- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 5 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how much it has spent in the last 10 years on measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and what proportion of this expenditure relates to (a) transport policy, (b) energy policy, (c) agriculture or forestry policy and (d) peatland restoration.
Answer
The Executive’s actions toreduce greenhouse gas emissions cut across a number of different policy areas.In each of these areas, the main policy driver may not necessarily be climatechange, but the impact on greenhouse gas emissions is an importantconsideration when policies are being formulated. The
Scottish ClimateChange Programme, available on the Executive's climate change website at
www.scotland.gov.uk/climatechange,includes information on expenditure in a number of these areas. Suchexpenditure will often bring social, economic and environmental benefits besidethat of reducing greenhouse gas emissions: we do not keep records of theproportion of expenditure directly attributable to emission reductions.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 5 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of Scotland's greenhouse gas emissions come from peat soils that have been damaged by a change in land use.
Answer
There is no data availablespecifically on emissions from peat soils.
The most recently publisheddata on Scottish greenhouse gas emissions, including emissions from all soilsdue to land use change are available in the publication Greenhouse Gas Inventories for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland: 1990-2000. A copy of this report has beenplaced in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 29467) and is alsoavailable on the Executive’s climate change website at www.scotland.gov.uk/climatechange.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 5 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what carbon dioxide reduction targets it has set and how many of these targets are to be met through (a) transport policy, (b) energy policy, (c) land use policy, and (d) peatland restoration.
Answer
TheExecutive has agreed to make an equitable contribution to the UK Kyoto targetand to work in partnership with the UK Government in moving towards thedomestic goal to reduce 1990 levels of UK carbon dioxide emissions by 20% by 2010. The Scottish response toclimate change therefore contains a mixture of reserved and devolved measures.Information on Scotland’s historic contribution is available in the publication
GreenhouseGas Inventories for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland: 1990-2000,a copy of which has been placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bibnumber 29467) and is also available on the Executive’s climate change websiteat
www.scotland.gov.uk/climatechange.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 5 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how many tonnes of carbon dioxide have been emitted from degrading peatlands in each year since 1999.
Answer
Irefer the member to the answer given to question S2W-3377 on 5 November 2003. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for whichcan be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 5 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how much carbon dioxide per hectare per year is released by peat bogs damaged by ploughing and drainage compared to other land uses and what published scientific sources support these figures.
Answer
Datain the format requested are not collected by the Executive. The most recent data on Scottish greenhouse gasemissions are availablein the publication
Greenhouse Gas Inventories for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland: 1990-2000. A copy of this report hasbeen placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib number 29467) and is alsoavailable on the Executive’s climate change website at
www.scotland.gov.uk/climatechange.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 5 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to support peatland restoration as a significant contribution to meeting UK targets for reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 60% by 2050.
Answer
he Executive recognises thatpeatland also offers the potential to assist delivery of its target for reducedcarbon emissions by 2050. The Scottish Executive supports the maintenance andrestoration of peatlands through its agri-environment schemes and throughScottish Natural Heritage (SNH). SNH’s Natural Care Schemes are targetedthrough the Caithness and Sutherland and Lewis Peatland Management Schemesas well as other management agreements with individual owners and occupiers ofpeat bogs.
Projects aimed atrestoration of blanket and raised bogs in Scotland have additionally benefited from substantial supportfrom the EC Life-Nature Programme. These initiatives have received Scottish Executive support and this will continue in future where appropriate.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 5 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress it has made towards the UK Biodiversity Action Plan target to restore 75% of recoverable blanket peat bog within the next 10 years.
Answer
TheUK Blanket Bog Habitat Action Plan target is to restore 75% of the total extentof restorable blanket bog in the UK by 2015. Scotland’s contribution to this target is being monitoredthrough a series of interim targets, the first of which is to bring the totalarea of blanket bog in or near favourable condition to 340,000 hectares by2005. Progress towards these targets is monitored and overseen by ScottishNatural Heritage.
Scottish Natural Heritage iscurrently working to develop an agreed definition of “favourable condition”,and assess the condition of blanket bog within the Sites of Special Scientific Interestseries, and that exercise has not yet been completed. To help secure favourablecondition and restore areas of minor degradation, Scottish Natural Heritageoperates a number of management schemes and agreements as well as contributingto specific bog restoration projects.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 30 October 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how it intends to implement Directive 2002/91/EC of the European Parliament and Council on the energy performance of buildings.
Answer
TheExecutive is working with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and theDepartment for Environment Food and Rural Affairs on the implementation of theDirective, and is represented on an Office of the Deputy Prime Ministerimplementation group.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 01 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 3 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide an update on its plans for the designation of river basin districts as required under section 4 of the Water Environment and Water Services Act (Scotland) 2003.
Answer
I am publishing today a consultation paper:
River Basin Districts - Proposals for Scotland. I am placing copies in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 28995).
The Executive promised to consult before a final decision was taken on the boundaries of the proposed river basin districts, and this new consultation fulfils that commitment. The consultation paper contains the Executive’s legislative intentions for the implementation of the designation of River Basin Districts in Scotland and in the cross border area with England.
The act has laid the foundation for a modernised approach to protecting and enhancing the water environment. The need to involve, take account of and balance all interests will be a cornerstone of this new approach, especially in the cross border areas, where we will work closely with the Scottish Environment ProtectionAgency, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Environment Agency to ensure effective implementation of the Water Framework Directive.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 27 June 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 1 August 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of rural development spending was on (a) continuing and (b) pilot agri-environment schemes in (i) 2001-02 and (ii) 2002-03 and how this spending compares with the proportion of equivalent spending on such schemes in (1) England and (2) Wales.
Answer
Scottish expenditure on agri-environment schemes over the past two years has been:
| 2001-02 | 2002-03 |
| £21.5 million | £27.5 million |
Total expenditure on schemes contained within the Scottish Rural Development Plan over the same period was:
| 2001-02 | 2002-03 |
| £85.0 million | £112.1 million |
Agri-environment schemes in Scotland therefore accounted for around 25% of total expenditure in both 2001-02 and 2002-03. Information relating to England is a matter for DEFRA (
www.defra.gov.uk) and to Wales for NAWAD (
www.assembly.wales.gov.uk).To date there has been no expenditure on pilot agri-environment schemes in Scotland and I understand that it is the same in England and Wales.
