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: S4W-14121

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 April 2013
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 7 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government when it became aware of reports regarding the mislabelling of fish in the retail sector and what action it took.

On 28February 2013 I asked Seafish to write to retailers and processors reminding them of the need to maintain the highest level of labelling standards, and Seafish did so on 12March 2013. Seafood substitution was discussed with the major supermarkets at the Scottish Groceries Retail Forum on 27 February 2013, where industry was reminded of their responsibilities to ensure that food and food products are correctly labelled, and do not mislead consumers.

The Scottish Government was informed by the Food Standards Agency on 5 March 2013 about specific reports regarding the mislabelling of fish in the retail sector. The report presented in the press was referencing results from a local survey undertaken by local authorities in the west of Scotland during 2008.

Question reference: S4T-00329

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 29 April 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Supreme Court ruling on the Salvesen v Riddell case.

Question reference: S4W-14271

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 15 April 2013
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 29 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S4W-13253 and S4W-13767 by Paul Wheelhouse on 11 March 2013 and 15 April 2013 respectively, when it issued the notice to quit to the Raasay Crofters Association.

Question reference: S4O-02049

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 April 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on ash dieback in Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-14068

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 April 2013
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 23 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how it will respond to reports that the recent bad weather is having a negative impact on seabird populations ahead of the breeding season.

I recognise that the recent spell of unusually bad weather has had a negative impact on Scotland’s wildlife including seabirds and also on livestock. There have been reports of groups of seabirds, such as puffins, being washed ashore on the East Coast of Scotland. This puffin “wreck” is indicative of difficulties faced by seabirds in sourcing food in periods of severe weather.

Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) have advised that the impact of recent bad weather on seabird populations will not be known until after the forthcoming breeding season. SNH, in conjunction with the Joint Nature Conservation Committee and other organisations, participate in the Seabird Monitoring Programme which collects sample data on breeding numbers and breeding success of 26 species of seabird that regularly breed in Britain and Ireland to enable their conservation status to be assessed.

Results of the Seabird Monitoring Programme can be found on the JNCC web site;

http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/page-3201.

Question reference: S4O-02024

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 April 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on opencast restoration.

Question reference: S4W-14071

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 April 2013
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 16 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will reconsider the inclusion of sites to protect seabird foraging areas in the proposed network of marine protected areas to provide resilience against extreme weather events.

There is already a range of work ongoing to identify seabird foraging areas for possible inclusion in the Scottish MPA network either as Nature Conservation MPAs designated under national legislation or marine Special Protected Areas (SPAs) designated under the EU Birds Directive.

The Report to Parliament on progress on identifying an MPA network was laid in Parliament on 14 December 2012, and was accompanied by Scottish Natural Heritage and Joint Nature Conservation Committee’s detailed scientific network advice. Both of these documents, which can be found on the Marine Scotland website, highlights six proposals for black guillemot, all of which contain areas used for foraging.

The report also highlighted that work is ongoing to identify SPAs at sea for other species of seabirds. This will include areas used by seabirds for foraging. Both the new Nature Conservation MPAs and the additional marine SPAs are intended to complement existing SPAs, 31 of which were extended into the marine environment in 2009 and already provide some foraging areas.

Question reference: S4W-14069

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 April 2013
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 16 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what impact the proposed network of marine protected areas will have on the recovery of sandeels.

Protected areas can help conserve the current populations of sandeels by protecting the sources of sandeel in Scottish waters.

Four inshore and offshore MPA proposals for sandeels have been identified and were included in the Report to Parliament in December 2012 in recognition of the importance of preserving the species in its own right but also given the importance of sandeels for key seabird species. Scottish National Heritage and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee have advised that the objectives for the MPA proposals should be to conserve sandeel. Evidence suggests that sandeel are not in decline in these areas because few are activities taking place likely to affect their conservation status. Populations of sandeel are also not considered to be in decline because of existing fisheries measures to protect sandeel, such as the measures that span the marine waters of the Forth, and the relatively quick turnover of sandeels.

Certain areas of the sea act as sources for populations of species. These sources add new individuals to increase the population numbers of the species. The role of the MPA network for sandeels is to protect sources for sandeel which supply young sandeel to other sandeel grounds around Scotland, thus promoting the health of the overall population. The MPA proposals for sandeels that were reported on in 2012 represent such sources of sandeel.

Question reference: S4W-14070

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 April 2013
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 16 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether the proposed network of marine protected areas will protect sandeels in the River Forth.

Question reference: S4W-13717

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 15 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 16 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government on any changes to how environmental impacts will be assessed in Scotland under the UK Office for Unconventional Gas.