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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

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S3W-33515

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 May 2010
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 17 May 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what the membership is of the Marine Energy Spatial Planning Group environment research sub-group.

Question reference: S3W-33514

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 May 2010
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.

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.

Question reference: S3W-33513

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 May 2010
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.

Question reference: S3W-33516

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 May 2010
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.

Question reference: S3W-33517

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 May 2010
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.

Question reference: S3O-10530

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 May 2010
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 13 May 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive when the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth last met representatives of Orkney Islands Council.

Question reference: S3W-33298

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 April 2010
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 6 May 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the potential impact on (a) fish catching, (b) fish processing and (c) ancillary fisheries support businesses of any early closure of white fish and nephrops fisheries due to 2010 quotas running out before the end of the year and what the outcome was.

Question reference: S3W-33297

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 April 2010
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 6 May 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the take-up to date of the Scottish quota for (a) haddock, (b) whiting, (c) cod, (d) saithe, (e) hake, (f) monkfish and (g) nephrops in the (i) North Sea and (ii) west coast fishing waters and what the result is.

Question reference: S3W-33301

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 April 2010
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 6 May 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make representations to the European Commission, HM Government and other EU member states regarding the introduction of EU regulations to allow Scottish fish producer organisations to purchase or lease quotas and days at sea from fishermen in other member states.

Question reference: S3W-33300

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 April 2010
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 6 May 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with fisheries stakeholders on the implications of any early closure of white fish and nephrops fisheries due to 2010 quotas running out before the end of the year and what the outcome was.

Scottish Fish Producer Organisations are responsible for managing the uptake of quotas allocated to them in a way that best suits their members. The Scottish Government monitors their performance.

The Scottish Government has drawn the attention of the producer organisations and other fisheries stakeholders to the fact that the continuation of fishing activity at its current rate could lead to the early closure of whitefish and nephrops fisheries. On a number of occasions in recent weeks it has discussed with representatives of the fishing industry how fishing opportunities might best be managed in the context of the opportunities available and the uptake to date in terms of both landings and fishing effort.

The following table notes uptake of available quota on 28 April 2010:

	% Uptake
Stock	North Sea	West of Scotland
Haddock*	34	53
Whiting	49	95
Cod*	31	58
Saithe	56	53
Hake	51	30
Monkfish	19	58
Nephrops	27	18

Note: *For West of Scotland Haddock and Cod, figures quoted are for ICES Area Via.

Consultations with the fishing industry have involved stakeholders from all parts of the country and from each of the industry sectors. They have focussed on a number of points, including ways in which available fishing opportunities can be increased; methods by which the uptake of opportunities can be better rationed over the course of the year, and, ways in which greater flexibility can be introduced into licensing and other regulatory arrangements to provide fishing businesses with greater scope to adapt and grow.

The government is committed to working closely with the catching sector to help ensure a full year fishery, and will manage the non-sector vessels for which it has direct responsibility to achieve that outcome. It is for producer organisations to assess the consequences for the marketing of their produce of any failure to ensure continuity of supply.