- Asked by: Phil Gallie, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 April 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 6 May 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive why rail passenger numbers are falling in the Strathclyde Passenger Transport area, given the Executive's policy of transferring road travellers to rail.
Answer
Passengernumbers in the Strathclyde Passenger Transport area have increased by 9.4% overthe last year.
- Asked by: Phil Gallie, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 05 April 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 5 May 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the comments made by the First Minister in his speech to the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe on 23 March 2004 that, with respect to involvement in EU Commission decision making, not everything requires Treaty change and that it would be wrong to sit back and wait for the IGC to conclude and a new Treaty to come into force, negates any benefit of signing the new European constitution with respect to consultation at the lowest devolved level.
Answer
In his speech to the Chamberof the Regions of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe, theFirst Minister indicated that we would take action which would complement any new Treaty references to the further involvement of the regions with legislative powersin the making of European Union decisions and law.
- Asked by: Phil Gallie, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 05 April 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 5 May 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what large animal veterinary service resources there are and how these resources have changed since the foot and mouth crisis.
Answer
The information requested isnot held centrally. The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons has statistics aboutthe available large animal veterinary resources.
- Asked by: Phil Gallie, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 05 April 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 5 May 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what arrangements are in place with Her Majesty's Government so that it is consulted on impending EU legislation and decision-making and whether such arrangements are consistent within the six-week timescale proposed in the new EU constitution for consulting with national parliaments on legislative proposals from the commission.
Answer
The arrangements are set outin the Concordat on Co-ordination of European Union Policy Issues and these arenot inconsistent with the timescales proposed in the draft Constitutional Treaty.
- Asked by: Phil Gallie, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 05 April 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 5 May 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken to ensure that there is adequate surveillance and laboratory resources for large animal veterinary services, in light of financial problems within the Scottish Agricultural College (SAC).
Answer
As noted in S2W–7449, the Scottish Executive is part of the UK Veterinary Surveillance Strategy. The Executive commissions SAC to provide veterinary surveillance services at an approximate cost of £2.5 millionper annum. In addition, SAC’s laboratory services will be enhanced in June 2004 with the opening of a new diagnostic facility in Dumfries which has been funded primarily by the Executive. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/searchwa.
- Asked by: Phil Gallie, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 05 April 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 5 May 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what appraisals have been made of the costs absorbed by it as a consequence of implementation of European Union legislation and decisions, given the statement in the speech by the First Minister to the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities on 23 March 2004 that regions so often pay the bill for the implementation of EU legislation and decisions.
Answer
Appraisals of the estimated costsand likely benefits of the implementation of EU legislation and decisions are madeby the UK Government in Regulatory Impact Assessments (RIA). These inform the UK’s negotiatingposition on EU initiatives. The Scottish Executive is fully consulted on RIAs concerningdevolved or partly devolved matters. No separate calculation of the precise overallcost specific to the Scottish Executive in implementing EU legislation has beenmade.
- Asked by: Phil Gallie, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 05 April 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 5 May 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what policies it has put in place for long-term animal disease surveillance.
Answer
Veterinary surveillance is anintegral part of the Animal Health and Welfare Strategy and the Scottish Executivehas worked with the other UK administrations to create the UK Surveillance Strategy.This was published in October 2003 after extensive consultation with farming, veterinaryand other stakeholders. The ten-year strategy will help to deliver earlier warningof disease threats, prioritise surveillance activities and make better use of thedata collected. Building on partnerships between data producers, it will help enhancedissemination of information to the industry, to inform their own decision making.
- Asked by: Phil Gallie, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 April 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 4 May 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether, in light of its renewable energy targets, Scotland is a net exporter of electricity.
Answer
Approximately 13.7% of electricitygenerated in Scotland in 2002 was exported.
- Asked by: Phil Gallie, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 April 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 4 May 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has in respect of the plant margin of electricity generation in relation to estimated peak demand for electricity, in light of its renewable energy targets.
Answer
Installed capacity for electricitygeneration in Scotland currently amounts to around 10 Gigawatts (GW). Peak electricitydemand in Scotland is currently estimated at around 6 GW.
- Asked by: Phil Gallie, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 05 April 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 21 April 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration has been given to ensuring that an adequate large animal veterinary service is available throughout Scotland.
Answer
The demand and supply for largeanimal veterinary services is largely a matter for the veterinary profession andits clients. However, the Scottish Executive has a keen interest in the area as vets are a key partnerin the successful delivery of the animal health and welfare strategy. We are awareof concerns about future numbers of large animal vets and are currently workingtogether with the veterinary profession and livestock industry in a working groupto consider the issues. This working group is due to publish its conclusions inthe summer.
