- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 January 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 7 February 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any assessment has been made of Quality Meat Scotland's performance since its establishment.
Answer
I am encouraged by the progress made by QMS and look forward to the publication of its Strategic Plan. It should be noted that QMS is an industry body which is not directly accountable to the Scottish Executive.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 January 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 7 February 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average levy paid by farmers to the Meat and Livestock Commission is.
Answer
Levy is collected at the point of slaughter and paid by abattoir operators to the MLC. Abattoir operators deduct the farmer portion of the MLC levy from the payments they make to farmers for animals purchased. It is therefore not possible for the MLC to calculate the average levy paid by farmers as these records are not held by the Commission.For information, the levy charged per animal is:
| | General | Promotion |
| CATTLE | £2.05 | £2.30 |
| Farmers portion | £1.025 | £2.30 |
| SHEEP | £0.31 | £0.32 |
| Farmers portion | £0.155 | £0.32 |
| PIGS | £0.40 | £0.65 |
| Farmers portion | £0.20 | £0.65 |
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 January 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 7 February 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1O-1712 by Ross Finnie on 18 May 2000, whether it is satisfied that the concerns about the representation of the various agriculture sectors on the Quality Meat Scotland board have been addressed.
Answer
Membership of the QMS Board has been expanded to broaden sectoral representation, a decision which I welcome.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 January 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 7 February 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide details of the cod recovery plan agreed between the EU and the Norwegian authorities and what the impact of this will be for the Scottish fishing industry.
Answer
Details of the cod recovery plan are given in the Agreed Record of Consultations between the European Community and Norway on the North Sea cod crises, a copy of which has been placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. no. 11042).I am currently undertaking a series of meetings with the industry to discuss the potential impact of the North Sea Cod recovery programme and the outcome of last December's Fishery Council.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 30 November 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Iain Gray on 1 February 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to make available funding for child-care or creche facilities to assist in the recruitment of female retained fire fighters.
Answer
It is for fire boards and authorities to determine their own priorities for use of the funding available to them. The strategies referred to in the answer to question S1W-11661 will include means to assist in the recruitment of female retained firefighters.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 18 January 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Sam Galbraith on 1 February 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive how many sea cage fish farming operators have been taken to court by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and what percentage of these cases resulted in a conviction, broken down for each year since the establishment of the agency.
Answer
Information about the number of cases taken to court by the Procurator Fiscal after referral by the agency is not held centrally. However, the agency publishes details of successful prosecutions on its website at:http://www.sepa.org.uk/envdata/prosecutions/
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 18 January 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Henry McLeish on 1 February 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive why the Minister for Rural Affairs was renamed the Minister for Rural Development.
Answer
The portfolio was renamed to emphasise the Executive's commitment to the development of rural areas.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 18 January 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Alasdair Morrison on 1 February 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to introduce compulsory registration for bed and breakfast establishments.
Answer
No.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 January 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Henry McLeish on 31 January 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive how many official visits the First Minister has undertaken in (a) Aberdeen and (b) the North East of Scotland parliamentary region since his appointment and when he next intends to visit these locations.
Answer
I will be visiting Aberdeen on 1 and 2 February.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 January 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 31 January 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive how much financial assistance was made available in each of the last three years for road improvements in (a) Aberdeen, (b) Dundee, (c) Edinburgh, (d) Glasgow and (e) each Scottish parliamentary region and what percentage of the total transport budget for the relevant year each of these figures represents.
Answer
Central government funding for expenditure on local roads forms part of the annual local government settlement. It is for each local authority to decide how much to allocate to local roads. Spending on motorway and trunk road schemes is recorded by individual project and by network management area, not by city or council boundaries. Similarly, data is not held centrally on roads budgets and expenditure by parliamentary region.
