Questions and answers

Question reference: S2W-14841

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 February 2005
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 22 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has the competence to establish a rail passengers' committee to represent the interests of passengers; if so, whether it will establish such a committee, and whether it will confer on it legal powers identical in substance to those of the current rail passengers' committee which is scheduled to be discontinued by the Railways Bill.

Question reference: S2W-15129

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 22 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether raptor study groups, funded by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) to monitor nests, are obliged to disclose nest sites to SNH.

Question reference: S2W-15171

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 22 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will set out the methodology to be applied for Freight Facilities Grants where the operation is cross-boundary.

The standard procedure for handling cross-border Freight Facilities Grant (FFG) applications is for the assessment process to be undertaken by the administering authority in the country in which the capital expenditure will take place and for any award of grant to be funded by that authority. The environmental benefits generated by saving lorry miles in England and Wales can be taken into account by the Executive.

If a cross-border rail FFG project involves capital expenditure in Scotland, as well as England or Wales, the expenditure in Scotland would be funded by the Scottish Executive, any expenditure in England by, at present, the Strategic Rail Authority (depending on resource availability) and any expenditure in Wales by the Welsh Assembly Government.

If a cross-border water FFG project involves capital expenditure in Scotland, as well as England or Wales, the expenditure in Scotland would normally be funded by the Scottish Executive, any expenditure in England would be funded by the Department for Transport (DfT) and any expenditure in Wales would be funded by the Welsh Assembly Government. However, the DfT can contribute to the funding of water FFG projects in Scotland and have done so in the past.

Question reference: S2W-15062

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 21 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it has taken to promote the use of deer whistles to prevent accidents and whether it will invite the Deer Commission for Scotland to study the findings of the project funded through the Californian Office of Traffic Safety in the County of Modoc, California, which showed that, in a period of about two years when 1,648 air actuated and electronic deer whistles were distributed free to drivers, there was a 99.6% level of confidence that deer whistles were responsible for the reduction in the number of collisions with deer involving vehicles fitted with these whistles.

Question reference: S2W-15060

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 16 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has considered the costs of any measures to be introduced in relation to bathing water; what estimate it has made of the total costs which may be required to introduce such measures, and whether it will provide a breakdown of these costs.

In order to meet the microbiologicalwater quality requirements of the Bathing Water Directive, the Executive is evaluatinga number of measures designed to reduce the impact of diffuse pollution on susceptiblebathing waters. These projects include farm management programmes, such as in theRiver Nairn catchment, and the creation of biogas plants. As these projects areon-going, we are not yet in a position to give total costs. Scottish Water has investedover £1.6 billion improving treatment infrastructure since 2000, part of which isaimed towards improving bathing water quality.

Question reference: S2W-15061

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 16 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive who would be responsible for independent monitoring of whether more than 200 people use a beach for bathing; how much this would cost; what purpose this expenditure would serve, and whether such expenditure would be justified.

Under forthcoming bathing water identification proposals, to be run on the Executive’s behalf by Clean Coast Scotland, owners or operators of bathing water sites wishing to be identified under the Bathing Water Directive will be required to provide data indicating peak daily usage of 150 people or above. This will ensure that future sites are identified in line with the directive’s requirement to protect large numbers of bathers. Data should be such that it can be independently validated. Costs of data collection are to be borne by the applicant, and will vary depending on the size of site and survey method employed. Clean Coast Scotland will be responsible for introducing application criteria, but, it is likely that both manual counts and photographic evidence will be acceptable.

Question reference: S2W-14539

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 February 2005
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 15 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has issued, or will issue, any statutory guidance to National Park Authorities in respect of the workings and application of section 8 of the National Parks (Scotland) Act 2000.

Statutory guidance relating toSection 8 of the National Parks (Scotland) Act 2000 - as set out at schedule1 to the act – was issued to the National Park Authorities in the relevant DesignationOrders and Elections Orders. Both parkauthorities also have an Ethical Standards Code of Conduct in place for their boardmembers, as required of bodies listed under Schedule 3 to the Ethical Standardsin Public Life etc. (Scotland) Act 2000. There are no plans at present to issue anyfurther guidance under the terms of schedule 1 to the 2000 act to the two establishedNational Park Authorities.

Question reference: S2W-15070

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 15 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish the follow-up report to the Scottish Needs Assessment Programme Report on Huntington's Disease, Acquired Brain Injury and Early Onset Dementia.

The Scottish Needs Assessment Programme (SNAP) issued its report on Huntington’s Disease, Acquired Brain Injury and Early Onset Dementia in February 2000 in order to assess progress in implementation. The Scottish Executive Health Department then commissioned a review to report on what changes had been made. The aims of the review were:

To affirm the Executive’s commitment to meeting the needs of people with these conditions.

To raise awareness of these conditions at a strategic level.

To examine what progress had been made since the SNAP report.

To summarise key issues.

Following receipt of the Review Report the Chief Medical Officer wrote, in July 2003, to chief executives of NHS boards and NHS trusts, Directors of Public Health and of Social Work and a number of other bodies including the Scottish Head Injury Forum and Alzheimer Scotland drawing attention to the key areas still to be addressed in promoting best practice. A full copy of the review Report has been made available to any respondents who requested it. It is therefore already in the public domain and a copy has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.

Question reference: S2W-14543

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 February 2005
Current Status: Answered by Euan Robson on 14 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2O-4899 by Mr Euan Robson on 13 January 2005, whether it will provide details of the evidence that the nutritional value of milk is "equivocal" and place any research material on the issue in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.

I must clarify that my previous answer stated that nutritional opinion on the merits of increasing milk consumption, other than low fat milk, is equivocal, rather than the nutritional value of milk is equivocal. Milk does have a clear nutritional value on many counts; it is a nutrient rich food, and a rich source of protein, fat, carbohydrates and various micronutrients especially calcium, riboflavin and vitamin A. We consider it should be seen as part of a varied diet.

The evidence is held in various documents, but can be summarised as follows:

The amount of calcium required to maintain a healthy skeleton varies with age and gender. There are also differences in the recommendations relating to calcium intakes. The Department of Health's subgroup on Bone Health, the Working Group on the Nutritional Status of the Population of the Committee on Medical Aspects of Food and Nutrition Policy (COMA), recommended that the dietary reference nutrient intake (RNI) of calcium for children aged seven to 10 years is 550 mg per day and for children aged 11 to 18 years, 1,000mg and 800mg respectively for boys and girls (Department of Health. Nutrition and Bone Health: with particular reference to calcium and vitamin D. 1998 and Department of Health. Dietary Reference Values for Food Energy and Nutrients for the United Kingdom. Report on Health and Social Subjects: 41 London: HMSO, 1991).

However the National Osteoporosis Society (NOS) recommendations are in line with the USA National Institute of Health (NIH) Consensus Panel 4. (National Institute of Health Consensus Development Panel. Optimal Calcium Intake. JAMA 1994;272:1942-1948) and differ from COMA recommendations. NOS/NIH recommend an intake of 800 mg per day for children aged 7 to 12 years and 1,000 for teenagers aged 13 to 19 years. COMA reviewed the evidence presented by the NIH Consensus Panel and could find no scientific justification to adopt its recommendations at this stage.

Calcium intakes in primary children currently meet recommended levels (using COMA RNIs), however, intake drops off as children, and particularly girls, enter their teenage years. This is related to the increase in their consumption of other drinks at this age. It also relates to changes in their food choices - intake of dairy products of all types falls at this age also. Hungry for Success, (Hungry for Success: A whole school approach to school meals in Scotland) and subsequently the Scottish Nutrient Standards for School Lunches recognise the importance of milk in the diet of children and young people and recommend that plain or flavoured drinking milk should be available as an option every day. Semi-skimmed and skimmed milks have the same amount of calcium as whole milk and should be provided for drinking as well as cooking.

Fizzy, sugary soft drinks should not be served as part of school lunch in primary schools and should not be encouraged in secondary schools. Carbonated water, plain water, milk and fruit juices are considered appropriate drinks. Milk is a good alternative to sugary, fizzy drinks, and semi-skimmed milk provides less fat than whole milk. The use of semi-skimmed milk is in line with existing recommendations, e.g. the Scottish Diet Action Plan. There is a desirability to gradually wean Scottish children away from a predilection for sweet flavours. Semi-skimmed plain and flavoured milk drinks are to be encouraged as an immediate alternative to fizzy, sugary soft drinks as they can be a valuable source of protein and calcium. Therefore no nutrient specifications for flavoured milk have been set. However, any added sugar should be kept to a minimum in order to assist in meeting the Nutrient Standards for NME sugars (Scottish Executive (2003). Nutrition in Schools: Scottish Nutrient Standards for Manufactured Products. Edinburgh: Scottish Executive).

In addition, some local authorities are actively working with suppliers to source low fat flavoured milk [personal communication: Direct and Care Services, Glasgow]. In many areas, money received as part of the Hungry for Success initiative is being used to subsidise milk as part of school lunches. Water is recognised as being necessary, particularly in children and young people, for hydration and to facilitate concentration and learning. However, when it is not available children will often meet their hydration needs with fizzy, sugary soft drinks, which will often be more readily available and cheaper than bottled water (Alexander L, Currie C, Todd J and Smith R (2004) HBSC Briefing Paper 7 : How are Scotland's young people doing? A cross-national perspective on physical activity, TV viewing, eating habits, body image and oral hygiene Edinburgh: Child Adolescent Health Research Unit.) However, in recent years significant attempts have been made to improve access to drinking water, and especially tap water, in schools. This is especially important outside of lunchtimes when other sources of hydration are not available.

Question reference: S2W-14546

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 February 2005
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 14 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made, or will make, of the long-term sustainability of the dairy sector.

The Executive has not carried out an assessment of the long-term sustainability of the dairy sector and has no plans to do so. The future sustainability of dairying will be determined by decisions taken by individual dairy farmers in response to a range of factors, not least market conditions. The Executive is keen to see that the dairy sector responds positively to the challenges of decoupling and to meeting market requirements and wider society objectives. The recently announced measures under the Land Management Contract Menu Scheme should assist dairy – and other – producers to respond to the challenges.

Chamber and committees