- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 May 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 24 May 2016
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4O-05291 by Aileen McLeod on 21 January 2016 (Official Report, c 8), what plans it has to implement each of the recommendations of the Wildlife Crime Penalties Review Group and when it will do so.
Answer
The Scottish Government wrote on 24 February 2016 to the Chair of the Wildlife Crime Penalties Review Group, Professor Mark Poustie, with a formal response to the report. The letter can be read in full at:
http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0049/00494565.pdf The ten recommendations were wide ranging in their scope. Some of the recommendations will require primary legislation and the appropriate vehicle for that will need to be identified, while others will require extensive discussion with other parties to establish the next steps. We will take forward work in these areas in the new parliamentary session.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 May 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 24 May 2016
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the culling of mountain hares on estates practising driven grouse shooting.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not support large, indiscriminate culls of mountain hares in Scotland and recognises the concerns that have been expressed about the status of mountain hare populations in Scotland. The Scottish Government acknowledges that mountain hares are a legitimate quarry species and that there may be local requirements to control mountain hares to protect gamebirds and young trees. Any control of mountain hares should be undertaken in accordance with obligations under the EU Habitats Directive.
Given the concerns about possible over-exploitation, information on the management of hares has been reviewed by independent experts from the Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) Scientific Advisory Committee. This review was published in October 2015 and is available at: http://www.snh.gov.uk/docs/A1765931.pdf. The review identified the need for improved monitoring and data to assess national trends of mountain hare populations.
This work is underway in the form of a collaborative four year study (2014-17) involving SNH and scientists in the James Hutton Institute and the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, on trialling various methods of counting hares. The study has the aim of developing a reliable and cost-effective means of assessing mountain hare population density.
SNH is also working with Scottish Land & Estates to encourage greater transparency in the reasons why estates cull hares and to encourage estates to collaborate and develop a more measured and coordinated approach to sustainable hare management.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 May 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 24 May 2016
To ask the Scottish Government how many European beaver have been shot since January 2016 and collected by Scottish Natural Heritage for autopsy.
Answer
Since 1 January 2016, Scottish Natural Heritage have not been advised of any European beavers that have been shot or required an autopsy to be undertaken.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 May 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 24 May 2016
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the reintroduction of the European beaver to Scotland.
Answer
The potential formal reintroduction of beavers raises complex issues around their management and legal protection. Scottish Ministers are considering these issues carefully before making a decision on the future of beavers in Scotland.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 May 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by Aileen Campbell on 20 May 2016
To ask the Scottish Government what meetings (a) ministers and (b) officials have had with (i) Judy Murray and (ii) organisations representing the interests of tennis at which development proposals at Park of Keir near Dunblane were discussed, broken down by (A) date and (B) location.
Answer
There have been no meetings involving ministers or officials with either Judy Murray or organisations where the development proposals at Park of Keir were discussed.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 16 March 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 28 March 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of carbon dioxide emission reductions from the manufacturing and construction sector between 1990 and 2004 can be attributed to (a) improved energy efficiency in the sector and (b) closures in heavy manufacturing industry, such as the closure of the Ravenscraig plant.
Answer
Information on the relative contributionof different factors, such as energy efficiency, to reductions in emissions fromthe manufacturing and construction sector is not held centrally.
However, as indicated in Greenhouse Gas Inventories for England,Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland 1990-2004,published by the National Environmental Technology Centre and available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 42395), emissions frommanufacturing industry and construction have declined over the period by 41%, mainlydue to the closure of the Ravenscraig Steel Plant.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 16 March 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 28 March 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how the scale of carbon dioxide sinks from land use, land use change and forestry is calculated and whether the methodology for this calculation has changed since the baseline year of 1990.
Answer
Estimation methodologies are includedin Appendix 1 of
Greenhouse Gas Inventories for England, Scotland,Wales and Northern Ireland published by the National EnvironmentalTechnology Centre. The latest available data, for the period 1990-2004, was publishedin 2006 and is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number42395).
Since 1990, improvements to data collection and estimation techniqueshave resulted in revisions to the data and methods used to estimate emissions. Whereappropriate, revisions are made to historic data which means that it is not appropriateto make comparisons with previous inventory reports without taking account of changesto data and estimation techniques.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 March 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 15 March 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress it is making in consulting on amending the Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994 in respect of ship-to-ship oil transfer in the Firth of Forth.
Answer
We would aim to bring forwardproposals for consultation at the earliest opportunity if review of the Regulationsestablishes the need for any change in the way that they apply to port and harbourauthority responsibilities.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 5 February 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive when the Parliament will be given a progress report on the objectives presented in Changing Our Ways: Scotland’s Climate Change Programme, as outlined in Section 7.6 of that document, and when the Executive will propose that the Parliament debates the report.
Answer
Changing Our Ways; Scotland’s Climate Change Programme, publishedon 30 March 2006, commits the Executive to report annually to the ScottishCabinet in the first instance, and to then submit a report to Parliament. In linewith that commitment, the first annual report is due to be submitted to Cabinetby the end of March 2007 and, thereafter, to Parliament.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 5 February 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether its Cabinet has received a report on the objectives presented in Changing Our Ways: Scotland’s Climate Change Programme, as outlined in Section 7.6 of that document, and, if not, when it will do so and discuss any progress.
Answer
Changing Our Ways; Scotland’s Climate Change Programme, publishedon 30 March 2006, commits the Executive to report annually to the ScottishCabinet in the first instance, and to then submit a report to Parliament. In linewith that commitment, the first annual report is due to be submitted to Cabinetby the end of March 2007 and, thereafter, to Parliament.
