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: S3W-35896

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 August 2010
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 17 September 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how it intends to fund the pilot project to develop a national data-sharing centre to improve the co-ordination of scientific work in relation to consents and planning.

Question reference: S3W-35794

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 August 2010
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 15 September 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to enter into discussions with the relevant UK bodies to review the threshold for installed capacity for applications for offshore wind farms and generating stations wholly or mainly driven by water, such as hydroelectric, wave or tidal generating stations, as laid out under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989.

On 8 September 2010 the Scottish Government launched a consultation seeking views on its proposal to raise the Section 36 Consents threshold for onshore hydropower schemes from over 1 Megawatt (MW) to over 50 MW. The consultation welcomes views from a wide range of stakeholders and is open until 1 December 2010.

There is currently no intention to review the threshold for offshore wind farms or marine (wave and tidal) applications.

Question reference: S3W-35793

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 August 2010
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 15 September 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the commitment to publish the Energy Storage Study in summer 2010 as detailed in the renewables action plan update of 28 July 2010, when it expects the study to be published.

Question reference: S3W-35792

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 August 2010
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 9 September 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the disbanding of the Marine Energy Group of the Forum for Renewable Energy Development in Scotland, what external body will provide ministers with advice on marine energy outwith the Pentland Forth and Orkney Waters.

Issues related to offshore and marine energy developments are discussed at the Offshore Energy Programme Board, the Marine Strategy Forum, the Scottish Coastal Forum and the Offshore Wind Industry Group. The Marine Energy Group has completed its remit, although an offshoot group is continuing work on the Pentland Firth.

Marine Scotland is also holding consultation events with marine sectors, NGOs, planning authorities and the public through a set of meetings and regional workshops for the offshore wind strategic environmental assessment and draft plan. We will undertake the same open and transparent process for marine renewables development.

Question reference: S3W-35879

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 August 2010
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 6 September 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many businesses in each local authority area have faced a decrease in their business rate because of rates revaluation from 1 April 2010.

The following table shows the number and percentage of ratepayers who saw bills fall or stay the same and those who saw bills rise in each local authority area, following the 2010 revaluation.

These figures are before the impact of relief or appeals, both of which will significantly increase the number of properties which see a bill decrease.

Local Authority	Bill Decrease/ Stay the Same		Bill Increase		Total Number
Local Authority	Number	% of Ratepayers	Number	% of Ratepayers	Total Number
Aberdeen City	4,105	49.8	4,137	50.2	8,242
Aberdeenshire	5,144	47.7	5,637	52.3	10,781
Angus	3,072	64.0	1,725	36.0	4,797
Argyll and Bute	4,102	54.2	3,470	45.8	7,572
Clackmannanshire	955	62.1	583	37.9	1,538
Dumfries and Galloway	5,439	61.4	3,415	38.6	8,854
Dundee City	3,694	65.4	1,956	34.6	5,650
East Ayrshire	2,910	77.3	853	22.7	3,763
East Dunbartonshire	1,636	72.7	613	27.3	2,249
East Lothian	1,553	48.0	1,680	52.0	3,233
East Renfrewshire	1,206	73.8	428	26.2	1,634
Edinburgh, City of	9,716	51.8	9,033	48.2	18,749
Eilean Siar	994	46.7	1,135	53.3	2,129
Falkirk	3,215	68.2	1,496	31.8	4,711
Fife	7,793	61.5	4,888	38.5	12,681
Glasgow City	14,694	59.1	10,150	40.9	24,844
Highland	7,748	46.6	8,867	53.4	16,615
Inverclyde	1,706	74.9	573	25.1	2,279
Midlothian	1,402	51.6	1,313	48.4	2,715
Moray	1,821	41.3	2,588	58.7	4,409
North Ayrshire	3,245	67.2	1,584	32.8	4,829
North Lanarkshire	6,538	73.0	2,421	27.0	8,959
Orkney Islands	721	36.7	1,246	63.3	1,967
Perth and Kinross	5,518	68.5	2,538	31.5	8,056
Renfrewshire	4,553	75.8	1,453	24.2	6,006
Scottish Borders	3,207	46.4	3,702	53.6	6,909
Shetland Islands	1,063	56.1	831	43.9	1,894
South Ayrshire	3,325	73.2	1,215	26.8	4,540
South Lanarkshire	6,623	70.8	2,729	29.2	9,352
Stirling	3,198	66.2	1,633	33.8	4,831
West Dunbartonshire	2,079	77.3	612	22.7	2,691
West Lothian	3,352	62.5	2,011	37.5	5,363
Scotland	126,327	59.4	86,515	40.6	212,842

Question reference: S3W-35878

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 August 2010
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 6 September 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many businesses in each local authority area have faced an increase in their business rate because of rates revaluation from 1 April 2010.

Question reference: S3W-35760

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 16 August 2010
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 6 September 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list those applications for new renewable energy developments received since 7 December 2007, other than wind, hydro and marine, which have been neither referred to a public local inquiry nor determined, giving the name of the project, the date of the application and the mega watt capacity of the development.

Question reference: S3W-35758

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 16 August 2010
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 6 September 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list those applications for new renewable energy developments received since 7 December 2007, other than wind, hydro and marine, which have been determined under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989, giving the name of the project, the date of the application and the mega watt capacity of the development.

Question reference: S3W-35750

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 16 August 2010
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 6 September 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list those applications for new wind energy developments received since 7 December 2007 which have been neither referred to a public local inquiry nor determined, giving the name of the project, the date of the application and the mega watt capacity of the development.

Applications for consent under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989 received for new wind energy developments since 7 December 2007 that have been neither referred to a public local inquiry nor determined by Scottish ministers are:

Name	Date of Application	Mega Watt Capacity
Earlshaugh	25 June 2008	108 MW
Harelaw	19 May 2009	120 MW
Viking	19 May 2009	550 MW
Wester Dodd	7 September 2009	79.2 MW
Rowantree	3 February 2010	69 MW
Kilgallioch	16 March 2010	396 MW
Galawhistle	22 March 2010	55 MW

Applications for wind energy developments under 50 MW are dealt with by local planning authorities and the information is not held centrally.

Question reference: S3W-35751

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 16 August 2010
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 6 September 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list those applications for extensions to existing wind energy developments received since 7 December 2007 which have been determined under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989, giving the name of the project, the date of the application and the mega watt capacity of the development.

Applications that have been received since 7 December 2007 for consent under Section 36 of the Electricity act 1989, to extend existing wind energy developments and that have been determined by Scottish ministers are:

Name	Date of Application	Mega watt capacity
Rothes wind farm Extension	27 December 2007	37 MW
Whitelee wind farm Extension	23 April 2008	130 MW
Millenium wind farm Extension	6 January 2009	15 MW
Kilbraur wind farm Extension	13 March 2009	20 MW
Whitelee wind farm Extension phase 2	30 May 2009	162 MW