study into the incidence of cancer or foetal abnormalities in or around the area.
Answer
The Executive is satisfied with the monitoring procedures in place for measuring emissions from the Blue Circle factory at Dunbar and has no plans to commission such a study.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 August 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 18 September 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Scottish Prison Service is or has been locating possible sites for building private prisons and, if so, where these sites are.
Answer
I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:Work is under way to identify possible sites for new prisons in the central belt.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 August 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 18 September 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is satisfied that the cement production methods at the Blue Circle factory near Dunbar give no cause for concern either to the health of those living in the vicinity or to those who occupy buildings built with cement from there.
Answer
The Executive is satisfied with the monitoring procedures in place for measuring emissions from the Blue Circle factory at Dunbar and with the environmental and health and safety legislation which regulates the cement manufacturing process.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 August 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 18 September 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether cement kilns when combusting waste known as "recycled liquid fuel" emit up to ten times more dioxins than purpose-built incinerators.
Answer
There is no evidence to indicate that higher levels of dioxins are emitted when recycled liquid fuel is used to provide energy in cement kilns compared with emissions from purpose-built incinerators. The use of this type of fuel in cement kilns is treated by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) as a process of co-incineration falling within the scope of the EC Hazardous Waste Incineration Directive. That directive requires a dioxin limit of 0.1 nanogrammes per cubic metre for hazardous waste incinerators. This is the same limit that SEPA applies to purpose-built incinerators.The recycling of waste products into fuels that are useable in processes such as cement production reduces the demand for raw materials and helps to conserve fossil fuel resources.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 August 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 18 September 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it supports a policy of decreasing the level of waste disposal by incineration in line with some other EU countries.
Answer
The current level of municipal waste incinerated in Scotland is around 2%. The National Waste Strategy provides the framework for waste management policy in Scotland and, through the development of 11 area waste plans, will determine the best practicable environmental options for future waste management. A major objective of the strategy is to reduce the reliance on landfill, moving instead to options higher up the waste hierarchy i.e. reduction, reuse, recycling, composting and energy recovery. It would therefore be inappropriate to implement a policy of decreasing the level of waste disposal by incineration.The Renewables Obligation (Scotland) consultation paper issued by the Executive on 3 August 2001 sets out the policy on energy-from-waste as a source of renewable energy. Following initial consultation the Executive proposes not to support the conventional incineration of municipal waste. New, cleaner thermal technologies such as gasification and pyrolysis will be supported where these fit in with an integrated waste management system. This would involve thermal treatment only of the residues left once separation, recycling and composting has been carried out first.Copies of the consultation paper are available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. no. 15597).
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 August 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 18 September 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive when the Prison Estates Review will be published.
Answer
I propose to consult on the published review later this year.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 August 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 18 September 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is aware of any use of additional pollution abatement equipment at the Blue Circle cement factory near Dunbar, given that the factory combusts waste known as "recycled liquid fuel".
Answer
This is a matter for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency. The information requested is not held centrally.
