- Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 December 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Iain Gray on 13 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to provide any subsidy for the delivery of broadband via satellite systems to areas that will not have access to asymetric digital subscriber line technology in the foreseeable future.
Answer
Subsidy is currently available from Highlands and Islands Enterprise on a selective basis to satellite broadband users in the Highlands and Islands. The trial, along with similar smaller local enterprise company schemes in the south of Scotland, will be evaluated (over a number of business uses) to determine the overall applicability of this broadband delivery mechanism to businesses.
- Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 December 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Iain Gray on 13 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has conducted any mapping exercise to determine levels of demand for broadband connection and, if so, what areas have been identified that will not have access to asymetric digital subscriber line technology in the foreseeable future.
Answer
We are currently commissioning research to provide a "forward look" on the broadband market, and the impact of our broadband strategy in Scotland. This will include a projection of geographical coverage.
- Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 December 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 3 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what procedures it requires British Energy to have in place to prevent the dumping of radioactive waste at sea.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-32511 today. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.
- Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 December 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 3 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what procedures are in place for it, as a signatory through Her Majesty's Government to the International Convention for the Prevention of the Marine Environment of the North East Atlantic agreement, to notify other signatories of any instances of radioactive waste dumping at sea.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-32511 today. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.
- Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 December 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 3 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what the procedure is for the notification of any instances of dumping of radioactive waste at sea to (a) the Parliament, (b) relevant local authorities, (c) relevant local NHS boards, (d) local industries that may be affected and (e) local residents.
Answer
Radioactive material has not been dumped at sea by the UK since 1982. Scottish ministers retain the position held by the UK Government at the time of devolution - that radioactive material will not be dumped at sea under any circumstances.Routine discharges of low-level radioactive waste to sea are controlled under the Radioactive Substances Act 1993 within the terms of authorisations issued by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) to nuclear site operators such as British Energy. Authorisations provide stringent controls under which such discharges may be made. Releases are carefully regulated by SEPA. Should an unauthorised release occur, the site operator is required to notify SEPA as soon as possible. SEPA, as the regulator, will investigate the incident thoroughly and determine any action necessary, including potential legal action and invoking contingency plans to notify relevant bodies.SEPA carries out a comprehensive programme of monitoring of environmental radioactivity in Scotland, concentrating on the monitoring of the marine and coastal environments. SEPA publishes the results of its monitoring annually in
Radioactivity in Food and the Environment (RIFE
), jointly with the Food Standards Agency. RIFE presents results of measurements of radioactivity in the environment. Copies of the reports, including the current report RIFE-7, are available from the Parliament's Reference Centre, or from the SEPA website at the following address:
www.sepa.org.uk/publications/rife/index.htm.
- Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 December 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 3 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what studies it has undertaken to measure the effects of radioactive releases into the sea.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-32511 today. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.
- Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 December 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 3 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what level of funding the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has received to deal with any radioactive releases into the sea since the agency's inception.
Answer
SEPA's annual accounts provide figures for income and expenditure on regulation under the Radioactive Substances Act (RSA) 1993. Figures for the last three years are as follows:
| | 1999 - 2000 | 2000 - 2001 | 2001 - 2002 |
| RSA expenditure | 664,000 | 1,192,000 | 1,309,000 |
| RSA Charging Scheme income | 436,000 | 843,000 | 1,023,000 |
Expenditure which is not recovered through charging is funded from Grant-in-Aid (GIA) provided by the Executive. These figures cover all regulation under RSA, which includes storage and disposal of radioactive materials and waste, as well as environmental discharges. It is possible that there are some aspects of radioactive substances monitoring that are not included in the above figures if they are not related directly to regulation. These activities will be funded from GIA, but GIA is not ring-fenced for specific purposes.
- Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 December 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 3 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what the current procedure is for dealing with any incident of radioactive waste being introduced into the sea.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-32511 today. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.
- Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 December 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 3 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what the role of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency is with regard to any incident of radioactive matter being released into the sea.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-32511 today. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.
- Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 13 December 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Iain Gray on 3 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any subsidy is available for engineering apprenticeships; if so, whether it will give details, whether the subsidy is different from any subsidy available in England and Wales and, if so, how it is different, and whether it has any plans to make changes to address any such differences.
Answer
These are operational matters for Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise. They contribute towards the training costs of modern apprenticeships: it is for them to set the level of contribution. I understand that Scottish Enterprise is currently reviewing its contributions policy: this will include a benchmarking exercise with England and Wales.
