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: S2O-05772

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 10 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress it is making in relation to the introduction of the national concessionary travel scheme for older and disabled people.

Question reference: S2W-14383

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 February 2005
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 4 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what the value of spring salmon angling is to the economy.

Question reference: S2W-14382

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 February 2005
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 3 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it supports salmon netting.

Question reference: S2W-14380

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 February 2005
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 3 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will place in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre all documents relating to any Statutory Instrument regarding salmon fishing and netting on the Esk rivers, including all correspondence, including enclosures and attachments, with the Esk District Salmon Fishery Board and all information relating to (a) the level of salmon stocks and (b) compensation payments.

Question reference: S2W-14381

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 February 2005
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 3 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive which district fishery boards are seeking to introduce measures for the conservation of salmon and whether it will place in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre all correspondence and associated documents with each board on that issue.

Applications for Salmon Conservation Regulations have been received from the Esk District Salmon Fishery Board and the Annan District Salmon Fishery Board. Measures for the conservation of salmon under other provisions in the legislation, such as changes to annual close time, baits and lures regulations, have been implemented in response to applications from 24 District Salmon Fishery Boards throughout Scotland since the late 1970s. The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Question reference: S2W-14384

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 February 2005
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 3 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what impact a mandatory catch and release scheme for salmon angling would have on tourism, particularly in relation to visitors from abroad.

The proportion of the total Scottish salmon angling catch that is subsequently released has risen year on year from 8% in 1994 to 55% in 2003. The adoption of the practice is therefore growing and widely practised. The report, The Economic Impact of Game and Coarse Angling in Scotland, published in March 2004, estimated that 47% of angler days fished and 66% of angler expenditure was attributable to non-Scottish visiting anglers. It is likely, therefore, that a high proportion of visiting anglers practise catch and release.

Question reference: S2W-14657

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 February 2005
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 3 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide full details in respect of all outstanding claims from each valuer who acted for its Environment and Rural Affairs Department in respect of the foot and mouth disease outbreak.

Question reference: S2W-14097

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 February 2005
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 3 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has identified £3 million in the budget for 2005-06 and £5 million for each of the following two years for the Timber Transport Fund; if so, whether criteria governing grants from the fund have been devised; whether the timber industry, in particular the private timber industry, will be consulted on such criteria and, if so, how; whether there will be any flexibility built in to the rules governing the funds; whether the rules will cover the costs of providing sea access for timber transport and, if so, what provision will be made for grants or other means of defraying the cost of lifting equipment, and whether, given the public sector's commercial involvement in the timber industry, the Forestry Commission should be the final arbiter in respect of any decision.

As announced last October, the Scottish Executive has allocated £13 million overthe next three years for the Strategic Timber Transport Fund. £3 million hasbeen allocated for 2005-06 and £5 million for each of the following two years.

Forestry Commission Scotland has been working closely with the Timber Transport Forum to produce the criteria governing the Strategic Timber Transport Fund. These have now been agreed and will be published shortly.

It is not our intention to use the fund to finance investment on items like seaaccess equipment, which could be assisted by other methods such as the FreightFacilities Grant. I would expect the fund to complement other work by forexample; providing in-forest road links to port or rail facilities that takepressure off fragile roads or reduce disruption to rural communities.

It is entirely appropriate that Forestry Commission Scotland, as the Executive’s Forestry Department, remains the final arbiter in respect of any decision. However, whilst the Commission will administer the fund and take final decisions regarding applications, the Timber Transport Forum and Regional Timber Transport Groups may also be asked for their advice on certain applications. I am delighted that the various organisations involved in the Forum agreed to help with this important work and that they managed to agree the criteria and procedures so quickly.

Question reference: S2W-14020

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 February 2005
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 28 February 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what financial assistance it will provide in respect of the completion of the Inverness southern distributor road.

Question reference: S2W-14053

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 February 2005
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 28 February 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-13350 by Nicol Stephen on 25 January 2005, what study it, its agencies or non-departmental public bodies have carried out regarding the impact of levels of fuel duty on the economy.