- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 August 2010
-
Current Status:
Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 9 September 2010
To ask the Scottish Executivewhether it considers that the guga hunt on Sula Sgeir is in contravention of the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland ) Act 2006.
Answer
Gannets are protected under the provisions of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, but section 16 (2) of that act specifically exempts the taking of gannets on the island of Sula Sgeir for the purpose of providing food for human consumption from the provisions of Section 1 and orders under Section 3, if it is done under and in accordance with the terms of a license granted by the appropriate authority.
Section 19 of the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006 creates the offence of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal, but subsection (4), states that in considering whether the suffering was necessary regard needs to be given as to whether the conduct was in compliance with any relevant enactment or any relevant provisions of a licence or code of practice issued under an enactment. Subsection (5) of the act allows the destruction of a protected animal in an appropriate and humane manner.
During the guga hunt on Sula Sgeir the gannets killed are by a single blow to the head. Where more than one blow is required, it is likely that the first blow will render the bird unconscious. If the birds are killed by a competent person the birds will not suffer and no offence will have been committed under the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Friday, 27 August 2010
-
Current Status:
Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 8 September 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there have been any objections, or issues raised, by consultees to the Wildlife and Natural Environment Bill consultation regarding the previous recommendation by the Deer Commission Scotland that a duty of sustainable deer management should be placed on individual land managers as opposed to the recommendation by the Scottish Government that this duty should apply to public bodies.
Answer
Following the formal consultation, we received written representations from one organisation in support of the recommendation from the Deer Commission that a duty of sustainable deer management should be placed on individual land managers. The issue has also been discussed in meetings with a number of stakeholders where support has been expressed both for the Deer Commission recommendation and for the proposals in the Wildlife and Natural Environment Bill.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Monday, 06 September 2010
-
Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 8 September 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what conditions need to be fulfilled for a student to be exempt from paying council tax.
Answer
The qualifying conditions for a student to be exempt from paying council tax are contained within The Local Government Finance Act 1992, and associated regulations. A summary can be found in The Scottish Government''s publication
Council Tax in Scotland: A Guide for Students which can be obtained via the following link
www.scotland.gov.uk/library3/localgov/ctst-00.asp.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Monday, 06 September 2010
-
Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 8 September 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what legislation applies to student exemption from council tax.
Answer
The legislation governing student exemption from council tax is contained within The Local Government Finance Act 1992, and associated regulations.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Monday, 09 August 2010
-
Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 6 September 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in each local authority area have entrances opening onto roads with a speed limit of 60 mph.
Answer
The information requested is not held centrally. A request for the information has been made to local authorities. I will write to the member after the responses have been received and will arrange for a copy of the reply to be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 51608).
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 August 2010
-
Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 6 September 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive how many Sites of Special Scientific Interest have been (a) notified and (b) denotified for biological features and what the cumulative total area of notified land has been in each year since 2000.
Answer
There are 1,135 Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) in Scotland where the list of notified features include biological features. To date four SSSIs have been completely denotified.
| Year | Total Number of New SSSI | Cumulative Total Area (Ha) of SSSIs | Total Number of Denotified SSSIs Including Partial Denotification | Total Area of Denotified SSSI |
| 2000 | 15 | 911,014 | 0 | 0 |
| 2001 | 10 | 970,629 | 0 | 0 |
| 2002 | 2 | 970,716 | 0 | 0 |
| 2003 | 1 | 970,799 | 0 | 0 |
| 2004 | 0 | 970,799 | 0 | 0 |
| 2005 | 1 | 979,742 | 0 | 0 |
| 2006 | 3 | 996,946 | 0 | 0 |
| 2007 | 2 | 1,002,092 | 0 | 0 |
| 2008 | 1 | 1,002,717 | 1 | 2 |
| 2009 | 0 | 1,002,270 | 2 | 447 |
| 2010 | 0 | 1,002,063 | 3 | 207 |
| Totals | 35 | 1,002,063 | 6 | 656 |
Notes:
1. There are situations where more than one SSSI occupies the same piece of land.
2. Scottish Natural Heritage are currently reviewing the suite of SSSI including the remeasurement of boundaries. The data above has taken into account these remeasurements.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Monday, 30 August 2010
-
Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 1 September 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive whether individuals who are on probation in Scotland can arrange to complete their probation in other parts of the United Kingdom and, if so, how this can be arranged.
Answer
Section 234 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 provides for Scottish courts to transfer probation orders where the offender has attained the age of 16 years and resides or will reside in England and Wales. The offender makes an application for transfer to the court which made the probation order. If the court is satisfied that arrangements for supervision of the offender can be made by a probation officer, appointed for or assigned to the petty sessions area in which the offender resides or will reside, it will amend the order accordingly. No such provision exists for the transfer of probation orders to Northern Ireland.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Monday, 09 August 2010
-
Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 1 September 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it issues guidance to NHS boards regarding the provision of bariatric surgery.
Answer
The Scottish Government''s role is to provide policies, frameworks and resources to NHS boards to enable clinicians and service planners to deliver high quality, safe and sustainable services to local communities. It is a matter for NHS boards to plan for and provide services to meet the assessed needs of their resident population, irrespective of age or clinical condition. This applies to management of obesity, including the provision of bariatric surgery.
Recent initiatives and reports issued to support NHS boards and clinicians to deliver effective care for overweight and obese adults and children include: Preventing Overweight and Obesity in Scotland: A Route Map Towards Healthy Weight; the SIGN guideline on Management of Obesity, and the national roll out of the Counterweight Programme approach to managing weight in primary care.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 July 2010
-
Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 28 July 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-33328 by Richard Lochhead on 5 May 2010 and given that the Scottish Government confirms the validity of the 2008 protected geographical indication (PGI) amendment as published in the European Union Official Journal, specifying the stages of production of fresh fish that must take place in Scotland, for what reason it is suggested that the current specification of the PGI does not state which stages of the production process for Scottish farmed salmon must take place within the geographical area.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-34479 on 28 June 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: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 July 2010
-
Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 28 July 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on what proportion of the total production of farmed Atlantic salmon in the United Kingdom has been sold under the EU protected geographical indication regulations for Scottish Farmed Salmon in each year since 2004.
Answer
We do not hold information on the amounts of farmed salmon sold as Scottish Farmed Salmon by the industry.
