- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 December 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 15 January 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive whether, as a result of the EU waste framework directive of 20 October 2008, local authorities will be required to report separately on waste that is re-used, recycled or recovered, including energy recovered.
Answer
Local authorities currently provide waste data returns to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency that cover waste recycling, composting, other recovery and disposal operations and we would not expect that to change as a result of the revised EU Waste Framework Directive. Re-use activities are not currently reported separately, and the revised Waste Framework Directive provisions do not place any new requirement on member states to do so. Nevertheless, we will consider wider reporting needs and requirements as part of the review of the National Waste Plan.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 December 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 15 January 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what effect the EU waste framework directive agreed on 20 October 2008 will have on local authorities’ waste management policies.
Answer
Local authorities will be obliged to develop waste management policies in accordance with the revised EU Waste Framework Directive. Local authorities will be involved in the development of the new National Waste Plan for Scotland and, within the constraints of that plan and the strategic outcomes agreed with Scottish Government, it will be for local authorities themselves to devise their own policies in accordance with the revised Directive.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 December 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 15 January 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive whether, as a result of the EU waste framework directive of 20 October 2008, local authorities will be required to differentiate between re-use, recycling and recovery, including energy recovery, in developing waste management policies.
Answer
The revised EU Waste Framework Directive does attribute different definitions to these terms, so local authorities will need to take account of these definitions when developing their plans for management of waste. However, it should be noted that these definitions are consistent with current Scottish Government policy and delivery of Zero Waste Scotland, so there should be no need to do anything differently.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 19 December 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 15 January 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to place an obligation on local authorities to provide recycling services for business waste.
Answer
Under the terms of the concordat it is the responsibility of individual local authorities to determine how best to manage any business waste collected. Accordingly, we do not intend to place an obligation on local authorities to provide recycling services for business waste. The Scottish Government does however encourage local authorities to recycle business waste whenever possible.
It should of course be remembered that facilities already exist in a number of local authority areas to allow businesses to recycle their waste, and the Waste Aware Scotland Website has an excellent search facility to allow businesses to locate recycling facilities in their area. Additionally, Waste Aware Scotland are running a Waste Aware Business Campaign that aims to raise awareness of how businesses can deal with their waste more sustainably.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 19 December 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 15 January 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what the total amount paid out under the Organic Aid Scheme was in each year between 2003 and 2007.
Answer
The information requested is provided in the following table.
| Year | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 |
| Organic Aid Scheme* expenditure | £5.7 million | £3.5 million | £2.5 million | £3.0 million | £5.1 million |
Note: *The Organic Aid Scheme closed to new applications on 31 March 2006.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 December 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 15 January 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what effect the EU waste framework directive agreed on 20 October 2008 will have on national waste management policy.
Answer
The new National Waste Plan for Scotland is currently being prepared for consultation and will take full account of the revised EU Waste Framework Directive.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 19 December 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 15 January 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive how many payments were made under the Organic Aid Scheme in each year between 2003 and 2007.
Answer
The information requested is provided in the following table.
| Year | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 |
| Number of Organic Aid Scheme* payments | 746 | 606 | 496 | 546 | 666 |
Note: *The Organic Aid Scheme closed to new applications on 31 March 2006.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 19 December 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 15 January 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S3W-18693 and S3W-18694 by Kenny MacAskill on 18 December 2008, whether the option of making adaptations to Annan Town Hall to address security concerns was explored and costed and, if so, what the cost of such adaptations was estimated to be.
Answer
The consultation exercise for South Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway is not due to end until 2 March 2009. Decisions will not be made until after the consultation responses and the Scottish Court Service final proposals have been fully considered.
The reasons for the Scottish Court Service recommendation in relation to Annan are set out in the consultation document. Scottish Court Service have advised that the building lay out at Annan Town Hall precludes any adaptation to address the security concerns in that building. No costing was undertaken.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 19 December 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 15 January 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive how many farmers have entered into organic production in each year since 1999.
Answer
The Scottish Government do not collect comprehensive information relating to farmers who have entered organic production. However, we do hold information on the number of farmers who have entered the Organic Aid Scheme each year, as shown in the following table.
| Year | Organic Aid Scheme* Entrants |
| 1999 | 252 |
| 2000 | 136 |
| 2001 | 127 |
| 2002 | 50 |
| 2003 | 14 |
| 2004 | 113 |
| 2005 | 95 |
| 2006 | 148 |
| 2007 | 0 |
| 2008 | 0 |
Note: *The Organic Aid Scheme closed to new applications on 31 March 2006.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 19 December 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 15 January 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive how many hectares of farmland have been used for organic production in each year since 1999.
Answer
The Scottish Government do not collect comprehensive information relating to the number of hectares of farmland used for organic production. However, we do hold information on the number hectares which have been entered each year under the Organic Aid Scheme which is shown in the following table.
Hectares Entered Under Organic Aid Scheme*
| Year | |
| 1999 | 117,052 |
| 2000 | 50,659 |
| 2001 | 85,193 |
| 2002 | 8,277 |
| 2003 | 1,204 |
| 2004 | 19,497 |
| 2005 | 16,581 |
| 2006 | 76,076 |
| 2007 | 0 |
| 2008 | 0 |
Note: *The Organic Aid Scheme closed to new applications on 31 March 2006.
