- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 December 2014
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 9 January 2015
To ask the Scottish Government what measures Scotland's National Marine Plan will provide to prioritise natural marine heritage.
Answer
The National Marine Plan as laid before Parliament stipulates a set of General Policies which apply to all development and use of the marine environment. General Policy 9 states that development and use of the marine environment must (a) comply with legal requirements for protected areas and protected species (b) not result in significant impact on the national status of Priority Marine Features and (c) protect, and where appropriate, enhance the health of the marine area. The accompanying policy text provides additional detail as to how this may be achieved, as do specific sectoral policies which ensure the natural marine environment is protected.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 December 2014
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 9 January 2015
To ask the Scottish Government what measures Scotland's National Marine Plan provides to enable the enhancement of the natural marine environment.
Answer
General Policy 9 of the National Marine Plan as laid before Parliament stipulates that development and use of the marine environment must protect and, where appropriate, enhance the health of the marine environment. The accompanying policy provides additional detail on how this may be achieved. This reflects the contribution of Marine Protected Areas and includes actions to enhance the status of Priority Marine Features where appropriate. The policy also states that consideration should be given to opportunities to enhance biodiversity and associated ecosystem services, including recovery and/or enhancement of degraded habitats or species populations.
Chapter 12 (Recreation and Tourism) also contains a specific objective and a policy which support enhancement of natural resources and paragraph 11.39 notes the potential opportunities for enhancement in exclusion zones around energy generation infrastructure.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 December 2014
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 9 January 2015
To ask the Scottish Government how Scotland's National Marine Plan will address the Scottish Government’s ambitions for increased and long-term oil and gas revenue and a reduction in carbon emissions.
Answer
The National Marine Plan as laid before Parliament makes clear that the Scottish Government supports a low carbon economy which involves a transition from fossil fuel based energy consumption towards investment in renewable energy and increased energy efficiency. The plan is also clear that oil and gas are set to remain a vital source of energy while this transition takes place and therefore it is sensible to secure reserves domestically as far as possible for as long as required. Chapter 9 of the plan sets out the objectives and policies for oil and gas. Policy and objectives relevant to a reduction in carbon emissions are set out in General Policy 5 (climate change) which applies to all marine development and use and in a number of sector chapters, particularly Chapter 10 on Carbon Capture and Storage and Chapter 11 on Offshore Wind and Marine Renewable Energy.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 December 2014
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 9 January 2015
To ask the Scottish Government how Scotland's National Marine Plan will balance conflicting demands on the same sea space.
Answer
Paragraph 3.15 of the National Marine Plan as laid before Parliament sets out how the plan provides guidance on resolving potential competition and conflict.
The plan stipulates a set of General Policies which apply to all development and use of the marine environment. General Policy 4 encourages development and activity which enable coexistence with other development, sectors and activities. It also encourages development or use which does not result in areas being unsuitable for future use by others. Where different activities are incompatible or mutually exclusive, it provides criteria by which regional marine plans may select areas for preferential use by specific sectors.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 December 2014
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 7 January 2015
To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service regarding the reorganisation of control room facilities.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 7 January 2015
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 01 December 2014
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Current Status:
Answered by Fergus Ewing on 15 December 2014
To ask the Scottish Government in how many residential properties renewables have been installed in (a) existing and (b) newbuild properties in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not hold this information.
However, partial information can be provided relating to the UK Government’s feed-in-tariff scheme. The following table and shows the cumulative numbers of domestic installations that are receiving a feed-in-tariff for a renewable generation project, as at the end of September 2014. No breakdown is available between (a) existing and (b) new build properties.
Cumulative installations confirmed on the central feed-in-tariff register by local authority, as at end of September 20141
| Local Authority | Domestic Installations |
| Aberdeen City | 702 |
| Aberdeenshire | 3,794 |
| Angus | 1,292 |
| Argyll and Bute | 1,057 |
| Clackmannanshire | 327 |
| Dumfries and Galloway | 2,297 |
| Dundee City | 448 |
| East Ayrshire | 814 |
| East Dunbartonshire | 509 |
| East Lothian | 683 |
| East Renfrewshire | 343 |
| Edinburgh, City of | 1,112 |
| Eilean Siar | 297 |
| Falkirk | 695 |
| Fife | 2,894 |
| Glasgow City | 1,449 |
| Highland | 3,193 |
| Inverclyde | 205 |
| Midlothian | 398 |
| Moray | 1,198 |
| North Ayrshire | 818 |
| North Lanarkshire | 1,275 |
| Orkney Islands | 884 |
| Perth and Kinross | 1,769 |
| Renfrewshire | 741 |
| Scottish Borders | 1,802 |
| Shetland Islands | 140 |
| South Ayrshire | 850 |
| South Lanarkshire | 1,848 |
| Stirling | 1,253 |
| West Lancashire | 732 |
| West Lothian | 1,095 |
| TOTAL | 36,914 |
Source: Department of Energy and Climate Change sub-regional feed-in-tariffs statistics
Notes:
1. Data are sourced from the central feed-in-tariff register maintained by Ofgem as extracted on 3 July 2014. The register is continually being updated and revised, so statistical reports extracted at a later date may not exactly match the totals presented here.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 01 December 2014
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Burgess on 15 December 2014
To ask the Scottish Government how many residential properties have been retrofitted for energy efficiency through the Home Energy Efficiency Programmes for Scotland scheme, broken down by (a) year and (b) local authority.
Answer
The Home Energy Efficiency Programmes for Scotland (HEEPS) were launched in April 2013. We will shortly publish the first annual report on HEEPS, including the number of energy efficiency measures installed in properties across Scotland in 2013-14, at national and local authority level.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 December 2014
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 10 December 2014
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact of an aging population on pensioners' rights.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 10 December 2014
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 November 2014
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 4 December 2014
To ask the Scottish Government what action it takes to support local authorities in meeting demand for care home provision.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 4 December 2014
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 13 November 2014
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Current Status:
Answered by Alex Neil on 26 November 2014
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on projections from the National Records of Scotland that, by 2037, a third of all households will be headed by someone aged over 65 and the number of people living alone is set to rise by 51%.
Answer
At the annual Scottish Older People's Assembly in the Scottish Parliament on 31 October 2014, the then Cabinet Secretary for Commonwealth Games, Sport, Equalities and Pensioners’ Rights reiterated the Scottish Government's commitment to improving the lives of older people in Scotland, and our recognition that older people make a significant contribution to Scotland and play a crucial role in our society. Age, Home and Community: A Strategy For Housing For Scotland's Older People: 2012-21 (December 2011) is our national strategy for housing for older people, and it sets out a clear vision of enabling older people to live independently at home for as long as they wish to. We also recognise the importance of tackling loneliness and social isolation, and are funding initiatives such as Age Scotland's Silverline (launched in October 2013) to help address this issue. We will continue to work with key partners including COSLA, Age Scotland, the Scottish Older People's Assembly and others, to improve the lives of older people in Scotland in line with demographic developments over the years and decades to come.
