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-19442

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 29 October 2001
Current Status: Answered by Iain Gray on 12 November 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to reform the law in relation to rights of servitude and whether the power of feudal superiors and landowners in relation to the law of servitude and, in particular, on denial of rights of access should be reformed.

The Executive has no plans to introduce a fundamental reform of the law relating to servitude rights, but the proposed Title Conditions (Scotland) Bill contains a number of consequential changes to the law on servitudes as a result of the reform of the law on real burdens. As drafted, the Bill will prevent the future creation of negative servitudes (which are usually restrictions on building for the protection of light or prospect), and will convert the few existing negative servitudes into real burdens. Servitudes which are expressly created by title deeds will have to be registered against both the burdened and the benefited properties. These servitudes which are constituted by registration will also no longer be restricted in type to the list of servitudes currently set out in a rule of law. The Bill will also make it clear that it is possible for a right to lead a pipe, cable or wire over land to be constituted as a positive servitude.The use of servitudes is not directly linked to feudal superiorities since a servitude is created for the benefit of a proprietor of land to exercise certain rights on or over adjoining land: it is not possible for a bare superiority to be the dominant tenement, or benefited property, in respect of a servitude. After the appointed day for feudal abolition, servitudes will remain an obligation enjoyed by one property in respect of another.Servitudes are separate from public rights of way. The law of servitudes is used to create rights for limited purposes, for example rights of access, not to deny rights of access.The Land Reform (Scotland) Bill will provide a right of responsible access to land and inland water for recreation and passage. The Scottish Outdoor Access Code provides guidance on the rights and responsibilities of public access. It is intended that the Bill will be introduced in Parliament shortly.

Question reference: S1W-19446

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 29 October 2001
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 12 November 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive how many quarries there are in Scotland; what the name and location of each quarry is; how many quarries it anticipates will be in operation five years after the introduction of the Aggregates Tax, and what consideration it has given to the impact of any closures of quarries on the environment.

Information on the number, names and locations of quarries in Scotland can be found in the British Geological Survey's Directory of Mines and Quarries 1998. A copy of this is available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 17129). We are not able to predict the economic impacts of a tax measure on individual quarries, and assessing the broader impact on the quarrying industry is the responsibility of HM Treasury. The Executive will be monitoring closely the extent to which the environmental objectives of the tax are achieved.

Question reference: S1W-19439

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 26 October 2001
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 9 November 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what the budget of Scottish Natural Heritage was in each year since 1997 and how much was spent on (a) the environment and (b) internal organisational functions.

The table shows the budget and a breakdown of expenditure for Scottish Natural Heritage since 1997-98.

	1997-98 £ million	1998-99 £ million	1999-2000 £ million	2000-01 £ million
Running Costs	17.0	16.9	17.7	18.5
Capital Costs	1.3	1.4	1.6	2.1
Programme Costs	18.7	18.9	19.9	20.8
Total Budget	37.0	37.2	39.2	41.4

Running costs include all salary, superannuation and associated expenditure on buildings, travel, energy etc. A large proportion of the salary costs relate to people working directly for the benefit of the natural heritage.Capital costs include the purchase or improvement of assets, many of which directly support activities benefiting the natural heritage.Programme costs is direct expenditure enhancing and conserving the natural heritage via grants, site safeguard agreements and research contracts etc.

Question reference: S1O-04003

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 October 2001
Current Status: Answered by Wendy Alexander on 8 November 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will reconsider its decision not to appoint a minister at cabinet level whose sole portfolio is tourism.

Question reference: S1W-19394

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 October 2001
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 8 November 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is any published evidence that wild fowl are at particular risk from lead poisoning and, if so, whether it will place a copy of such evidence in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.

The poisoning of wildfowl from lead deposited through shooting is widely accepted as a serious problem. The Scottish Executive was consulted in July of this year on the possible restriction on the use of lead shot and the responses are being analysed.A number of reports have been published giving international summaries of the problem. The answer to question S1W-3574 gave a comprehensive list of relevant reports but copies of all these documents are not held centrally by the Executive. A further key report, titled Lead Poisoning in Waterbirds. International Update Report 2000 was published this year by Wetlands International. A copy has been placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 17127).

Question reference: S1W-19389

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 October 2001
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 8 November 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will instruct the North of Scotland Water Authority (NOSWA) to make available immediately to residents in Dalfaber, Aviemore, details of the flood risk assessment which it commissioned from Earthtec on the risk of flooding of the proposed sewerage treatment plant in Dalfaber and the assessment of the alternative full site at Cambusmore and why NOSWA did not disclose these details to residents once they had received them.

Question reference: S1W-19337

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 October 2001
Current Status: Answered by Jack McConnell on 6 November 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to its announcement on 22 August 2001 of #12 million of funding for schools under the Grants for Improvements in School Education (Scotland) Regulations 1998, (a) what actual amount of funding was received by each school, (b) whether the school roll was the sole basis of distribution of the funds and (c) what the si'e was of each school's roll for the purpose of the distribution.

The announcement on 22 August was about the School Buildings Improvement Fund, which provides for capital grants to education authorities under the Grants for School Improvements (Scotland) Regulations 1997 for expenditure on school buildings. These resources are being distributed to authorities on the basis of the education element of the formula, which is at present used for the allocation of capital consents on non-housing programmes under section 94 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973. Full details of the grant arrangements are set out in Scottish Executive Education Department Circular 6/2001, copies of which are available in the Parliament's Reference Centre. The following table shows the distribution of the grant for financial year 2001-02.School Buildings Improvement Fund

Authorities	£000
Aberdeen City	372
Aberdeenshire	528
Angus	276
Argyll & Bute	260
Clackmannanshire	114
Dumfries & Galloway	337
Dundee City	321
East Ayrshire	296
East Dunbartonshire	305
East Lothian	210
East Renfrewshire	239
Edinburgh, City of	784
Eilean Siar	106
Falkirk	321
Fife	827
Glasgow City	1,251
Highland	541
Inverclyde	225
Midlothian	214
Moray	206
North Ayrshire	333
North Lanarkshire	870
Orkney Islands	78
Perth & Kinross	298
Renfrewshire	414
Scottish Borders	255
Shetland Islands	86
South Ayrshire	276
South Lanarkshire	795
Stirling	213
West Dunbartonshire	247
West Lothian	402
Scotland Total	12,000

Question reference: S1W-17698

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 August 2001
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 6 November 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive who the members are of the review group that has been set up to consider the operation and possible reform of the commitment payments scheme instituted by the Doctors' and Dentists' Review Body.

No review group has been set up to look specifically at this area. The review of the commitment payment scheme in Scotland is being taken forward as part of the UK negotiations on the consultants' contract currently underway between the UK Health Departments and the British Medical Association (BMA). The Scottish Executive Health Department is fully involved in the UK negotiations.In order to ensure that any changes to the scheme are appropriate to Scottish needs, a Scottish consultation document Rewarding Commitment and Excellence in the NHS (Scotland) was published in April this year by the Scottish Executive Health Department. Responses were received from a range of sources, including NHS Trusts, Royal Colleges/Universities, the BMA, health boards and patients' representatives, and these are currently being considered by the department.

Question reference: S1W-18925

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 October 2001
Current Status: Answered by Iain Gray on 2 November 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will encourage the Committee of Scottish Clearing Bankers to support the Thumbprint Signature Scheme.

Question reference: S1W-18924

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 October 2001
Current Status: Answered by Iain Gray on 2 November 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has received concerning the Thumbprint Signature Scheme, which is being used in Inverness to combat credit card fraud; whether it will endorse the use of the scheme and the associated Thumbs Up campaign, and whether it will encourage all towns and cities to participate in the scheme.