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-05318

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 27 January 2012
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 8 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how the environmental effects of operational wind farms are monitored.

Question reference: S4W-05319

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 27 January 2012
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 8 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what support it gives to (a) Scottish Natural Heritage, (b) local planning authorities or (c) others to ensure that the environmental impacts of wind farms are monitored and do not exceed statutory limits.

Through the planning system and the provision of energy consents guidance the Scottish Government provides a framework to ensure that the development of wind farms takes place in locations where the technology can operate efficiently and environmental and cumulative impacts can be satisfactorily addressed.

SNH receives grant in aid from the Scottish Government to fulfil a wide range of functions in relation to natural heritage, including its role as a statutory adviser within the planning system. The Scottish Government also works with SNH on the development of relevant guidance and policy, such as in the Scottish Windfarm Bird Steering Group, which aims to improve our understanding of the impacts of wind farms on birds, and lead to improvements in information sharing and mitigation measures.

Online renewables planning advice for onshore wind and Circular 4/1998 (use of conditions in planning permissions) provides support for planning authorities in deciding appropriate monitoring conditions.

In addition, the Scottish Government is leading the EU Good Practice Wind project (GP Wind), which is identifying and promoting best practice in reconciling objectives on renewable energy with wider environmental objectives.

Question reference: S4W-04287

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 28 November 2011
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 9 December 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what signage requirements there are for local authorities when introducing a mandatory 20 mph limit.

Question reference: S4W-04286

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 28 November 2011
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 7 December 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many vehicles it (a) owns and (b) leases and how many are (i) electric and (ii) hybrid powered.

Question reference: S4W-03969

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 November 2011
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 22 November 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the older people's housing strategy will compel local authorities to develop local strategies in line with national priorities and how it will ensure that the strategy has a comprehensive national coverage.

Local authorities will not be required to develop separate local strategies for housing for older people. However, we expect local housing strategies to continue to reflect the housing and support needs of particular groups, including older people.

We will work to promote the national strategy for housing for older people across the housing, health and social care sectors to encourage collaboration and partnership working.

Question reference: S4W-03967

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 November 2011
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 22 November 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how much money will be involved in the delivery of the older people's housing strategy, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S4W-03968

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 November 2011
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 22 November 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how it will ensure that any older people's housing strategy funding is spent on the priorities laid out in local and national documents.

Question reference: S4W-03970

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 November 2011
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 22 November 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how often it will review progress toward the targets in the older people's housing strategy.

Question reference: S4W-03712

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 November 2011
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 21 November 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the scoring threshold for applications for agri-environment options in the Scotland Rural Development Programme Rural Priorities scheme will need to be increased in order to reduce the number of approvals if demand from applicants is greater than the available budget or whether the budget will rise to reflect demand.

The recent 2011 agri-environment approvals and the ongoing assessment under the continuous approval process have the same scoring threshold advice to Regional Proposal Assessment Committees (RPACs) as 2010. This resulted in a record 82% of applications being approved and we remain confident that the agri-environment budget will meet demand in the coming years, and have recently announced that there will be a further agri-environment funding round in September 2012. The budget available for Rural Priorities will depend on the level of demand for other elements of the SRDP and at this stage it is therefore not possible to predict the scoring threshold for the 2012 round.

Question reference: S4W-03709

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 November 2011
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 21 November 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the consideration to suspend certain axes 1 and 3 options in the Scotland Rural Development Programme Rural Priorities scheme is a reflection of the budgetary constraints under which the scheme will operate if proposed spending reductions go ahead in the period 2012 to 2015.

As I announced at the AgriScot event on 16 November there are no plans to close any options under Axis 3. However, I also announced that we will limit access to measure 121 in Axis 1 (restructuring agricultural businesses) so that it is only open to those who meet the criteria of New Entrants to farming and to support energy efficiency projects. A cap of £100,000 has been set for the setting up of young farmers and £50,000 for energy efficiency projects. This will allow us to focus on our other Axis 1 priorities of food processing, climate change and providing assistance to young farmers. It also reflects the decision to pull forward capital spending within Rural Priorities in 2010 and 2011 to aid economic recovery and approve a very large number of projects. Indeed the restructuring agricultural business option is already well subscribed delivering £21 million out of the £34 million allocated across Axis 1 in 2011.