- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 26 April 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 18 May 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive at what time on 20 April 2010 the MV Hamnavoe sailed from Stromness to Bergen.
Answer
MV Hamnavoe departed Stromness for Bergen at midnight on 20 April 2010.
On 22 April 2010, during the statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth on the impacts of the disruption to aviation caused by the volcanic eruption in Iceland, the Cabinet Secretary stated in response to a question from Liam McArthur MSP: As Mr McArthur will know, ferries cannot sail at the drop of a hat and the MV Hamnavoe was dispatched at 9 o''clock on Tuesday evening from Stromness to Bergen for an expected 18-hour crossing.
The Cabinet Secretary misread the timeline available to him as 21:00 was the time when MV Hamnavoe became available for redeployment after the completion of her scheduled daily sailings on the Pentland Firth. Midnight was the earliest time she could actually depart once all preparations had been completed.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 26 April 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 18 May 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive on what date and at what time it (a) first contacted NorthLink Ferries Ltd to discuss the removal of the MV Hamnavoe from its Pentland Firth route in order to sail to Bergen, (b) made its decision to send the MV Hamnavoe to Bergen, (c) made public its decision to use the MV Hamnavoe to evacuate people from Bergen and (d) instructed NorthLink Ferries Ltd to make arrangements to send the MV Hamnavoe to Bergen.
Answer
(a) Scottish Government officials were first made aware of the emerging situation in Norway by NorthLink at 10:05 on 18 April 2010 when the company referred to this during its routine service update. The option of deploying a NorthLink vessel on this sailing was first discussed between NorthLink and Scottish Government officials on the afternoon of 18 April 2010. The issue was then discussed with ministers the same afternoon.
(b) The decision to send MV Hamnavoe to Bergen to aid in efforts to repatriate stranded UK nationals was taken by ministers at 14:40 on 20 April 2010 once reliable information on demand, which showed that a sailing was justified, had been gathered.
(c) The decision was announced by the First Minister at around 15:15 on 20 April 2010 during an interview with Sky TV. A press release was issued at 15:53 and was placed on the Scottish Government website by 17:00.
NorthLink''s website first indicated at 14:42 on 20 April 2010 that consideration was being given by government to redeploying MV Hamnavoe. This was confirmed on the website at 16:08 and customers with bookings on the affected services were contacted directly.
(d) NorthLink had been kept informed of discussions on an ongoing basis. Once Ministers'' decision was made, this was conveyed immediately to NorthLink. NorthLink confirmed their agreement to undertake this sailing in time for the announcement referred to above.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 May 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 17 May 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what (a) statutory and (b) non-statutory bodies were involved in the formulation of the Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters Marine Spatial Plan Framework.
Answer
Informal meetings about the proposed approach to developing the Framework were held with Orkney and Highland councils, The Crown Estate and Scottish Natural Heritage. The Scottish Government''s Marine Energy Spatial Planning Group discussed the proposed approach in one of their meetings. There were two open-invitation stakeholder events in Thurso and Kirkwall for other interested parties. Information was also made public on the internet on the process of developing the framework.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 May 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 17 May 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive how the Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters Marine Spatial Plan Framework will guide decision making for development in the Pentland Firth.
Answer
The Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters Marine Spatial Plan Framework sets out the process by which a non-statutory pilot marine spatial plan will be developed.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 May 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 17 May 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what input the (a) Marine Energy Spatial Planning Group and (b) Marine Strategic Studies Forum provided in the formulation of the Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters Marine Spatial Plan Framework.
Answer
The Marine Energy Spatial Planning Group discussed the proposed approach to developing the framework at its meetings in March and August 2009.
Members of the Marine Strategic Studies Forum were given the opportunity to comment on the proposed approach to developing the framework via email in August 2009.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 May 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 17 May 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what opportunities there were for stakeholder involvement in the formulation of the Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters Marine Spatial Plan Framework.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-33514 on 17 May 2010. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 May 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 17 May 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive how the Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters Marine Spatial Plan will work with regional plans emerging from Scottish marine regions.
Answer
The Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters marine spatial plan was started to provide momentum in advance of the implementation of the new statutory marine planning system. The main focus has been assembling information which will be necessary for planning this sensitive area, regardless of the final agreed boundaries for planning. The marine spatial plan may be incorporated into future statutory marine plans but this will depend on decisions in Scottish marine regions and other statutory marine planning processes.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 May 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 17 May 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what the statutory status is of the Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters Marine Spatial Plan Framework.
Answer
The framework sets out a process for developing a plan for Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters in a staged approach. The framework is not a statutory document.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 May 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 17 May 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive how it plans to include input from (a) environmental, (b) fisheries, (c) recreational and (d) shipping interests in the Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters Marine Spatial Plan.
Answer
The Scottish Government is currently consulting on the Framework and will be considering how to take forward its recommendations on obtaining more detailed information on various sectors'' use of these waters before developing the draft plan. Input is welcome from all interested sectors.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 May 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 17 May 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-32070 by Richard Lochhead on 15 March 2010, for what reason (a) environmental, (b) fisheries, (c) recreational and (d) shipping interests are not represented on the (i) Marine Energy Group and (ii) Marine Energy Spatial Planning Group.
Answer
These groups were primarily focussed on identifying the issues for Government arising from the potential of the marine renewables industry.
