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: S4O-03039

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 March 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met NHS Fife and what issues were discussed.

Question reference: S4W-19496

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 27 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what criteria are used to determine whether activities have a significant effect and require screening in accordance with the Environmental Impact Assessment (Agriculture) (Scotland) Regulations 2006.

Agriculture, Food and Rural Communities area office staff use the following three criteria to assess whether an operation requires screening:

Whether the land in question is considered to be ‘uncultivated’ or ‘semi-natural’,

whether the operation is considered to be a project (e.g. cultivations, drainage works, land reclamation, etc) and whether the operation is to change the land use by bringing the land into use for intensive agricultural purposes

Question reference: S4W-19498

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 27 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what training it provides to Agriculture, Food and Rural Communities area office staff with regard to the Environmental Impact Assessment (Agriculture) (Scotland) Regulations 2006.

Question reference: S4W-19494

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 27 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how much land is deemed (a) uncultivated and (b) semi-natural for the purposes of implementing the Environmental Impact Assessment (Agriculture) (Scotland) Regulations 2006; whether Agriculture, Food and Rural Communities area office staff have access to maps of the land and, if so, whether it will publish the maps.

The Scottish Government holds a range of land based information, primarily gathered and used to administer support schemes, including the Single Farm Payment scheme.

The Environmental Impact Assessment (Agriculture) (Scotland) Regulations 2006 apply to all land managers, rather than just support scheme claimants. This, along with the fact that support schemes use general land definitions means that, for the purpose of implementing The Environmental Impact Assessment (Agriculture) (Scotland) Regulations 2006, the Scottish Government does not hold information, including maps, of how much land is deemed (a) uncultivated and (b) semi natural.

Question reference: S4W-19497

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 27 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how it makes (a) farmers and (b) land managers aware of their obligations in accordance with the Environmental Impact Assessment (Agriculture) (Scotland) Regulations 2006 and with what frequency.

The Scottish Government publishes up to date comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessment guidance, including internal guidance on the assessment of projects, on the Farming and Rural Issues pages of its website. It has not been necessary to publish any updates, because there haven’t been any procedural changes since the Environmental Impact Assessment (Agriculture) (Scotland) Regulations 2006 came into force.

Question reference: S4W-19493

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 27 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications for activities that require to be screened in accordance with the Environmental Impact Assessment (Agriculture) (Scotland) Regulations 2006 have been (a) received and (b) approved by each Agriculture, Food and Rural Communities area office in each year since 2007.

The Environmental Impact Assessment (Agriculture)(Scotland) Regulations 2006 came into force in Scotland on 1 January 2007, and constrain operations to carry out intensive agricultural operations on uncultivated or semi-natural land, or large scale restructuring projects on agricultural land, where the result would have a significant impact on the environment.

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) screening decisions are taken by Rural Payments and Inspections Division Area Offices. Where activities are within the scope of the regulation, they proceed to a formal screening, which is recorded on the Scottish Government EIA register. The screening decision may require an Environmental Statement (full EIA) to be carried out.

The following tables show:

a) The number of Screening Applications received, and

b) The number of these Screening Applications which then required a full EIA to be carried out, i.e. the applicant is asked to submit an environmental statement before the operation is approved or rejected.

AFRC

Area Office

2007

2008

2009

2010

Screening applications:	Screening applic. received	Full EIA required	Screening applic. received	Full EIA required	Screening applic. received	Full EIA required	Screening applic. received	Full EIA required
Ayr	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Benbecula	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Dumfries	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Elgin	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Galashiels	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0
Golspie	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0
Hamilton	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Inverness	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Inverurie	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
Kirkwall	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Lerwick	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
Oban	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Perth	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Portree	1	0	2	0	1	0	0	0
Stornaway	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Thurso	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

AFRC

Area Office

2011

2012

2013

Screening applications:	Screening applic. received	Full EIA required	Screening applic. received	Full EIA required	Screening applic. received	Full EIA required
Ayr	0	0	0	0	1	1
Benbecula	0	0	1	0	0	0
Dumfries	0	0	0	0	0	0
Elgin	0	0	0	0	0	0
Galashiels	0	0	0	0	0	0
Golspie	0	0	0	0	0	0
Hamilton	0	0	0	0	0	0
Inverness	5	0	0	0	0	0
Inverurie	0	0	0	0	0	0
Kirkwall	0	0	1	1	4	3
Lerwick	4	2	0	0	_	_
Oban	0	0	1	0	2	0
Perth	0	0	0	0	_	_
Portree	0	0	0	0	0	0
Stornaway	0	0	0	0	0	0
Thurso	0	0	0	0	0	0

Question reference: S4O-02949

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 February 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it is taking to ensure the highest standards of inspections in care homes.

Question reference: S4O-02923

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met Transport Scotland and what issues were discussed.

Question reference: S4T-00582

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 27 January 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the air pollution monitoring results for 2013.

Question reference: S4O-02723

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 December 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 December 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what support is available to touring exhibitions.