- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 26 August 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 23 September 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures were taken to provide the extra resilience necessary for the Airwave communications system during the G8 summit at Gleneagles.
Answer
O2 plc provides the Airwave network for the police service in Great Britain and it is for them to ensure the resilience of the system. O2 worked closely with the Scottish police service both in the run up to and during the summit to ensure network monitoring and performance. The network met all the demands placed upon it.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 26 August 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 20 September 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what investment levels have been proposed in the Quality and Standards III investment programme for 2006-10 to improve Scottish Water's record of water leakage.
Answer
Ministers set objectives for the water industry after extensive consultation. Based on the objectives specified in the statement that ministers made to Parliament in February this year, Scottish Water submitted an integrated investment programme to the Water Industry Commission (WIC) as part of the Strategic Review of Charges (SRC) process. As required under the system of independent economic regulation set up, the WIC has assessed the lowest, overall, reasonable cost of delivering ministers’ objectives and the draft determination sets out its conclusions. The consultation period ends on the 23 September with an expectation that the final determination will be published at the end of November.
Ministers have not set Scottish Water specific objectives for the reduction of leakage. Instead, they have set objectives based upon the performance of Scottish Water’s assets according to a set of industry standard measures. They have also set further objectives. Taken as a whole, this effect is likely to bring about a reduction in the quantity of treated water lost by leakage.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 26 August 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 20 September 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive which areas in Scotland (a) have undergone and (b) will undergo a change in the treatment of drinking water from hypochlorination to chloramination and when each change is scheduled to take place.
Answer
Scottish Water has changed the way it disinfects drinking water supplies in the following areas:
Edinburgh and Midlothian, Aberdeen, Inverness, Borders, Perthshire, Highlands, Western Isles, Grampian and Fife.
The change has seen a switch from chlorination to chloramination as the principal method of disinfecting the public drinking water supply in those areas. Scottish Water does not currently intend to utilise chloramination at all of its treatment works and it does not have a programme for switching to chloramination across Scotland. Chloramination is just one of several disinfection methods approved for use on public water supplies. The final choice on the disinfection method to be used at a particular site is dependent on a number of factors, the principal one being the protection of public health.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 26 August 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 20 September 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what formal environmental impact assessments were carried out by Scottish Water prior to changing drinking water treatment from hypochlorination to chloramination and whether it or Scottish Water intends to publish the results of such assessments.
Answer
Scottish Water has not carried out any formal Environmental Impact Assessments prior to changing some disinfection processes from chlorination to chloramination. Chloramination is an industry approved disinfection process that has been utilised in the UK for nearly a century.
Scottish Water has procedures in place to ensure that any large volume discharges of treated drinking water into the environment (chlorinated or chloraminated) are dealt with appropriately to minimise any environmental effects. Such discharges are made in accordance with Section 33 of the Water (Scotland) Act 1980.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency’s assessment of the environmental risk from the use of chloramination showed that the risk was comparable to that from chlorine so its consenting and monitoring procedures for discharges have not changed for chloraminated waters.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 26 August 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 20 September 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of the water supply is currently lost in leakage and what measures are in place to improve Scottish Water's record of water leakage.
Answer
As these are operational matters for Scottish Water, I have asked the Chief Executive of Scottish Water to write to you on this.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 August 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 14 September 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to extend or replace the Rural Challenge Fund.
Answer
The Executive has no plans at present to extend or replace the Rural Challenge Fund.
In 2004, a review and full consultation exercise was carried out on the Scottish Rural Partnership Fund (SRPF). We are considering the outcome of that review and the fit of the SRPF in the context of our wider rural policy and range of support mechanisms. An announcement about future arrangements will be made in due course.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 August 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 14 September 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive when any changes to the Rural Challenge Fund will come into effect.
Answer
The Executive has no plans at present to extend or replace the Rural Challenge Fund. An announcement about future arrangements will be made in due course.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 August 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 13 September 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive how it will consider the need for a spatial framework or regional targets for wind farms as part of the review of National Planning Policy Guideline 6.
Answer
These issues will be explored through the strategic environmental assessment (SEA) that is being undertaken as part of the review process. The SEA will inform revised policies that will be prepared in consultation with the Environmental Advisory Forum on Renewable Energy and following full public consultation.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 July 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 23 August 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any hybrid plants resistant to herbicides have been detected in or adjacent to fields used for farm-scale evaluations.
Answer
No hybrid plants resistant to herbicides have been detected in or adjacent to fields used for farm-scale evaluations in Scotland.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 July 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 23 August 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any tests have been carried out in or adjacent to Scottish fields used for farm-scale evaluations of genetically modified crops to establish whether any horizontal gene transfer has taken place and, if any such tests have been carried out, what the nature was of the tests.
Answer
In a Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs funded research project, the Centre of Ecology and Hydrology investigated the level of gene flow between cultivated crops and wild relatives in or adjacent to fields used for the farm-scale evaluations (FSE) of genetically modified crops. Scottish sites were included in this study. The results of the study were recently published. No tests were carried out to establish whether any horizontal gene transfer has taken place from plants to other organisms such as bacteria or fungi.