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: S1W-25833

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 May 2002
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 27 May 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will institute a public inquiry to examine issues surrounding the planning application for the proposed wind farm at Whitelees Forest.

Question reference: S1W-25780

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 May 2002
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 24 May 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive what the current level of ambulance cover is in Lanarkshire; what level of cover it considers appropriate, and whether it is acceptable for there to be periods when no ambulance cover is available in the area.

Question reference: S1W-25779

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 May 2002
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 24 May 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive how many ambulance shifts were not covered in Lanarkshire in each month since January 2002.

Question reference: S1W-25782

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 May 2002
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 24 May 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive what measures are in place to ensure that there is adequate ambulance cover in Lanarkshire during periods when demand for the service is expected to increase.

Question reference: S1W-25781

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 May 2002
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 24 May 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive how many ambulance call-outs there have been in Lanarkshire in each month since January 2002 and what the (a) average and (b) target response times were in each of these months.

Question reference: S1W-25696

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 May 2002
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 23 May 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive what environmental assessment is required before planning permission for a wind farm is granted and whether such assessment includes a flood risk assessment.

Wind farms of over 50 mega watts capacity require consent from the Scottish ministers under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989. In granting consent under this procedure planning permission is deemed to be granted. Wind farms of smaller capacity require planning permission from the relevant planning authority under the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997. The electricity consent procedures and the planning permission procedures have associated formal environmental impact assessment (EIA) requirements contained in the Electricity Works (Assessment of Environmental Effects) (Scotland) Regulations 2000 and the Environmental Impact Assessment (Scotland) Regulations 1999 respectively.The information required to be included in the environmental statement associated with an EIA will depend on the particular circumstances of each case. Prior to seeking consent or planning permission, a developer may approach the competent authority (either the Scottish ministers or the planning authority) to seek an opinion on the scope of the environmental statement.Where an application for planning permission is involved, aside from the formal EIA procedures, planning authorities also have powers to require the submission of further information necessary to determine the application. This can include information on, for example, environmental issues, flood risk or traffic impact.

Question reference: S1W-25702

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 May 2002
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 22 May 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive whether any concerns have been raised about possible despoiling of an area of special scientific interest in regard to the proposed wind farm at Whitelee Forest.

Question reference: S1W-25278

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 22 April 2002
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Curran on 22 May 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive whether Communities Scotland operates a percentage target for home ownership when approving housing projects for grant funding; if so, whether this target is uniform across the country or varies geographically, and what any such national or local targets are.

I have asked Mr Bob Millar, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. His response is as follows:Communities Scotland does not operate a specific percentage target for home ownership. Local programmes are developed in close consultation with partners and reflect a broad range of existing partnership arrangements. Local programmes are based upon local housing market and needs analysis to identify, consistent with our strategy, the demands, needs and opportunities for housing investment. It is this local analysis that dictates the requirement for home ownership in an area.

Question reference: S1W-25697

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 May 2002
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 22 May 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive whether any concerns have been raised over the extraction of peat from the site of the proposed wind farm at Whitelee Forest and, if so, what its response was to any such concerns.

Question reference: S1W-25703

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 May 2002
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 22 May 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive what flood risk assessment has been completed in connection with the proposed wind farm at Whitelee Forest; whether any such assessment has been provided to (a) it, (b) the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and (c) the local authorities in the area, and whether any such assessment will be published.

The Environmental Statement prepared on behalf of the developer addressed the issue of flood risk assessment and will be addressed by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and the local authorities concerned as part of the consultation process. The application by Scottish Power for consent under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989 to construct a wind farm in Whitelee Forest is currently under consideration by Scottish ministers. It would therefore be inappropriate for me to comment further on this particular project.