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: S3W-22665

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 03 April 2009
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 27 April 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what representations ministers have received from farming industry representatives regarding ongoing support to maintain a national scheme for dealing with fallen stock.

Question reference: S3W-22256

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 23 March 2009
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 23 April 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-20740 by Stewart Stevenson on 2 March 2009 and given the imminent cessation of the Scottish Community and Householder Renewables Initiative programme, how it will monitor demand for the scheme in light of the proposed changes to permitted development rights for domestic microgeneration equipment.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-22259 on 9April 2009. Support offered through the Scottish Community and Householder Renewable Initiative (SCHRI) will not cease, but will run under two distinct programmes from April 2009.

The householder stream will continue to operate as it does at the moment but under the new banner of Energy Saving Scotland “ home renewables, while the community stream will operate under the new name of the Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES). The decision to separate support through SCHRI reflects the distinct needs of the different customer groups, and allows the individual delivery bodies to focus on the areas where they have the greatest expertise.

Household grant support through the Energy Saving Scotland “ home renewables will continue to be managed on our behalf by the Energy Saving Trust (EST) in Scotland. EST already report to my officials quarterly on the performance of the household grant scheme and this will not change as a result of the re-branding. These reports will be reviewed quarterly against current demand for the scheme, and against the formal annual evaluation of the EST programmes, to see if there has been an impact as a result of the changes to permitted development rights. Should significant changes in demand be experienced, further evaluation would be carried out to ascertain the cause.

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/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

Question reference: S3W-22539

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 April 2009
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 14 April 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has received from vets and agricultural bodies regarding the recruitment of a suitable manager for the Thurso Disease Surveillance Centre.

Question reference: S3W-22538

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 April 2009
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 14 April 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps have been taken to recruit a suitable manager for the Thurso Disease Surveillance Centre.

The Thurso Disease Surveillance Centre is not a Scottish Government facility but is part of the Scottish Agricultural College''s (SAC) network of veterinary laboratories. SAC are a private company limited by guarantee.

Due to the specialist nature of this post, in a remote part of Scotland, recruitment of a suitably trained and experienced veterinary surgeon is difficult. Recognising this challenge SAC moved rapidly to secure the services of two local veterinary practitioners who have been contracted to provide an uninterrupted service. An agreement has been reached with the local veterinary practice, DS McGregor and Partners, to ensure that appropriately trained vets will continue to provide a post mortem service from SAC''s existing Janetstown premises, laboratory samples will also be sent to Thurso from other parts of Scotland to supplement this work.

Veterinary officials are satisfied that these arrangements will meet the requirements of the Scottish Government''s surveillance programme and will continue to monitor the situation.

Question reference: S3W-22258

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 23 March 2009
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 9 April 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether individual householders will be able to access advice and guidance and grant funding under the Communities and Renewable Energy Scheme.

Question reference: S3W-22257

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 23 March 2009
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 9 April 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive, with regard to the Communities and Renewable Energy Scheme, when the contract will be awarded and when the scheme will be open to applicants.

The Scottish Government is managing a smooth transition from the Communities support in the Scottish Community and Householder Renewables Initiative (SCHRI) to the new Communities and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES) to prevent disruption to applications or projects in the pipeline. There will be no closure or cessation of support. The CARES contract is due to be awarded on 14 April and CARES will take effect from that date.

Question reference: S3W-22259

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 23 March 2009
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 9 April 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive, following cessation of the Scottish Community and Householder Renewables Initiative, what support will be available for householders who wish to take advantage of their homes’ microgeneration potential.

The Scottish Government''s householder and community renewables support programmes will run as two separate initiatives from April 2009. The new scheme for householders will be the Energy Saving Scotland home renewables “ grants. This will be delivered by the Energy Saving Trust.

Delivery through the Trust will increase the reach of the Energy Saving Scotland identity and so align this programme with the Energy Saving Scotland Advice Centres. As a result there will be a simpler landscape for consumers using Energy Savings Scotland managed programmes.

Question reference: S3W-22002

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 16 March 2009
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 1 April 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-19776 by Richard Lochhead on 28 January 2009, what steps it has taken since 28 January 2009 to ensure that the next round of Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (LFASS) payments and single farm payments can both be made in 2009.

In my answer to question S3W-19776, and in previous correspondence with the Member, I said that officials were already looking carefully at the payment positions for the 2009 Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (LFASS), and the 2009 Single Farm Payment Scheme (SFPS).

My officials will continue to examine the feasibility of combining LFASS and SFPS payments in the longer term; making those payments in parallel; or starting the 2009 LFASS payments in December, after the bulk of the SFPS payments have been made. However, I continue to support the view that early delivery of our SFPS payments must continue to take absolute priority, not least because that is where the bulk of the money lies and how we deliver the greatest amount of benefit to our farmers and crofters. Any move from that basic assumption would have major consequences for both SFPS and the wider SRDP delivery work as well. No solution has yet been identified to enable the combination of LFASS and SFPS this year or for them to be paid in parallel. However, we would aim to at least match our 2008 LFASS payment performance, which itself was an improvement over the 2007 scheme. For the 2007 LFASS, payments began to appear in bank accounts on 11 February 2008, and by 20 March, 95% of eligible applicants had been paid. New entrants waited until May 2008 before receiving payments.

By comparison, the 2008 LFASS payments started on 16 January this year, immediately after the EU Regulatory requirements had been met. By 31 January, almost 90% of eligible applicants had been paid, and by 23 March, this increased to around 95% of eligible applicants. Furthermore, eligible new entrants started receiving payment on 6 March, more than two months ahead of last year. These payments continue to roll out.

As for the SFPS, EU Regulations do not permit payments to be made before 1 December each year and, like LFASS, only then if we have verified that all eligibility requirements have been met. Our strategy for 2009 is to gear up to deliver the highest possible value of SFPS payments from the earliest date permissible.

Question reference: S3W-22000

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 16 March 2009
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 25 March 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many local authorities employ fewer countryside rangers than they did two years ago.

Question reference: S3W-21998

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 16 March 2009
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 25 March 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many countryside ranger posts there were in May 2007.