Questions and answers

Question reference: S2W-11693

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 October 2004
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 8 November 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what the reasons are for delay in the Intermediary Technology Institutes becoming operational and what costs have been incurred for each institute.

Question reference: S2W-11689

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 October 2004
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 8 November 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any plans to increase or improve the level of teaching of Scottish history (a) in schools and (b) generally.

There are no specific plans to increase or improve the level of teaching of Scottish history (a) in schools or (b) generally.

On 1 November, I announced a programme of work which aims to create a single, coherent, Scottish curriculum 3-18. The intention is to ensure that young people achieve the broad outcomes we look for from school education, both through subject teaching and more cross-subject activity.

Question reference: S2W-11687

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 October 2004
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Curran on 8 November 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what concordats have been amended since 1999, showing changes made in each case.

The following concordats have been the subject of minor updating since 1999:

Department for Transport (formerly Concordat with Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions)

Originated in March 2004

This concordat was substantially based on the original concordat with DTLR, updating with drafting amendments to reflect the split of responsibilities to the Department for Transport and Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (formerly Concordat with Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions)

Originated in March 2003

This concordat was substantially based on the original concordat with DTLR, updating with drafting amendments to reflect the split of responsibilities to the Department for Transport and Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

Department for Work and Pensions

Last Updated in June 2004

This concordat was updated to reflect changes in titles of the names of the Scottish Executive teams together with minor drafting amendments.

The nature of concordats is such that they should not require frequent or significant amendment. They are, however, expected to be reviewed from time to time.

All concordats including any previous versions are lodged with Parliaments Information Centre.

Question reference: S2W-11688

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 October 2004
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Curran on 8 November 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what concordats are currently being renegotiated with Her Majesty’s Government, giving details in each case.

Question reference: S2W-11576

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 October 2004
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 28 October 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on scientific advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea that the cod fishery should be closed.

Despite some signs of potential improvement, cod remains well outside safe biological limits and continues to require careful stewardship. The Scottish Executive is committed to the effective implementation of the EU’s Cod Recovery Plan as a means of promoting the long-term sustainability of the stock while enabling the Scottish fleet to continue to pursue carefully managed fishingopportunities in the North Sea. The Executive considers that a complete closure of the fishery would be disproportionate.

Question reference: S2W-11046

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 27 October 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive to what extent American signal crayfish, or similar species, are present in Scottish rivers and lochs; whether it will list those locations where they have been identified, and what steps it has taken in response to their presence.

North American Signal Crayfish have been confirmed in river locations in the Kirkcudbright Dee, the Skyre Burn (Fleet catchment), Daer Water (Clyde catchment), the River Earn (Tay catchment), two locations in Fife and in the River Nairn. Sightings have also been reported in ponds in the North Esk, Tay and River Tyne (East Lothian) catchments.

Under the terms of the Prohibition of Keeping or Release of Live Fish (Specified Species) (Scotland) Order 2003 it is an offence to both keep and release crayfish without a licence from Scottish ministers. The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 also makes it an offence to release this species into the wild.

Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) has taken steps to deal with the signal crayfish issue in Scotland. As well as helping to fund eradication programmes, it has also commissioned a research report entitled, Preparation and Implementation of a Strategy for the Containment of American Signal Crayfish in the River Dee Catchment, Kirkcudbrightshire. SNH is also involved in the development of publicity materials for this species, which are designed to educate the public about the dangers of translocating signal crayfish to other waters.

Question reference: S2W-10972

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 26 October 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects to make changes to the Renewables Obligation (Scotland) scheme; what changes it expects to make, and what changes are currently being considered.

We are currently consulting on changes to the Renewables Obligation (Scotland) which will extend the levels of the Obligation until 2015-16, create a UK market in Renewable Obligation Certificates, secure the buy-out fund and allow greater flexibility for smaller generators. Subject to that consultation, we plan to introduce any resulting changes in April 2005.

We have also completed a short consultation looking at the terms of reference for a fundamental review of the Obligation which will take place next year. This will consider the impact of the Obligation so far, its profile beyond 2015-16, the interface between the Obligation and the Emissions Trading Scheme and possible measures to support heat and other technologies. We would intend to introduce any changes arising from the review, following full consultation, in April 2006.

Question reference: S2W-10975

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 26 October 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken to ensure that consumers are informed about whether beef sold as Aberdeen Angus is produced in Scotland.

Question reference: S2W-10969

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 26 October 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many road traffic (a) fatalities and (b) injuries there (i) were in each of the last three years and (ii) have been so far this year, broken down by (1) police force area and (2) parliamentary region, expressed also as a percentage of all road traffic accidents and detailing year-on-year percentage changes.

Figures on the numbers of road accident fatalities and injuries by police force area are published regularly in “Key Road Accident Statistics” and “Road Accidents Scotland”. These figures, together with the other information requested, are given in the following tables. They relate only to accidents that were reported to the police. The figures for the first quarter of 2004 are provisional. Figures for the second quarter will become available in November. Percentage changes are not given for quarterly figures, because of the small numbers involved.

Casualties by Police Force Area and Parliamentary Region¹,

2001 to 2004 1st Quarter

Fatalities by Police Force Area

Police Force Area	2001	2002	2003	Jan-Mar 2004 (Provisonal)
Northern	39	27	36	7
Grampian	50	49	50	12
Tayside	50	27	36	6
Fife	21	29	18	7
Lothian and Borders	41	38	45	8
Central	17	24	20	4
Strathclyde	117	92	116	24
Dumfries and Galloway	13	18	10	1
Scotland	348	304	331	69

Percentage of Total	2001	2002	2003	Jan-Mar 2004 (Provisonal)
Northern	11.2	8.9	10.9	10.1
Grampian	14.4	16.1	15.1	17.4
Tayside	14.4	8.9	10.9	8.7
Fife	6.0	9.5	5.4	10.1
Lothian and Borders	11.8	12.5	13.6	11.6
Central	4.9	7.9	6.0	5.8
Strathclyde	33.6	30.3	35.0	34.8
Dumfries and Galloway	3.7	5.9	3.0	1.4
Scotland	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0

Percentage Change Over Previous Year	2001	2002	2003
Northern	-9.3	-30.8	33.3
Grampian	-5.7	-2.0	2.0
Tayside	117.4	-46.0	33.3
Fife	75.0	38.1	-37.9
Lothian and Borders	-28.1	-7.3	18.4
Central	-5.6	41.2	-16.7
Strathclyde	10.4	-21.4	26.1
Dumfries and Galloway	-7.1	38.5	-44.4
Scotland	6.7	-12.6	8.9

Fatalities by Parliamentary Region

Parliamentary Region¹	2001	2002	2003	Jan-Mar 2004 (Provisonal)
Highlands and Islands	53	38	48	6
North East Scotland	61	50	53	15
Mid Scotland and Fife	64	58	59	12
West Scotland	29	19	33	6
Central Scotland	32	40	34	8
Lothian	30	22	24	5
South Scotland	47	63	60	12
Glasgow	23	14	18	4
Not Known²	9	0	2	1
Scotland	348	304	331	69

Percentage of Total	2001	2002	2003	Jan-Mar 2004 (Provisonal)
Highlands and Islands	15.2	12.5	14.5	8.7
North East Scotland	17.5	16.4	16.0	21.7
Mid Scotland and Fife	18.4	19.1	17.8	17.4
West Scotland	8.3	6.3	10.0	8.7
Central Scotland	9.2	13.2	10.3	11.6
Lothian	8.6	7.2	7.3	7.2
South Scotland	13.5	20.7	18.1	17.4
Glasgow	6.6	4.6	5.4	5.8
Not known²	2.6	0.0	0.6	1.4
Scotland	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0

Percentage Change Over Previous Year	2001	2002	2003
Highlands and Islands	-10.2	-28.3	26.3
North East Scotland	24.5	-18.0	6.0
Mid Scotland and Fife	64.1	-9.4	1.7
West Scotland	-12.1	-34.5	73.7
Central Scotland	45.5	25.0	-15.0
Lothian	3.4	-26.7	9.1
South Scotland	-16.1	34.0	-4.8
Glasgow	-8.0	-39.1	28.6
Not Known²	n/a	n/a	n/a
Scotland	6.7	-12.6	8.9

Non-fatal injuries by police force area

Police Force Area	2001	2002	2003	Jan-Mar 2004 (Provisonal)
Northern	1,205	1,081	1,176	225
Grampian	1,554	1,488	1,418	305
Tayside	1,640	1,556	1,362	298
Fife	991	1,051	982	242
Lothian and Borders	4,059	3,885	3,598	843
Central	842	964	1,027	188
Strathclyde	8,705	8,359	8,252	1,826
Dumfries and Galloway	565	569	574	128
Scotland	19,561	18,953	18,389	4,055

Percentage of Total	2001	2002	2003	Jan-Mar 2004 (Provisonal)
Northern	6.2	5.7	6.4	5.5
Grampian	7.9	7.9	7.7	7.5
Tayside	8.4	8.2	7.4	7.3
Fife	5.1	5.5	5.3	6.0
Lothian and Borders	20.8	20.5	19.6	20.8
Central	4.3	5.1	5.6	4.6
Strathclyde	44.5	44.1	44.9	45.0
Dumfries and Galloway	2.9	3.0	3.1	3.2
Scotland	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0

Percentage Change Over Previous Year	2001	2002	2003
Northern	4.8	-10.3	8.8
Grampian	-2.8	-4.2	-4.7
Tayside	7.1	-5.1	-12.5
Fife	-6.9	6.1	-6.6
Lothian and Borders	-6.4	-4.3	-7.4
Central	-8.3	14.5	6.5
Strathclyde	-3.0	-4.0	-1.3
Dumfries and Galloway	-6.9	0.7	0.9
Scotland	-3.0	-3.1	-3.0

Non-Fatal Injuries by Parliamentary Region

Parliamentary Region¹	2001	2002	2003	Jan-Mar 2004 (Provisonal)
Highlands and Islands	1,578	1,517	1,712	304
North East Scotland	2,086	2,124	1,835	371
Mid Scotland and Fife	2,310	2,284	2,246	506
West Scotland	2,094	2,037	2,143	440
Central Scotland	2,555	2,389	2,351	508
Lothian	3,145	2,930	2,709	639
South Scotland	2,664	2,764	2,606	586
Glasgow	2,901	2,812	2,717	662
Not Known²	228	96	70	39
Scotland	19,561	18,953	18,389	4,055

Percentage of Total	2001	2002	2003	Jan-Mar 2004 (Provisonal)
Highlands and Islands	8.1	8.0	9.3	7.5
North East Scotland	10.7	11.2	10.0	9.1
Mid Scotland and Fife	11.8	12.1	12.2	12.5
West Scotland	10.7	10.7	11.7	10.9
Central Scotland	13.1	12.6	12.8	12.5
Lothian	16.1	15.5	14.7	15.8
South Scotland	13.6	14.6	14.2	14.5
Glasgow	14.8	14.8	14.8	16.3
Not known ²	1.2	0.5	0.4	1.0
Scotland	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0

Percent Change Over Previous Year	2001	2002	2003
Highlands and Islands	1.4	-3.9	12.9
North East Scotland	1.0	1.8	-13.6
Mid Scotland and Fife	-0.1	-1.1	-1.7
West Scotland	-9.2	-2.7	5.2
Central Scotland	-3.4	-6.5	-1.6
Lothian	-4.8	-6.8	-7.5
South Scotland	-4.1	3.8	-5.7
Glasgow	0.4	-3.1	-3.4
Not Known²	n/a	n/a	n/a
Scotland	-3.0	-3.1	-3.0

Notes:

1. Figures for parliamentary regions are approximate as the road accident statistics system was not designed to provide figures for these areas. They are based on information collected and reported by the Police, and do not take account of any subsequent changes to the statistical information about locations of the accidents that local authorities may have made, based on their knowledge of the roads and areas concerned.

2. In a small number of cases the information provided about the grid co-ordinates of the location of the accident is insufficient to identify the parliamentary constituency in which an accident occurred.

Question reference: S2W-10968

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 26 October 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what calculations have been carried out of any anticipated constraints for the renewable energy industry as a result of limitations of the existing national grid.

The report published in June 2003 by the Transmission Issues Working Group (TIWG), comprising Scottish Power, Scottish and Southern Energy, National Grid Transco, DTI, the Scottish Executive, the Welsh Assembly Government and Ofgem, established clearly that the existing grid requires significant strengthening and modification if our renewables potential is to be fully exploited. The report is available at http://www.dti.gov.uk/energy/renewables/technologies/tiwgreport.pdf.

The TIWG continues to meet regularly to monitor and discuss progress.

Tell us your views

Seòmar agus comataidhean