Chamber and committees

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: S1W-02380

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 November 1999
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 17 January 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what is the current recorded death rate of haemophiliacs from hepatitis C and up to what date was that number last reviewed.

Question reference: S1W-02377

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 November 1999
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 17 January 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what the rate of hepatitis was in whole blood recipients at the time haemophilia treatment with blood products factors VIII and IX was introduced.

Question reference: S1W-02379

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 November 1999
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 17 January 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there were any cases of undiagnosable hepatitis noticed in haemophiliacs in Scotland before 1987 and, if so, how many.

Question reference: S1W-01573

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 September 1999
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 17 January 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider extending the protection of security of tenure to the Carbeth Hutters and whether it will include in its proposed Land Reform Bill provisions which would prevent further eviction of the Hutters at Carbeth.

Question reference: S1W-01636

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 September 1999
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 17 January 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it will take to reduce consumption of tobacco amongst young people and in particular teenagers.

The Scottish Executive is committed to reducing the levels of smoking by children and young people in Scotland and we have set challenging targets to achieve this. The Tobacco Control White Paper Smoking Kills, outlines a comprehensive range of measures which we are now taking forward. Specific action includes steps to improve the enforcement of the laws relating to under-age sales, and targeted health education and promotion activity. Legislation to ban tobacco advertising and sponsorship, which does so much to influence young people to take up the habit, will also be introduced.

Question reference: S1W-02791

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 November 1999
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 12 January 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what impact it estimates an aggregates tax of #2 per tonne will have in Scotland on (a) the economic viability of small and medium si'ed quarries (b) the number of people in Scotland employed directly in quarrying and quarry production and (c) on number of transport and other jobs indirectly supported by the quarrying industry.

No decision has been taken on whether to proceed with a tax on aggregates. The effect on the competitive position of small and medium sized quarries from such a tax is likely to be limited. Although the regulatory burden on smaller and medium sized quarries could be proportionately greater, this would be offset by the higher transport costs of replacing their output from more distant larger quarries. The economic viability of small and medium sized quarries is therefore unlikely to be adversely affected by any aggregates tax in the short to medium term.

As demand for aggregates is typically unresponsive to changes in price, an aggregates tax is unlikely to have short-term adverse implications for jobs, either directly in the quarrying industry or in indirect employment supported by the industry. Most of the tax can be passed on to buyers of aggregates where it will represent a small proportion of overall costs. Research by the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions indicates that while demand for aggregates may fall over time, leading to less employment in the industry as a whole, this will be offset by greater demand for recycled aggregates with attendant increases in employment in plant.

The introduction of a possible aggregates tax would be a matter for the UK Government. Consequently the Scottish Executive has no plans to carry out any separate Environmental Impact Assessment or consultation exercise to determine the impact of such a tax. HM Customs and Excise have already consulted on draft legislation to implement the tax.The Scottish Executive is currently considering detailed proposals submitted by the Quarry Products Association. While the Executive is aware of the report prepared by the Association's Scottish Branch, the UK Government are looking to the industry to produce a package for the country as a whole to reflect the fact that any aggregates tax would apply throughout the UK.

Question reference: S1W-02792

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 November 1999
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 12 January 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will carry out an Environmental Impact Assessment on the impact which closure of smaller quarries in rural Scotland would have in terms of the incidence of larger trucks travelling by road from central Scotland to remote locations.

Question reference: S1W-02793

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 November 1999
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 12 January 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it accepts the conclusions of the Quarry Products Association commissioned report The Case for no Aggregates Tax in Scotland, in particular as regards the cost to quarries of administering the tax, the impact on the environment, recycling, potential job losses, and potentially increased road maintenance costs for local authorities.

Question reference: S1W-03507

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 December 1999
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 12 January 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any evidence of increased travel prices during school holiday periods and if so, whether it will invite the Office of Fair Trade to investigate and report.

Question reference: S1W-03279

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 December 1999
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 11 January 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-1677 by Sarah Boyack on 29 November 1999, whether it will issue a consultation paper on any reform of the planning process and, if so, whether it will seek out the views of those (a) whose planning applications have been rejected by local authorities and (b) whose applications were rejected after appeal/enquiry, and, if not, why not.