- Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 September 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 17 September 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive how much was awarded in funding through the European Fisheries Fund programme in 2008-09.
Answer
The Scottish Government awarded £10.8 million in funding through the European Fisheries Fund programme in 2008-09.
- Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 September 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 17 September 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what financial support it will offer to individuals, businesses or fishing communities affected by the total allowable catch quotas for mackerel set by Iceland and the Faroe Islands.
Answer
The taking of mackerel by Icelandic and Faeroese fishermen has no immediate effect on Scottish individuals, businesses or fishing communities. However, the Scottish Government is doing everything possible to avoid the negative medium-term economic consequences that overfishing of the mackerel stock might entail.
- Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 September 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 17 September 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive whether contingencies are in place to increase the money available to the European Fisheries Fund programme to meet any increase in demand.
Answer
The Scottish Government awarded £17.8 million in funding through European Fisheries Fund programme in September 2010. Future funding levels will be considered in the forthcoming spending review.
- Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 September 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 17 September 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive how much it expects to award in funding through the European Fisheries Fund programme in September 2010.
Answer
The Scottish Government will award £17.8 million through the European Fisheries Fund in September 2010.
- Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 August 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 8 September 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive how the proposed replacement of almost all electric trains by diesel units on the line between Edinburgh and Glasgow Central via Carstairs will impact on its aim of significantly decarbonising Scotland’s public transport.
Answer
The decision to replace the majority of East Coast services between Glasgow and Edinburgh with services operated by Arriva Cross Country is directed by the Department for Transport.
Further to this, the decision is to replace some of the most energy efficient electric trains on the UK network with some of the most polluting diesel trains, as measured by CO2 per passenger kilometre.
It is unclear at this stage what the environmental impact of these changes will be. However, these services account for only a very small percentage of overall train movements in Scotland. In the context of published figures showing that rail transport accounts for less than 1% of overall emissions in Scotland, I see that the transfer from electric to diesel rolling stock over this route could only have a marginal impact on our plans for decarbonising public transport.
It is important to emphasise that regardless of power source, rail remains the most environmentally sustainable mode of powered transport. This is why we are working to encourage modal shift to rail from more polluting modes of transport.
- Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 02 August 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 24 August 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance it has given to local authority planning departments on the measures available to deal with the processing of waste in the context of the Zero Waste Plan.
Answer
Scottish Government published its
Zero Waste Plan on the 9 June 2010. Annex B of the plan sets out guidance for local authority planning departments on the role of the land-use planning system in delivering waste management facilities. Scottish Government planning officials are working closely with all planning authorities in the preparation of their development plans including matters in relation to waste management. A wide range of stakeholders including planning authorities and Convention of Scottish Local Authorities have been engaged in the current review of Planning Advice Note 63 “ Waste Management Planning.
In addition, Scottish Government will shortly be giving further guidance to local authorities on the use of energy from waste treatment. Zero Waste Scotland and Scottish Futures Trust also provide local authorities with advice and support on procurement and achieving value for money in relation to waste management infrastructure.
- Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 02 August 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 24 August 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance it has given to local authorities on how to achieve the waste reduction and recycling targets outlined in the Zero Waste Plan.
Answer
The Scottish Government has established the Zero Waste Scotland delivery programme to support the implementation of Scotland''s Zero Waste Plan. The delivery programme provides advice and guidance to all stakeholders involved in achieving a zero waste society, including local authorities.
- Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 August 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 24 August 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it is taking in conjunction with public agencies and the retail sector to reduce and prevent unnecessary packaging of goods.
Answer
The Scottish Government works closely with the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) to implement producer responsibility regulations in line with EC Directives on Packaging and Packaging Waste. The producer responsibility regulations obligate producers and suppliers who have a market share of more than £2 million and produce more than 50 tons of waste a year to pay towards recycling the waste they produce. By placing this obligation on producers the regulations provide an economic incentive to reduce and prevent unnecessary packaging waste. More details can be found on SEPA''s website:
http://www.sepa.org.uk/waste/waste_regulation/producer_responsibility.aspx.
The Zero Waste Scotland (ZWS) delivery programme, created to support Scotland''s Zero Waste Plan, provides advice and support to all stakeholders involved in achieving a zero waste society. ZWS works with public agencies on the issue of reducing packaging of goods and supports the UK-wide Courtauld Commitment. Administered by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), the Courtauld Commitment is a voluntary agreement aimed at improving resource efficiency and reducing the carbon and wider environmental impact of the grocery retail sector.
The Courtauld Commitment (Phase 1) was launched in 2005 and had 42 signatories representing many key retailers and suppliers. This phase achieved the target of zero growth in packaging by 2008. Courtauld 2 was launched in March 2010 and moves away from solely weight-based targets, aiming to achieve more sustainable use of resources over the entire lifecycle of products, including their packaging. 29 major retailers and brand owners committed to Phase 2. Discussions about the shape of Phase 3 have commenced.
Further details on the Courtauld Commitment can be found here:
http://www.wrap.org.uk/retail/courtauld_commitment/index.html.
- Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 02 August 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Fergus Ewing on 20 August 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to amend the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 to provide further exemptions in respect of the licensing of sporting weapons under the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Bill.
Answer
As I indicated during the stage 3 debate on the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Bill on 30 June, the Scottish Government will bring forward in the near future appropriate legislation to assist sports that may be affected adversely by the introduction of the Knife Dealers Licensing Scheme.
- Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 12 July 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 16 August 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment has been made of the potential increase in greenhouse gas emissions due to the cancellation of the Energy Saving Scotland home renewables grant scheme and what the outcome was.
Answer
The Energy Saving Scotland home renewables grant scheme has been very successful in stimulating the market for microgeneration technologies and helping over 4,000 householders to generate their own energy. Continued high demand led to an extra allocation in 2010-11 of £1.5 million.
This scheme has not been cancelled. It was a demand-led scheme and all available funding has now been fully allocated. Therefore, as there has been no reduction to the original proposed programme, there will be potential increase in greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, due to the additional funding allocated to the programme the reduction in green house gas emissions will be more than would have been achieved with the original budget. The latest estimate for emissions reductions by the scheme is 140,052.3 lifetime tonnes of CO2.