- Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 October 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 9 November 2016
To ask the Scottish Government, further to its news release of 10 October 2016, Support for Heathrow expansion, when it first discussed the proposed third runway with representatives of Heathrow Airport, on what dates subsequent meetings took place, broken down by which (a) ministers and (b) officials attended.
Answer
Proposals were first discussed in 2013. Meetings with Heathrow took place on 7 November 2013 with the Minister for Transport and Veterans; 13 November 2014 with the Minister for Transport and Veterans; 12 December 2014 with Transport Scotland officials; 25 March 2015 with Transport Scotland officials; 28 May 2015 with the Minister for Transport and Islands; 21 October 2015 with the Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, Investment and Cities and the Minister for Transport and Islands; 27 October 2015 with Transport Scotland officials; 3 August 2016 with Transport Scotland officials; 22 September 2016 with Transport Scotland officials; and 10 October 2016 with the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Jobs and Fair Work.
Meetings also took place with London Gatwick Airport on 8 October 2013 with the Minister for Transport and Veterans; 28 January 2014 with the Minister for Transport and Veterans; 21 October 2015 with the Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, Investment and Cities and the Minister for Transport and Islands; 29 October 2015 with Transport Scotland officials; and 25 May 2016 with the Minister for Transport and Islands.
- Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 October 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 9 November 2016
To ask the Scottish Government what the growth in aviation (a) passengers, (b) flights, (c) destinations and (d) emissions has been in each of the last 10 years, and how much it anticipates each would grow in each of the next 10 years were a third runway (i) to be built and (ii) not to be built at Heathrow Airport.
Answer
Data on growth in aviation passengers, flights and destinations is available from Scottish Transport Statistics 2015, Chapter 8, which is available from the links below:
Publication: http://www.transport.gov.scot/sites/default/files/documents/rrd_reports/uploaded_reports/j415388/j415388.pdf
Datasets: http://www.transport.gov.scot/report/scottish-transport-statistics-no-34-datasets-8914
Emissions data for Scotland is available from the National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory report Greenhouse Gas Inventories for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland: 1990-2014, which is available from the following link: http://naei.defra.gov.uk/reports/reports?report_id=894
The impact on future years will be determined by how airlines and passengers respond to increased capacity being available.
- Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 October 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 9 November 2016
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will place in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) a copy of the memorandum of understanding signed with Heathrow Airport on 10 October 2016.
Answer
We have arranged for a copy of the MoU to be placed in SPICe (BIB number 58294).
- Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 October 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 9 November 2016
To ask the Scottish Government how many additional tonnes of aviation emissions will be generated by flights (a) arriving in and (b) departing Scotland if (i) a third runway is built at Heathrow Airport, (ii) it proceeds with its plan to reduce air passenger duty and (iii) both of these occur, broken down by (A) domestic, (B) international, (C) short-haul and (D) long-haul flights.
Answer
Transport Scotland published initial analysis in September 2014 which estimated that reducing Air Passenger Duty (APD) in Scotland by 50% would generate a small net annual increase in emissions of between 0.05 and 0.06 Mega Tonnes of carbon dioxide. The Scottish Government is undertaking a Strategic Environmental Assessment alongside the development of its proposals for a replacement tax. This will be published for consultation in 2017.
The Airports Commission published analysis of the environmental impacts of a new third runway at Heathrow. The Airports Commission: final report (www.gov.uk/government/publications/airports-commission-final-report)
did not provide a breakdown of the impacts in Scotland.
- Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 October 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 9 November 2016
To ask the Scottish Government how many additional (a) domestic, (b) international, (c) short-haul and (d) long-haul flights would (i) arrive in and (ii) depart Scotland each year if (A) a third runway is built at Heathrow Airport, (B) it proceeds with its plan to reduce air passenger duty, (C) both of these occur and (D) neither of these occur, and how many additional passengers each of these would carry.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not hold the information requested.
A third runway at Heathrow and a reduction in Air Passenger Duty (APD) are just two of a number of factors that would affect air route development in Scotland. Any additional capacity will be subject to how both passengers and airlines respond to these changes.
Analysis will, however, be undertaken to help consider how the reduction in APD should be implemented to best maximise the Scottish Government’s environmental and other strategic objectives.
- Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 October 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 9 November 2016
To ask the Scottish Government whether the creation of a third runway at Heathrow Airport will make it easier or harder to meet its environmental and climate targets.
Answer
Scotland is showing global leadership by including both domestic and international aviation in its emissions reduction targets. While we recognise that policies to boost economic growth by improving Scotland’s air connectivity may lead to an increase in aviation emissions, we are prepared to work harder in other areas to ensure we are driving down overall emissions.
With the next generation of aircraft comes improvements on performance and better fuel efficiency. This will have a significant impact on how the aviation industry manages its environmental impact. Combined with research into alternative biofuels, there are a number of developments being pursued to help mitigate the impact of aviation emissions.
- Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 October 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 9 November 2016
To ask the Scottish Government, further to it signing the memorandum of understanding with Heathrow Airport on 10 October 2016 and the announcement of the £10 million route development fund, whether it has identified new domestic routes that should be created; for what reason it has identified these routes; what guarantees it has that these routes will be established, and how the fund will operate.
Answer
Applications for funding under Heathrow's fund for new domestic routes will be for airlines to progress with the support of airports. Securing funding will be a competitive process but we would anticipate that new routes from Dundee and Glasgow Prestwick Airports will be promoted and supported.
- Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 October 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 9 November 2016
To ask the Scottish Government, further to it signing the memorandum of understanding with Heathrow Airport on 10 October 2016, whether the establishment of the £10 million route development fund to help support new domestic routes is compatible with its (a) environmental and climate commitments and (b) ambition to reduce the number of short-haul connections.
Answer
Applications for funding under Heathrow's fund for new domestic routes will be for airlines to progress with the support of airports.
Whilst we recognise that support for some policies designed to promote economic growth may lead to an increase in emissions, we are prepared to work even harder in other areas to ensure we are driving down overall emissions. Scotland is a world leader in tackling climate change with ambitious statutory targets, strong progress to date and a commitment to maintain this. As of 2014, we had delivered a 45.8% reduction from baseline levels, meeting our annual target for that year and exceeding the level of our 2020 target for a 42% reduction, six years early. We have included both domestic and international aviation in our emissions reduction targets.
Our policy on air route development is that we want to secure more direct international flights minimising the need for connections. We do need to maintain links to global hub airports such as Heathrow in view of the extended international reach they provide.
- Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 31 October 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by Fergus Ewing on 9 November 2016
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-03324 by Fergus Ewing on 27 October 2016, whether it would implement the policies outlined in paragraphs three and four if agricultural subsidy rules were its responsibility.
Answer
The Scottish Government has been calling for full engagement with the UK Government on the EU exit negotiations and process. Agriculture is fully devolved and we must retain our powers to manage it appropriately and set future policy. How we organise agricultural subsidies in a post-EU scenario will then depend very much on the type of deal the UK Government reaches with the EU, compliance with World Trade Organisation rules and consultation with our stakeholders. For the moment, however, we are already using the flexibilities we have within the current EU CAP rules to help address slipper farming.
- Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 October 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by Fergus Ewing on 8 November 2016
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on paying Beef Efficiency Scheme participants over the whole five-year period of the scheme, and whether this will encourage uptake of the scheme.
Answer
The scheme rules on payment rates and on the payment schedule have been agreed with the European Commission and the scheme has been advertised to potential applicants as such. Currently we do not plan to change the payment rate or to extend payments to years four and fiveTo change the payment schedule would require negotiation of a programme modification with the Commission and if this were to involve any increase in overall payments the Commission would require clear justification for such a change. Furthermore, any such change would have to be externally verified.
It was also felt that it would be more helpful to front-load bigger payments to farmers in the first three years rather than spread smaller payments more thinly over the full five years.
It is also worth noting that the scheme is designed to deliver efficiencies which will increase the profitability of farms. It is important to recognise this as a core benefit of the programme. In essence, the payments received from the government in the first three years will be followed by management changes which will increase net incomes to farms year-on-year into the future. We see this as a key motivation for applying to the scheme and, in the long-term
