- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 12 February 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 23 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive how many times the powers under the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 have been used in each year since the Act came into force to require that improvements be made to unsatisfactory accesses to trunk roads.
Answer
The information requested is not recorded by the Scottish Executive or its agents.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 March 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 21 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive which abattoirs have been licensed under the scheme allowing movement of livestock during the current outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease; what criteria were used in the licensing of these abattoirs; whether further licences will be issued if more abattoirs are required, and whether there is any provision under the scheme which limits or aims to limit the length of journey between farm and abattoir.
Answer
Scottish Ministers have approved the red meat premises listed below under the arrangements for livestock to go direct from farm to abattoir for slaughter contained in the Foot and Mouth Disease Declaratory (Controlled Area)(Scotland) (No 2) Order 2001. Any further applications for approval will be considered on their merits.Grampian County Pork Ltd (Buckie) Buccleuch Scotch Beef, Castle DouglasSandyford Abattoir Ltd, Paisley Millers of Speyside, Grantown on SpeyJohn M Munro Ltd, Dingwall St Andrews AbattoirBryson Meats Ltd, Strathaven Rhinds of ElginKepak Buchan, Turriff Wick SlaughterhouseMathers (Inverurie) Ltd James Chapman Ltd, ShottsOrkney Meat Ltd, Kirkwall Wishaw AbattoirScotch Premier Meat, Inverurie ABP Bathgate LtdScotbeef Bridge of Allan R Y Henderson & Sons, LinlithgowRobertson's Fine Foods, Ardrossan Scottish Borders Abattoir, GalashielsD S Stevenson, Dunblane Blackwaterfoot Slaughterhouse, ArranMcIntosh Donald, Portlethen G McTaggarts, IslayHighland Meats Ltd, Saltcoats Matheson Jess Ltd, BrechinABP Perth Heather Isle Meats, StornowayBiggar Wholesale Meats Scarinish Slaughterhouse, TireeRamsay of Carluke G D Vivers & Sons, AnnanGrampian County Pork, Matheson Jess Ltd, Dundee Halls Ltd, Broxburn Shetland Pork, ShetlandMagnus Smith, Shetland Shetland SlaughterhouseA K Stoddart, Ayr To obtain approval abattoirs must:
(i) have a current licence under the Fresh Meat (Hygiene and Inspection) Regulations 1995;(ii) have adequate facilities to cleanse and disinfect each livestock vehicle before it leaves the premises;(iii) have adequate drainage;(iv) provide full veterinary ante-mortem inspection for all animals, and(v) have adequate management systems to ensure slaughter of animals within 24 hours of their arrival on the premises.Journeys from farm to slaughter must be direct, without a scheduled stop and should be completed within four hours. Longer journeys may be permitted but, where these exceed four hours, two drivers must be used.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 February 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 20 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive how many dementia sufferers there currently are in the Highlands of Scotland; how many it estimates there will be by 2006; whether there is an ongoing shortage in the region of nursing homes which are able to provide appropriate nursing care for such sufferers, and what action it intends to take in relation to any such shortage.
Answer
Patients diagnosed with dementia will be treated in a variety of NHS locations depending on the severity of the condition. Many will be seen in general practice while others will be admitted to hospital or nursing home care. At present, it is not possible to estimate the current number of suffers in Highland Health Board area, or the number in 2006.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 09 February 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Sam Galbraith on 19 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what financial assistance it has given this financial year to (a) Scottish Opera and (b) Balnain House, Inverness.
Answer
None. The main channel for public funding of the arts in Scotland is the Scottish Arts Council. I have therefore asked the Director of the Arts Council to write to the member with the requested information and to make it available in the Parliaments Reference Centre.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 January 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 19 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it will take in order to ensure the continued use of Balnain House, Inverness as a centre for traditional arts and culture; whether it has allocated any funding for this purpose and, if not, whether it will urge the Scottish Arts Council, the Highlands and Islands Enterprise network, or any other body to do so.
Answer
None. The closure of Balnain House was a decision for the company. The Scottish Arts Council continues to support traditional arts in the area and is working with others in the Highland Arts Partnership to develop long-term plans to ensure their sustainable future.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 February 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 8 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will reconsider its decision not to replace the external adjudicators of Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise with ombudsmen and whether the use of an external adjudicator is contrary to Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights in terms of whether such use constitutes hearings before an independent and impartial tribunal.
Answer
The Executive has not yet made a decision on whether to replace the external adjudicators of Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise with an ombudsman. The question was discussed in the Executive's consultation paper Modernising the Complaints System. The closing date for comments was 10 January 2001 and we are currently analysing the responses. The Executive aims to publish a second consultation paper in the spring, setting out detailed proposals based on these responses.In terms of Article 6 of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR), whatever complaints system is put in place after the consultation, whether a continuation of the current system or otherwise, will be compliant with ECHR.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 November 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 6 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the statement by Henry McLeish on 1 November 2000 that it intends to go further than the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information position that "information should be released except where disclosure would not be in the public interest" (Official Report, col. 1198), which information which can currently be withheld under the exemptions in Part II of the code it is proposing to allow access to under its Freedom of Information Bill.
Answer
In the Executive's consultation document An Open Scotland it was stated (paragraph 1.4) that "The statutory FOI regime will build upon, and extend, the principles of openness contained in the Code of Practice." A draft Freedom of Information Bill was published on 1 March 2001.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 January 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 6 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-11701 by Rhona Brankin on 8 January 2001, whether it will detail the enquiries that have been made as to whether dogs are used underground for pest control purposes on land under its ownership or control and whether it will list (a) all estates under its ownership or control and (b) the estates in respect of which enquiries have been made.
Answer
In order to answer the previous question, enquiries were made of the Headquarters of The Forestry Commission, Historic Scotland and the Scottish Agricultural Science Agency along with the Estate Management section of the Scottish Executive itself. The Agricultural Staff of the Scottish Executive Rural Affairs Department who are responsible for managing Ministers land settlement estates (99% of which is tenanted croft land) were also consulted. These bodies account for some 800,000 hectares of land owned or controlled by the Scottish Executive. No individual enquiries were made of any specific estate or croft.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 November 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 5 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what the precise objections of the Health Department's Reference Laboratory Group were to the evidence it received regarding the proposed method of tiered testing of scallops and the public health implications of such a method, what further work is necessary on this evidence, by what date this work must be completed and whether this work will be made publicly available.
Answer
The Food Standards Agency has advised me that the EU ASP Working Group requested further information on the variation of toxin levels in individual parts of the scallop. A second, more detailed scientific report addressing this issue has been prepared and will be scrutinised by the working group in early April. The reports were prepared for the EU Working Group and they will decide on the circulation.Additionally work is being progressed by the Agency to ensure a rigorous enforcement regime, and an adequate monitoring programme can be developed which will guarantee consumer safety should a tiered approach be acceptable in scientific terms.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 18 January 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 5 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will order an inquiry into the circumstances of how parts of a calf whose mother was infected by BSE may have found their way into the human food chain and, if so, who will be involved in this inquiry.
Answer
Where possible animals identified as offspring of BSE cases are traced and removed from the human food chain. Officials of the Food Standards Agency, the Scottish Executive and the Ministry of Agriculture are jointly considering whether, in this particular case, the offspring could have been removed at an earlier stage.
