- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 March 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 16 March 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has investigated the reported withdrawal by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency of a public warning about pollutants entering Loch Lomond following lobbying from the detergents industry and, if so, what conclusions have been reached.
Answer
This is an operational matterfor the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 04 March 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 15 March 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken in respect of the reintroduction of species listed under Annex IV of the EU Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC).
Answer
The Government is obliged, under Article 22(a) of the
EU Habitats Directive to study the desirability of re-introducing certain formerly native species to the UK, listed under Annex IV of that Directive.
Scottish ministers are responsible for any decisions on re-introduction of species to Scotland after due consideration of advice from Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) as statutory advisers on nature conservation to the Scottish Executive.
Scottish ministers are currently considering a proposal by SNH to trial a
re-introduction of the European Beaver which is one of the species listed in AnnexIV of the above Directive. No other proposals to re-introduce species to Scotland are currently being considered by the Executive.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 February 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 11 March 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the capabilities which mmO2 agreed to supply in its initial contract have been supplied to the police forces to which the TETRA system has so far been rolled out.
Answer
The Airwave system is being rolled out to Scottish police forces in the phased manner specified in the contract. Some system functions have not yet been provided, for example, discrete listening, call forwarding of group and individual calls, and forwarding short text messages. The Association of Chief Police Officers Scotland and the Police Information Technology Organisation are in discussion with O2 about these matters.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 February 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 7 March 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what the grounds were on which it ruled out the TETRAPOL standard when choosing a new radio system for police forces.
Answer
The decision to use the TETRA technical standard in the procurement of a new communications system for the police was based on independent advice to the Home Office. That advice concluded that the TETRA standard was the only standard to meet the needs of the police service.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 February 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 7 March 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any acceptable alternatives to the TETRA network are available to the police.
Answer
The TETRA standard is the only technology which currently meets the requirements of the police. Airwave provides, for example, encrypted communication and a very high standard of voice clarity and coverage.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 February 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 7 March 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what exchanging capabilities mm02 is contracted to supply to police forces following the roll-out of the TETRA network.
Answer
The term “exchanging capabilities” is not used to describe any of the services provided by O2 to the police.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 February 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 7 March 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether TETRA will provide the police with access to databases and administrative functions such as filing a report in real time.
Answer
TETRA currently supports access to the Scottish Criminal Record Office criminal history system and the Police National Computer for person and vehicle checks. It does not at present support administrative functions such as filing reports.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 February 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 7 March 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it envisages supplementing the police's TETRA network with GPRS technology.
Answer
The TETRA system does not support General Packet Radio Service (GPRS). It does, however, support a data transfer service which is similar to GPRS.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 10 February 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Johann Lamont on 4 March 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress it has made towards incorporating into the Scottish planning system the recommendations in the first Stewart Report on the planning regulations for mobile phone masts.
Answer
In response both to the recommendations of the Stewart Report and of the Transport and Environment Committee’s inquiry into radio telecommunications, amendments were made to the planning legislation and guidance for telecommunications in 2001.
The Executive published National Planning Policy Guideline 19 (Bib. number 15218), Planning Advice Note 62 (Bib. number 16043) and Circular 5/2001 (Bib. number 17462) to accompany these changes.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 31 January 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 23 February 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether guidance issued to Scottish Water or its predecessor organisations on sustainable development was made available to the Water Industry Commissioner between 1999 and 2004.
Answer
Guidance issued to Scottish Water and the former Water Authorities on sustainable development was not specifically issued to the Water Industry Commissioner. but was available to him on request.
