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: S2W-02340

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 September 2003
Current Status: Answered by Frank McAveety on 16 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide assistance to Highland Council and other funding partners to ensure the renewal of the service provided by the Family Association for Children with Special Needs at the Bada-guish Centre at Glenmore and what steps it will take to ensure that children with special needs will have the opportunity to enjoy outdoor activities, such as canoeing, mountain biking, climbing and organised games, within the Badenoch and Strathspey area.

Question reference: S2W-02074

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 August 2003
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 12 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated underspend is for the current financial year; when it first estimates any underspend during the financial year, and whether it will publish any future estimates of any underspend.

Question reference: S2W-02095

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 August 2003
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 12 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive why there was a #500 million underspend in its expenditure for 2002-03; what the breakdown of this underspend was by each of its departments; which items of expenditure were not met that contributed to this underspend; what aggregate funding was carried forward to the current financial year, broken down by department, and what happened to any of this underspend that was not carried forward to the current financial year.

Question reference: S2W-02102

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 August 2003
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 11 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive when it received a copy of Securing the future of the Scottish Capercaillie: a trans-European approach for establishing best practice from North Highland College; on what dates it received further correspondence from the college requesting a response, and what its reasons are for not responding.

The report was received inMarch.

No further detailed writtenrepresentations were made by the North Highland College and the Scottish Gamekeeper’s Association. I metrepresentatives of both organisations on 21 August to discuss this and otherrelated nature conservation issues and have asked officials to give a preliminaryresponse to the North Highland College's proposal by the end of September 2003.

Question reference: S2W-02065

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 August 2003
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 11 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will ensure that any audit of measures to conserve the capercaillie are carried out independently.

Question reference: S2W-02062

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 August 2003
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 11 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how many applications have been made under the #2.5 million fund of the European Union LIFE Nature programme and the match funding made available by the Executive for the conservation of capercaillie, detailing (a) the name of the applicant, (b) the purpose of each application, (c) whether the application was successful and (d) the amount (i) sought and (ii) awarded; what the benefit of each successful application will be to capercaillie conservation and how this benefit will be monitored.

One application has beenmade under the European Union LIFE nature programme. The Scottish Executive has made available direct match funding totalling 138,571 euros. Other matchfunding has been provided by other organisations involved in this Life Natureproject, which include Scottish Natural Heritage, the Forestry Commission andthe Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).

(a) The applicant is The Caledonian Partnership,co-ordinated by Highland Birchwoods.

(b) The application is aimed at benefiting andconserving the capercaillie.

(d)The amount of match funding sought was 3,677,720euros and this sum, which represents 50% of the total project cost of 7,355,440euros, was approved.

Theapplication will be of particular benefit to capercaillie as the conservationwork includes the marking or removal of deer fencing, predator control andbrood habitat improvement. Optimal management of a key site will be achievedthrough land purchase.

A projectsteering group will monitor the overall success of the project.

Question reference: S2W-02063

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 August 2003
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 11 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will place in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre any evidence which suggests, or proves, that capercaillie are killed by flying into deer fences.

Relevant information isavailable on section 2.8 page 25 of Capercaillie: A Review of Research Needs,Steve J Petty (June 2000). A copy of which has been placed in the Parliament’sReference Centre (Bib. number 29055).

There are also variousreports in the public domain, including:

Baines, D. & Andrew, M.(2003). Marking of deer fences to reduce frequency of collisions by woodlandgrouse. Biological Conservation 110: 169-176.

Baines, D. & Summers, R.W. (1997). Assessment ofbird collisions with deer fences

in Scottish forests. Journal of Applied Ecology34: 941-948.

Catt, D.C., Dugan,D., Green, R.E., Moncrieff, R., Moss, R., Picozzi, N.,Summers,

R. W. & Tyler, G. A.(1994). Collisions against fences by woodland grouse in Scotland. Forestry67: 105-118.

Moss, R., Picozzi, N.,Summers, R.W. and Baines, D. (2000) Capercaillie in Scotland -demography of a declining population. Ibis 142: 259-267.

Moss, R.(1987). Demographyof capercaillie Tetrao urogallus in north-east Scotland. II. Age and sexdistribution. Ornis Scandinavica 18: 135-140.

Question reference: S2W-02066

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 August 2003
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 11 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how many capercaillie have there been in each year since records began.

The Petty Report lodged inthe Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 29055) contains references topast population records. The first national survey conducted in 1992-94estimated the population to be 2,200 individuals (1,500-3,200, 95% confidencelimits) (Catt et al. 1998). A similar national survey was performed inthe winter of 1998-99 and produced a population estimate of 1,073 individuals(549-2,041, 95% confidence limits) (Wilkinson et al. 2002).

The above reports are in thepublic domain:

Catt, D.C., Baines, D., Picozzi, N.,Moss, R. & Summers, R.W. (1998). Abundance and distribution of capercaillieTetrao urogallus in Scotland1992-94. Biological Conservation 85: 257-267.

Wilkinson,N.I., Langston, R.H.W., Gregory, R.D., Summers, R.W., Gibbons, D.W. &Marquiss, M. (2002). Capercaillie Tetrao urogallus abundance and habitatuse of in Scotland, in winter 1998-99 BirdStudy 49(2): 177-185.

Question reference: S2W-02064

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 August 2003
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 11 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will assess the effectiveness of the measures to conserve the capercaillie and who will be responsible for such an assessment.

Question reference: S2W-02067

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 August 2003
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 11 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it is taking to prevent the predation of capercaillie by pine martins and whether it will consider introducing legislation to allow for the control of pine martins under license in areas where capercaillie are present.