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-30201

Asked by: Robin Harper, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 December 2009
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 25 January 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what funding has been made available in each of the last 10 years towards the development of new acoustic deterrent devices and other benign technologies for discouraging seals and other marine predators from approaching aquaculture and fisheries equipment and to whom this funding was provided.

The Scottish Government has provided £335,107 of research funding over the last 10 years towards development of new acoustic deterrent devices (ADDs) and other benign technologies for discouraging seals and other marine predators from approaching aquaculture and fisheries equipment:

Year	Scottish Government Funding
2004	£30,000
2005	£30,000
2006	£30,000
2007	£30,000
2008	£110,727
2009	£104,380

The Sea Mammal Research Unit has been the principle recipient of this research funding in order to examine and develop different deterrent techniques that could be made available to the aquaculture industry.

Through the European Fisheries Fund (EFF) the Scottish Government has also provided £1,040,881 to fund relevant work at fish farms in Scotland since 2000. The funding has provided assistance with upgrading and deployment of new equipment, including anti-predator nets, and to support a project in Shetland to trial a seal predation protection system using ADDs.

Some of the research funding has been provided through the arrangements established under the Scottish Aquaculture Research Forum (SARF) “ a partnership including The Scottish Government, The Crown Estate and the aquaculture industry. Research projects have also involved collaboration with Defra and through the EU Fisheries Fund.

The Scottish Government continues to work with its partners to refine these technologies and develop new approaches.

Question reference: S3W-30203

Asked by: Robin Harper, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 December 2009
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 25 January 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made towards the development of species-specific acoustic deterrent devices; which species can be targeted by these devices; how effective they have been found to be, and when and where they have been tested or deployed.

A Scottish Government sponsored research project has reviewed existing deterrents and developed a cetacean-friendly seal scarer using novel artificial sounds. This research showed, through captive experiments, that seals can be deterred by many sounds but that this effect can gradually disappear over time. The new acoustic deterrent involves a ˜startle stimulus'' which appears to continue to work over time.

The Scottish Government has considered possible funding for testing this new species-specific acoustic deterrent in the field and now plans to support a follow-on project.

Question reference: S3O-09152

Asked by: Robin Harper, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 January 2010
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 21 January 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive to what extent it plans to follow changes made to the system of legal aid in England to comply with the access to justice provisions in the Aarhus Convention.

The current legal aid system in Scotland is compliant with the Aarhus convention.

Civil legal aid, which provides for representation before a court, may be available provided that the three tests contained in the Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 1986 are met: applicants must qualify financially, must have a legal basis for their case and it must be reasonable in the particular circumstances of the case that legal aid is provided.

Question reference: S3W-30525

Asked by: Robin Harper, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 January 2010
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 15 January 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what firms (a) have been contracted by Scotland Excel and (b) previously fulfilled these contracts.

Question reference: S3W-30526

Asked by: Robin Harper, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 January 2010
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 15 January 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what the net loss or gain to businesses has been as a result of the placement of contracts by Scotland Excel as of the latest date for which information is available.

Question reference: S3W-30524

Asked by: Robin Harper, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 January 2010
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 15 January 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what the total value is of all contracts placed with Scotland Excel.

Question reference: S3W-30523

Asked by: Robin Harper, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 January 2010
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 15 January 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many and what contracts have been placed by Scotland Excel.

Question reference: S3W-30206

Asked by: Robin Harper, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 December 2009
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 15 January 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to ensure that licences to shoot seals are granted only after all other non-lethal alternatives have been tried and exhausted; how this will be determined, and whether it will introduce a minimum standard for the use of non-lethal alternatives and prescribe best practice and technology in this area.

Question reference: S3W-30205

Asked by: Robin Harper, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 December 2009
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 15 January 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to compel the operators of aquaculture and fisheries equipment to fit and use benign acoustic deterrent devices to discourage seals and other predators from approaching stock or equipment.

The Scottish Government through the Marine (Scotland) Bill will introduce a completely new seal licence system for Scotland. This new system will include consideration of the use of existing non-lethal measures (i.e. anti-predator nets and acoustic deterrent devices) and their effectiveness. It is intended that seal licences should in normal circumstances be granted only where non-lethal measures are not effective. This will ensure lethal measures will be licensed as a last resort.

The Scottish Government is researching best practice in non-lethal measures in order to be able to identify effective technology, which does not cause harm to other marine species such as cetaceans. The intention is that this should inform the requirement of the seal licensing system on non-lethal alternatives, including best practice and minimum standards.

Question reference: S3W-29837

Asked by: Robin Harper, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 December 2009
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 11 January 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many risk of sexual harm orders have been (a) applied for and (b) granted under the Protection of Children and Prevention of Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2005 in each year since 2005, broken down by police force area.

The following table details the number of risk of sexual harm orders that have been applied for and granted under the Protection of Children and the Prevention of Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2005, in each year since 2005, broken down by police force area.

Police Force	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
Central
Applied	0	0	0	0	0
Granted	0	0	0	0	0
Dumfries and Galloway
Applied	0	0	0	0	0
Granted	0	0	0	0	0
Fife
Applied	0	0	1	0	1
Granted	0	0	1	0	1
Grampian
Applied	0	0	2	1	1
Granted	0	0	2	1	1
Lothian and Borders
Applied	0	0	0	1	0
Granted	0	0	0	1	0
Northern
Applied	0	1	2	0	0
Granted	0	0	1	0	0
Strathclyde
Applied	0	0	0	1	0
Granted	0	0	0	1	0
Tayside
Applied	0	0	0	0	0
Granted	0	0	0	0	0
Scotland
Applied	0	1	5	3	2
Granted	0	0	4	3	2

Risk of sexual harm orders will be strengthened by provisions in the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Bill.