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-03768

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 14 January 2000
Current Status: Answered by Jack McConnell on 28 January 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it consulted with any representatives or representative bodies of the business community regarding its decision to fix a business rate poundage of 10.1% higher than in England prior to its ministerial statement on local government finance of 8 December 1999.

Question reference: S1W-03763

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 14 January 2000
Current Status: Answered by Jack McConnell on 28 January 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what the impact will be in Scotland upon (a) levels of unemployment, (b) small businesses and (c) the economy if it decides to make final its decision to fix a business rate poundage of 10.1 % higher than the proposed poundage in England.

Question reference: S1W-03766

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 14 January 2000
Current Status: Answered by Henry McLeish on 28 January 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what impact macro-economic policies planned by Her Majesty's Government will have on its enterprise policies, whether these policies will provide a good climate for people in Scotland to start up in business, and whether these policies will give small business the confidence to respond and invest in the future.

Inflation is now low and stable. Output in the Scottish economy continues to expand in both the manufacturing and service sectors. Unemployment in Scotland is falling and is low by historical and international standards, while employment is rising. These conditions provide a sound basis for the Scottish Executive's policies to promote a stable and competitive environment that will inspire more home grown enterprises to flourish.

Question reference: S1W-03764

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 14 January 2000
Current Status: Answered by Jack McConnell on 28 January 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what was the average increase in the rateable values in Scotland as a result of the 1995 revaluation.

Question reference: S1W-03574

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 January 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 27 January 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what research has been undertaken as to the incidence of wild fowl poisonings from lead shot in each of the last 20 years and what was the source of such research.

The poisoning of wildfowl from lead is now accepted as a serious problem for many populations. Research has been undertaken which establishes the problem and investigates the particular causes of acute poisoning incidents. A number of key reports giving international summaries of the problem of leadshot poisoning in waterfowl are available and are listed below:

Fawcett, D and van Vessen J (1995), Lead poisoning in Waterfowl: International update report 1995, Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), Report No 252. JNCC, Peterborough.

Kulvenhoven P and van Vessem J (1997), Lead poisoning in Waterbirds: International update report, Unpublished Wetlands International Report.

Mateo R Martinez-Vialta, A and Guitart R (1997), "Lead shot pellets in the Ebro Delta, Spain: densities in sediments and prevalence of exposure in waterfowl", Environmental Pollution 96, pp. 335-341.

Pain D J (Editor) (1992), Lead Poisoning in Waterfowl. Proceedings of an International Workshop, Brussels, Belgium, 13-15 June 1991, IWRB Special Publication No 16.

Scheuhammer A M and Norris S L (1995), A review of the environmental impacts of lead shot shell ammunition and lead fishing weights in Canada, Canadian Wildlife Service, Occasional Paper No 88.

More detailed research on this particular issue has been undertaken within the EU, UK and Scotland. The most relevant of which is:

Mudge G P (1983), "The incidence and significance of ingested lead pellet poisoning in British Wildfowl", Biological Conservation, 27, pp. 33-372.

Other studies include:

Beck N and Ganval, P (1987), "Ingestion de plombs de chasse par la Becassine des marais Gallinago gallinago et la Becassine sourde Lymnocryest minimus dans le Lord-ouest de la France", Gibier Faune Sauvage/Game Wildlife: In press.

Bellorse F C (1959), "Lead poisoning as a mortality factor in waterfowl populations III", Natural History Survey Bulletin, 27(3), pp. 235-288.

Bowler, J M and Hugest B, (1997) Biological monitoring of lead shot replacement in the UK, final report of pilot study, unpublished, Wetlands Advisory Service report to DoE, WWT, Slimbridge (in prep).

Degtyarev A G (1996), Incident of lead shot ingestion in waterfowl and cranes of Yakutia, Ibid., pp. 25-27.

Grand J B, Flint P L, Petersen M R and Moran C L (1998), "Effect of lead poisoning on spectacled elder survival rates", Journal of Wildlife Management, 62(3), pp. 1103-1109.

Hohman W L, Pritchert R D, Pacell R M, Woolington D W and Helm R (1990), "Influence of ingested lead on body mass of wintering canvasbacks", Journal of Wildlife Management, 54(2), pp. 211-215.

Mateo R, Martinez-Vilalta A, Dolz J C, Bellure J, Serrano J M A, Guitart R (1994), "Estudio de la problematica del plumbismo en aves acuticas de diferentes humedales espanoles", ICON, pp. 196.

Mateo R, Bellure Jm, Dolz J C, Agullar J M and Guitart R (1997), "An peizotic of lead poisoning in greater flamingos. Phoenicopterus ruber roseus in Spain", Journal of Wildlife Diseases, 33, pp. 131-134.

Mateo R, Molina R, Grifols J and Gruitart R (1997),"Lead poisoning in a free range griffon vulture Gyps fulvus", Vet Rec, 140, pp. 47-48.

Pain D J (1992), "Lead poisoning of waterfowl: a review" in Lead poisoning in waterfowl (editor D J Pain), IWRB Special Publication No 16, Slimbridge UK.Spray C J and Milne H (1988), "The incidence of lead poisoning among Whooper and Mute Swans Cyngus cygnus and Color in Scotland", Biological Conservation, 44, pp. 265-281.

Question reference: S1W-03576

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 January 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 27 January 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is aware of any evidence of dead birds being washed ashore in wardened coastal reserves or elsewhere.

Question reference: S1W-03575

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 January 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 27 January 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what research has been undertaken into the blood levels of trapped wild fowl.

Lead levels in wildfowl blood have been investigated in a range of studies throughout the world. These are listed below:

Anderson W L and Havera S P (1985), "Blood lead, protoporphyrin and ingested shot for detecting lead poisoning in wildfowl", Wildlife Society Bulletin, 13, pp. 26-31.

Dieter M P and Finley M T (1978), "Delta-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase enzyme activity in blood, brain and liver of lead-dosed ducks", Environmental Resources, 19, pp. 127-135.

Hall S L and Fisher F M (1985), "Lead concentrations in tissues of marsh birds: relationships of feeding habitats and grit preference to spent shot ingestion", Bulletin of Environmental Contaminant Toxicology, 35, pp. 1-8.

Madsen H H T, Kkjorn T, Jorgensen P J and Grandjean P (1988), "Blood lead levels in patients with lead shot retained in the appendix", Acta Radiol, 29, pp. 745-746.

Osweller G D, van Geldeer G A and Buck W B (1978), "Epiderminology of lead poisoning in animals" in Toxicity of heavy metals in the environment (editor F W Dehme), Marcel Dekker, New York.In Scotland, when acute poisoning incidents occur, investigations into the particular cause and poisoning level are carried out.

Question reference: S1W-03696

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 January 2000
Current Status: Answered by Wendy Alexander on 27 January 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish for each of the past five years (a) the total number of evictions raised by local authorities and (b) the number of tenants in such actions who purchased their home from the local authority under the Right to Buy scheme and thus avoided eviction.

Question reference: S1W-03704

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 January 2000
Current Status: Answered by Henry McLeish on 27 January 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it has taken and will take in order to achieve the target of creating 100,000 new businesses in Scotland by 2009.

Wider national economic performance is likely to be the main determinant of trends in small business creation and the prospects for the Scottish economy remain good. However we have also been working closely with Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise to improve the availability, consistency and quality of support for people wishing to start a business.

A number of positive measures are in hand: improvements to the Scottish Enterprise Network through the establishment, from April, of a single brand in the network and new programmes on start-up and small business support; work by Scottish Enterprise to review the Business Birth Rate Strategy to further encourage entrepreneurship and start-ups - including from non-traditional sources, like women and youth; and the continuation of local events under the Personal Enterprise Campaign. We have also set increased targets for number of start-ups assisted by the Enterprise Network, and are working to improve the availability of web site based business support. New start-ups with growth potential also have access to support from the £12 million Business Growth Fund and, from April, to our new national mentoring scheme - Business Mentoring Scotland.This represents a significant contribution by the Scottish Executive to improve Scotland's performance in business creation.

Question reference: S1W-03705

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 January 2000
Current Status: Answered by Henry McLeish on 27 January 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive how many businesses there were in Scotland at the time of publication of Making it Work Together, and of them, how many were (a) small, and (b) large and what its estimate is of these figures for each of the next ten years.

The latest estimates available for the number and size of businesses in Scotland are for November 1998. At that time there were an estimated 299,110 enterprises operating in Scotland. Of these, 293,705 were small enterprises (0-49 employees), 3,275 were medium-sized enterprises (50-249 employees) and 2,130 were large enterprises (250+ employees).Further details are available in a Government Statistical Service News Release which was published on Wednesday 26 January 2000. A copy is available in SPICe.The Scottish Executive does not make statistical projections for the number of businesses operating in Scotland in future years.