- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 September 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 28 September 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what input it has had into plans by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to develop a climate change communications strategy.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is in on-going discussion with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFR) on its plans to develop a climate change communications strategy. We are working with Defra in consideringoptions for Scotland stemming from a UK Government climate change communications strategy, including the relationship with the Executive’s existing environmental awareness campaign, Do a little: Change a lot.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 13 September 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 28 September 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the recent inscription of 17 MON 810 maize varieties to the EU common seed catalogue, what steps it will take to prevent cultivation of these varieties before a comprehensive coexistence and liability regime is in place in Scotland.
Answer
These varieties have been bred for southern European conditions and have been modified to carry resistance to the European corn-borer; a problem pest in southern Europe, but not in Scotland. They do not, therefore, represent a viable alternative to the varieties already available to Scottish growers. With regard to co-existence, the Executive has made a commitment to introduce statutory measures to enable producers to meet public demand for non-GM produce. The Executive is aiming to introduce these measures in advance of any commercialplanting of GM crops in Scotland and intends to launch a formal consultation later this year.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 September 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Mary Mulligan on 16 September 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on how many telecommunication masts using the TETRA standard will be located within Scotland and where they will be located.
Answer
he Airwave project, which is rolling out a communications infrastructure for use by the emergency services, uses TETRA technology and will involve some 632 sites in Scotland. The Scottish Executive does not hold information on the location of these sites. However, as the sites become operational, information on them will appear on the Ofcom “sitefinder” database at:
http://www.sitefinder.radio.gov.uk/.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 September 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 16 September 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive when the results of the farm-scale evaluations into the cultivation of genetically-modified winter-sown oil seed rape will be published.
Answer
The results for winter oilseed rape have been written up as scientific papers and submitted to the Proceedings of the Royal Society. The timing of the peer review process and the decision whether or not to publish the papers is at the discretion of the Royal Society. It is our understanding that publication is unlikely before early next year.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 09 July 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 10 September 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what conditions will be placed on the new Scotrail franchise regarding the level of capacity for the carriage of bicycles on services where such capacity has decreased in recent years.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-9674 answered on 10 September 2004. All Answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 09 July 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 10 September 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what conditions will be placed on the new Scotrail franchise regarding the level of capacity for the carriage of bicycles on all services.
Answer
The operator of the new ScotRail franchise must maintain at least the current capacity for the carriage of bicycles on trains.
The Scottish Executive has funded the fitting of additional cycle storage racks to all ScotRail Express and ScotRail Suburban Turbostars. Thirty-two units are in service now and 14 will be delivered by spring 2005. These units areto be fitted with a 50% increase in carrying capacity for bicycles compared withexisting rolling stock, increasing bicycle spaces from four to six per train.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 23 August 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 8 September 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive why Bayer CropScience was not prosecuted for any recent breaches of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and the Genetically Modified Organisms (Deliberate Release) (Scotland) Regulations 2002 following any incidents at Daviot and Newport-on-Tay when genetically modified organisms were released for which no release consent was held.
Answer
A thorough investigation into the incidents referred to was undertaken by the Executive’s GM Inspectorate. The Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment was also asked for its advice and confirmed that the additional GM elements did not represent an increased risk of harm to human health or the environment. A report of this investigation was produced and submitted to the Procurator Fiscal.
Decisions on whether to initiate prosecution proceedings are taken independently by the Procurator Fiscal.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 13 August 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 7 September 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-9588 by Malcolm Chisholm on 29 July 2004, whether the informed consent, with full information given about treatment, of healthy volunteers participating in human clinical trials of non-pharmaceutical substances at Inveresk research laboratories is required under UK health and safety regulations.
Answer
UK health and safety matters are reserved to Westminster.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 13 August 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 7 September 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-9595 by Malcolm Chisholm on 29 July 2004, whether Schedule 2, or any other part of The Medicines for Human Use (Clinical Trials) Regulations, covers clinical trials of non-pharmaceutical substances on healthy volunteers.
Answer
The Medicines for Human Use (Clinical Trials) Regulations 2004 apply only to clinical trials of medicinal products. Substances falling outwith that definition would, therefore, not be in covered by the Regulations. The definition of “medicinal product” is set out in section 2 of the Regulations.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 13 August 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 7 September 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-9588 by Malcolm Chisholm on 29 July 2004, what information it has on how many times in each year since 1995 the Health and Safety Executive has visited Inveresk research laboratories, on which records relating to clinical trials of non-pharmaceutical substances on healthy volunteers were inspected on each occasion and on what monitoring has been carried out by the Health and Safety Executive of volunteers who have participated in clinical trials of non-pharmaceutical substances to assess long-term health effects.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-10010 on 7 September 2004. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.
