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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 MSPs 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

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Question reference: S1W-21884

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 January 2002
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 29 January 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive how much was spent on Environmentally Sensitive Area schemes in each of the past six years for which figures are available; how many producers were eligible to participate in each scheme, and how many did so, broken down by area.

The information is as follows:

	Expenditure
ESA Scheme	1995-96	1996-97	1997-98	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01
Breadalbane (Original)	£42,733	£5,858	-	-	-	-
Breadalbane (Revised)	£354,064	£551,798	£607,426	£546,495	£656,148	£581,891
Loch Lomond (Original)	£5,449	£3,230	£2,310	£1,500	-	-
Loch Lomond (Revised)	£120,388	£168,076	£159,650	£140,715	£153,535	£192,265
Stewartry (Original)	£111,353	£45,940	£25,801	£7,936	-	-
Stewartry (Revised)	£370,937	£567,132	£899,810	£1,262,815	£815,139	£1,077,016
Whitlaw/Eildon	£19,548	£2,514	£2,430	£1,125	-	-
Central Borders¹	£113,587	£238,645	£446,446	£508,661	£601,775	£974,440
Machair of the Uists etc (Original)	£75,348	£49,247	£21,417	£517	-	-
Machair of the Uists etc (Revised)	£26,633	£133,775	£305,091	£374,448	£400,261	£628,153
Central Southern Uplands	£541,437	£641,007	£1,131,845	£1,306,420	£1,045,108	£1,804,029
Western Southern Uplands	£262,627	£376,433	£588,951	£657,340	£692,083	£940,870
Cairngorms Straths	£141,443	£260,987	£612,384	£808,543	£786,429	£977,403
Argyll Islands	£261,562	£487,927	£995,371	£1,096,973	£1,292,682	£1,225,348
Shetland Islands	£77,535	£234,573	£508,011	£781,552	£1,108,010	£2,041,886
Totals	£2,524,644	£3,767,142	£6,306,943	£7,495,040	£7,551,170	£10,443,301

Note:1 Formerly Whitlaw/Eildon.

	ESA Scheme agreements in force at 31 March of each year.
ESA Scheme	Estimated No of Eligible Participants	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001
Breadalbane (Original)	-	8	1	-	-	-	-
Breadalbane (Revised)	194	91	112	122	137	166	166
Loch Lomond (Original)	-	16	4	-	-	-	-
Loch Lomond (Revised)	72	31	38	39	44	51	51
Stewartry (Original)	-	34	17	2	-	-	-
Stewartry (Revised)	380	115	140	179	186	203	202
Whitlaw/Eildon	-	4	2	2	-	-	-
Central Borders¹	170	41	62	82	112	143	143
Machair of the Uists etc (Original)	-	143	105	57	-	-	-
Machair of the Uists etc (Revised)	480	103	186	224	306	407	407
Central Southern Uplands	385	157	177	206	239	297	295
Western Southern Uplands	400	80	90	126	140	183	183
Cairngorms Straths	188	54	71	104	122	158	158
Argyll Islands	450	134	169	266	331	367	367
Shetland Islands	1,350	83	154	283	437	728	724
Totals	4,069	1,094	1,328	1,692	2,054	2,703	2,696

Note:1. Formerly Whitlaw/Eildon.

Question reference: S1W-21885

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 January 2002
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 29 January 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive when a decision is expected on the application by Shetland Islands Council to operate Sumburgh Airport.

Question reference: S1W-21851

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 January 2002
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 29 January 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive how the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill will ensure that those who seek to exercise a right of access do so at their own risk.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-21848, which explained that we see no need to amend the Occupier's Liability (Scotland) Act 1960, given the terms of section 5(2) of the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill. Section 2(3) of the 1960 Act also provides that nothing in that act imposes on occupiers any obligations to persons entering their land in respect of risks which such persons have willingly accepted, as determined by reference to the same principles as in other cases in which one person owes to another a duty of care. This ensures the application of the relevant common law rules concerning assumption of risk. However, since the issue of assumption of risk is so tied up with the question of the extent of the occupier's duty of care and since section 5(2) makes it clear that nothing in Part 1 of the bill will affect that duty, we do not consider that any further provision is necessary concerning this issue in the bill.

Question reference: S1W-21888

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 January 2002
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 29 January 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive when it last met the Crown Estate to discuss (a) fish farming research and (b) sub-seabed cable links to the Scottish islands.

The Executive has two places on the management committee which considers proposals for funding from the Crown Estate's aquaculture research and development budget. This committee last met on 28 January. Research and development was also discussed at a meeting with the Crown Estate on 23 January about the development of a strategic framework for aquaculture. No meetings have been held on the second matter.

Question reference: S1W-21854

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 January 2002
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 29 January 2002

The following table lists information on gross expenditure for general dental services by health board area for 1999-2000 and 2000-01. In addition, it lists the general dental services indicative allocation figures for 2001-02 and 2002-03 for each health board area since gross expenditure figures for 2001-02 are not yet available.General Dental Services (£ million):

Health Board	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03
Argyll & Clyde	14.205	14.088	15.835	16.704
Ayrshire & Arran	11.955	12.352	13.736	14.489
Borders	3.394	3.408	3.691	3.893
Dumfries & Galloway	3.903	3.653	4.253	4.486
Fife	10.368	10.860	11.637	12.275
Forth Valley	8.819	9.475	9.932	10.477
Grampian	15.402	16.801	17.840	18.819
Greater Glasgow	35.737	34.721	38.098	40.188
Highland	5.759	6.174	6.408	6.759
Lanarkshire	17.909	18.462	18.833	19.866
Lothian	26.607	27.803	29.740	31.372
Orkney	0.457	0.497	0.562	0.596
Shetland	0.555	0.536	0.468	0.497
Tayside	13.667	14.283	15.572	16.426
Western Isles	0.821	0.872	0.786	0.829
Scotland	169.558	173.985	187.391	197.676

Question reference: S1W-21886

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 January 2002
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 29 January 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will set out its current policy on the aviation sector and what plans it has to support improvements to the aviation industry and increase the provision of flights to and from all parts of Scotland.

Question reference: S1W-21145

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 14 December 2001
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 28 January 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to develop policy on relief from water charges for charitable organisations beyond April 2002.

Question reference: S1W-21839

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 14 January 2002
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 28 January 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive how many applications under the Agricultural Business Development Scheme have been made in each of the last three years and the current year; how many applications were approved, and what funding was allocated and spent as a result, broken down by category of application and by local area office in the Highlands and Islands.

The Agricultural Business Development Scheme (ABDS) statutory instrument did not come into force until February 2001 therefore it was not possible to issue grant awards before that date. Four Project Assessment Committee meetings were held in 2001 to assess 479 applications, of which 338 of those were approved. The total amount of grant allocated to ABDS applicants in 2001 was £4,057,437 and to date £502,402 has been claimed and issued.The ABDS is funded jointly by the Scottish Executive and by the EU as part of the Highlands and Islands Special Transitional Programme. £3.99 million is available for allocation to ABDS applicants in year 2002. The breakdown of applications by Area Office and category of application is as follows:(a) Applications by Area Office

Area Office	No. of applications	No. approved	Grant allocated (£)
Ayr	51	43	479,816
Elgin	70	53	559,789
Inverness	84	63	714,650
Kirkwall	47	39	702,065
Lairg	13	6	59,237
Lerwick	8	5	57,635
Oban	127	79	859,416
Portree	15	10	134,864
Thurso	56	36	448,963
Stornoway	8	4	41,002
Total	479	338	4,057,437

(b) Applications by Category

	No. of applications	No. approved	Grant allocated (£)
Investment in Holdings	352	271	2,845,271
Agricultural Diversification	2	1	9,436
Non-Agricultural Diversification	125	66	1,202,730
Total	479	338	4,057,437

So far this year, no ABDS awards have been made. The next ABDS Project Assessment Committee is scheduled to meet in Inverness in early March 2002 and applicants will be notified soon afterwards if they have been successful.

Question reference: S1W-21840

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 14 January 2002
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 28 January 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the risk analysis being undertaken by its Environment and Rural Affairs Department of the 21-day movement restriction rule applying to cattle and sheep has been concluded and, if so, what conclusions have been reached.

A risk analysis which assessed the reduction in risk of new outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease by the imposition of a 20-day standstill for cattle, sheep and goats was prepared by the Department of Risk Assessment at the Veterinary Laboratories Agency. This risk analysis was issued on 28 November 2001 and copies have been placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 18976).The assessment concluded that a 20-day standstill effectively applied has the potential to reduce, probably by somewhere close to 100%, the probability of spread of infection by movement of livestock from any premises where infection is present in the livestock. However, the presence of non-blood tested sheep is likely to reduce the probable effectiveness of a 20-day standstill by a considerable amount.Following discussions with our main stakeholders, my officials are now consulting wider interests on proposals which will:retain the principle of the 20-day standstill during 2002, subject to review;allow, from mid-February, a number of limited exemptions from the standstill (for breeding bulls and rams, foster calves and lambs etc);permit from 18 March for cattle and 18 May for sheep an option to apply the 20-day standstill only to animals brought onto the farm (or to animals to be moved off) and not the rest of the animals on the holding on condition that they are kept separate and that biosecurity measures are observed.

Question reference: S1W-20226

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 November 2001
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 21 January 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive what targets it has set for the expansion of the renewable energy sector in terms of job numbers and value to the economy.