- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 17 May 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 2 June 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive to what extent it considers industrial fishing to be detrimental to commercial stocks caught by the Scottish fishing fleet.
Answer
The Scottish Executive remains concerned about the level of by-catch in industrial fishing. Weare currently working with the Commission in order to develop a more rigorous systemfor measuring the by-catch of human consumption species in industrial fisheries.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 17 May 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 2 June 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what the fisheries budget has been in each year since 1999, showing year-on-year increases and decreases and, for each year, providing details of any element that related to aid schemes for industry such as decommissioning or transitional aid.
Answer
The following table shows outturn and planned spending on Fisheries in the period 1999-2000 to 2003-04. The Scottish Executive Environment and Rural AffairsDepartment Fisheries Budget makes provision mainly for the Operating and Capital expenditure of the Scottish Fisheries Protection and Fisheries Research Services Agencies and a range of EU and domestic grant schemes in support of marketing and processing and fishery harbours.
| | 1999-2000 Outturn (£ Million) | 2000-2001 Outturn (£ Million) | 2001-02 Outturn (£ Million) | 2002-03 Outturn (£ Million) | 2003-04 Plans (£ Million) |
| Expenditure | 33 | 32 | 35 | 41 | 48 |
| Change on Previous Year | - | -1 | +3 | +6 | +7 |
These figures exclude agency consumption of cost of capital and capital depreciation. They exclude also the provisions made for the 2001 and 2003 decommissioning schemes and in-year allocations made for the 2003 Transitional Aid package and for a new Fisheries Protection Vessel. Decommissioning expenditure under the 2001 scheme was £3.6 million and £21.2 million in 2001-02 and 2002-03 respectively. For 2003-04, additional in-year provision was made for the Fisheries Decommissioning Scheme (up to £40 million), the Transitional Aid package (up to £10 million) and the new Fisheries Protection Vessel (£18million). Excluding such exceptional items, provision for the two Agencies typically accounts for over 75% of total Executive expenditure on fisheries. The balance of spending in any year is mainly in respect of awards under the EU Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance and the related domestic back-up grant scheme.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 14 May 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Mary Mulligan on 1 June 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how long the fund to develop post offices in deprived urban areas will be in operation.
Answer
I have asked Angiolina Foster,Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to reply. Her response is as follows:
The Fund to Develop Post Offices in Deprived Urban Areas will end on 31 March 2005.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 May 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 26 May 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many staff there are in its External Relations Division, broken down by section.
Answer
There are 14 staff in External Relations Division including one vacancy which is currently being filled. In addition to the Head of Division and a personal assistant, the remaining staff are currently arranged in three branches as follows:
| EU Policy and Institutions | 3 staff |
| Strategy and Implementation | 7 staff |
| Links Policy | 2 staff |
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 14 May 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Mary Mulligan on 26 May 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any plans to extend the fund to develop post offices in deprived urban areas.
Answer
There are currently no plansto extend the Fund to Develop Post Offices in Deprived Urban Areas.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 14 May 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Mary Mulligan on 26 May 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any plans to change the criteria for eligibility under the fund to develop post offices in deprived urban areas.
Answer
There are no plans to changethe eligibility criteria under the Fund to Develop Post Offices in DeprivedUrban Areas.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 17 May 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 26 May 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken to increase the number of fishing days allocated to the white fish fleet.
Answer
The number of days at sea availableto fishing vessels is determined in Annex V to Council Regulation (EC) No. 2287/2003).We have recently written to the European Commission about the case for those fishingfor North Sea haddock under special permit arrangements to be permitted additionaldays at sea to do so. We await a response and will be following up in meetings plannedshortly with the Commission.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 May 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 25 May 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-22478 by Patricia Ferguson on 12 February 2002, how many joint ministerial committees (JMC) and sub-committees have been convened since 8 November 2001, where each meeting took place, which minister attended, and what was discussed.
Answer
The table below provides a complete list of Scottish Executive Ministerial attendance at all JMC meetings that have taken place since 7 October 1999:
Paragraph A1.11 of the Memorandum of Understanding and Supplementary Agreements between the UK Government and the Devolved Administrations describes the remit and structure of the joint ministerial committee. It provides that "the proceedings of each meeting of the JMC will be regarded as confidential by the participants, in order to permit free and candid discussion,” and therefore the issues discussed at each meeting are not disclosed.
Joint Ministerial Committee - Meetings Since 1999
| Subject | Date | Venue | Scottish Minister |
| Plenary | 01-Sep-00 | Edinburgh | First Minister and Deputy First Minister |
| Plenary | 30-Oct-01 | Cardiff | First Minister and Deputy First Minister |
| Plenary | 22-Oct-02 | London | First Minister and Deputy First Minister |
| Europe | 01-Mar-01 | London | Minister for Education, Europe and External Affairs and Deputy Minister for Education, Europe and External Affairs |
| Europe | 08-Nov-01 | London | No Scottish Minister was able to participate |
| Europe | 07-Mar-02 | London | Deputy First Minister |
| Europe | 11-Jun-02 | London | Deputy First Minister |
| Europe | 27-Sep-02 | London | First Minister |
| Europe | 22-Oct-02 | London | First Minister & Deputy First Minister |
| Europe | 30-Jan-03 | London | Deputy Minister for Education and Young People |
| Europe | 06-Oct-03 | London | Minister for Finance and Public Services |
| Europe | 01-Dec-03 | London | First Minister |
| Europe | 15-Jan-04 | London | Minister for Health and Community Care |
| Europe | 03-Feb-04 | London | Minister for Health and Community Care |
| Europe | 24-Feb-04 | London | No Scottish Minister was able to participate. |
| Anne McGuire MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Scotland represented Scotland’s interests |
| Europe | 18-Mar-04 | London | Minister for Justice |
| Europe | 27-Apr-04 | London | Deputy Minister for Health and Community Care |
| Health | 07-Apr-00 | Cardiff | First Minister and Minister for Health and Community Care |
| Health | 05-Jun-00 | London | Deputy First Minister and Minister for Health and Community Care |
| Health | 16-Jun-00 | Glasgow | Deputy First Minister and Minister for Health and Community Care |
| Health | 26-Oct-00 | Belfast | Minister for Health and Community Care |
| Knowledge Economy | 11-Feb-00 | Edinburgh | First Minister and Deputy Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning |
| Knowledge Economy | 26-May-00 | Edinburgh | Deputy First Minister and Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning |
| Poverty | 09-Dec-99 | London | Minister for Children and Education and Deputy Minister for Communities |
| Poverty | 26-May-00 | Edinburgh | Deputy First Minister and Minister for Communities |
| Poverty | 18-Sep-02 | London | Minister for Finance and Public Services and Minister for Social Justice |
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 May 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 19 May 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how it plans to consult the Parliament on the role of legislatures in any operation of the subsidiarity early warning mechanism within the United Kingdom, as currently defined in the Protocol on the Application of the Principles of Subsidiarity and Proportionality of the European Union's draft treaty establishing a constitution for Europe (the Subsidiarity Protocol) and what its position is on the statement attributed to Dr Denis MacShane MP, Minister of State (Europe), in The Financial Times of 12 April 2004, that Her Majesty's Government was considering raising in the current Inter-Governmental Conference the possibility of strengthening the subsidiarity early warning mechanism available to member states' national parliaments by deleting the word “maintain” from paragraph 6 of the Subsidiarity Protocol, therefore meaning that the European Commission would no longer be able to proceed with a legislative proposal, but would have to amend or withdraw it, if reasoned opinions were made that represented one-third of all the votes allocated to the member states' national parliaments.
Answer
The Scottish Executive supports Her Majesty’s Government in seeking the establishment of an effectivesubsidiarity early warning mechanism. Following the agreement of a ConstitutionalTreaty, the Scottish Executive will work closely with the Parliament to develop a frameworkwithin which the subsidiarity mechanism can operate effectively in the UK.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 April 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 19 May 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken to assess the level of foreign language teaching, particularly in European languages.
Answer
Education authorities evaluatethe quality of learning and teaching in all subjects in their schools. In additionto this, evaluations of foreign language teaching are made in Her Majesty’s Inspectorateof Education’s (HMIE) on-going inspection programme in primary and secondary schoolsand are included in published reports.
In terms of quantity, in July2002 the Scottish Executive Education Department commissioned HMIE to evaluate theamount of modern languages learning and teaching in education authority schools.The report of the findings of this evaluation is due in summer 2004.
