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: S2W-22243

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 24 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-21559 by Rhona Brankin on 21 December 2005, what duties are placed on it by virtue of these species being listed on Annexes IV and V of the Habitats Directive.

Article 12 of the Habitats Directive requires that member states take the requisite measures to establish a system of strict protection for the animal species, in their natural range, that are listed in Annex IV (a) of the Directive. These measures must prohibit the capture, killing, disturbance and sale of those species.

Article 15 of the Habitats Directive requires that, with regard to those species of wild fauna listed in Annex V (a) of the Directive, member states shall prohibit the use of all indiscriminate means capable of causing local disappearance of, or serious disturbance to, populations of such species. It prohibits in particular the means of capture and killing and modes of transport listed in Annex VI (a) and Annex VI (b) of the Directive.

Question reference: S2O-08750

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Colin Boyd on 19 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what jurisdiction police forces and procurators fiscal have to investigate and prosecute where civil criminal offences are suspected of having been perpetrated on or within Ministry of Defence property in Scotland.

Scottish police forces have jurisdictionto investigate, and the Procurator Fiscal has jurisdiction to prosecute, any criminaloffence committed within Scottish jurisdiction. This jurisdiction would includeMinistry of Defence property.

The Ministry of Defence Policealso have statutory jurisdiction to investigate criminal offences committed on militaryproperty. Whether the local police or the MOD police will investigate such offencesis determined in accordance with a protocol agreed between the Scottish police forcesand the MOD police.

Question reference: S2O-08654

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 12 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made in ensuring that new school projects managed by public private partnerships encourage the use of biomass heating systems.

Question reference: S2W-21702

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 December 2005
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 12 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many applications it has received for licences to kill sparrowhawks and buzzards in each month since the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004 came into force.

Since 1 October 2004, the number of applications received to kill the above species, month by month, has been as follows:

Month	Sparrowhawk	Buzzard
October 2004
November 2004
December 2004		1
January 2005		1
February 2005
March 2005		2
April 2005
May 2005
June 2005	1	1
July 2005	1
August 2005	1	3
September 2005		1
October 2005
November 2005
December 2005	1

Question reference: S2W-21703

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 December 2005
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 12 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many licences it has issued to kill sparrowhawks and buzzards in each month since the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004 came into force.

Since 1 October 2004, no licences have been issued to kill sparrowhawks. The number of licences issued to kill buzzards, month by month, is given in the following table. All the licences listed below were issued for the purpose of the preservation of air safety.

Month	No. of Licences Issued to Kill Buzzards
October 2004
November 2004
December 2004	1
January 2005	1
Febuary 2005
March 2005	1
April 2005
May 2005
June 2005	1
July 2005
August 2005
September 2005
October 2005
November 2005	1
December 2005

Question reference: S2O-08597

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 December 2005
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 22 December 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made on excluding tallow from the scope of the Waste Incineration Directive, in light of its support for the UK Government¿s representations to the European Commission on the matter.

Question reference: S2W-21559

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 December 2005
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 21 December 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-20176 by Rhona Brankin on 14 November 2005, to what species the 118 licenses issued under the Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994 relate and in how many instances each species was trapped for relocation or killed.

The 118 licences referred to in the response to S2W-20176 relate to the following species:

Species	Number of Licences Issued	Number of Licences Permitting Relocation	Number of Licences Permitting Killing
Bats	66		1
Otter	30
Natterjack toad	2	2
Great crested newt	5	5
Pine marten	9	7	2
Mountain hare	6		6

Bats, otter, natterjack toad and great crested newt are listed on Annex IV of the Habitats Directive. Pine marten and mountain hare are listed on Annex V of the directive.

In the case of natterjack toad and great crested newt licences, the animals were translocated a short distance to allow works to take place or were removed temporarily. In the case of relocation of pine martens, the animals were removed from occupied dwelling places and released into the immediate vicinity.

Although two licences were issued to permit pine martens to be killed, no pine martens were subsequently trapped. The licence permitting bats to be killed was issued recently and no action has yet been taken.

Question reference: S2O-08511

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 December 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 15 December 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of vehicles crossing the Forth Road Bridge are single occupancy and whether it has any plans to address this issue.

Over 70% of cars crossing the bridge at peak times have a single occupant. This devolved government is working closely with the Forth Estuary Transport Authority and other stakeholders to address access and congestion issues associated with the bridge. We have made contributions to a number initiatives such as the expansion of Ferry Toll Park and Ride and the improvement of rail services across the Forth.

Question reference: S2W-20176

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 October 2005
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 14 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive on how many occasions it has issued licences under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 for the control of species listed under Annex IV of the European Habitats Directive in the last 10 years.

Records of licences issued prior to 2000 are not available centrally.

From 2000 to date, the Scottish Executive has issued one licence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 for species listed under Annex IV of the European Habitats Directive. In 2004 a licence was issued to permit the trapping and relocation of an otter to prevent serious damage to livestock under section 16(3)(h) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, as well as regulation 44(2)(g) of The Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994.

Normally, licences relating to Annex IV species are issued under the provisions of The Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994 which transposes the Habitat Directive into UK legislation. 118 such licences have been issued for a number of specific purposes, and the protection of Annex IV species forms an important part of the conditions of these licences.

Question reference: S2W-19612

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 October 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 26 October 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-18697 by Cathy Jamieson on 26 September 2005, what the additional cost to it was, over and above the core cost, of the Airwave communications system being fully operational for the G8 summit at Gleneagles and what aspects of the network's use were not covered by the existing budget.