- Asked by: Robin Harper, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 March 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 12 April 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what future role and function the Joint Nature Conservation Committee will have in Scotland in the light of the Stage 1 Report by the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR), Review of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee 2001, and how Scottish interests will be promoted if the committee is entirely funded and sponsored by the DETR as recommended in the report.
Answer
No decisions have yet been taken on the future of JNCC. Whatever arrangements are finally reached will need to reflect Scottish circumstances, and Scottish Ministers will be fully involved in the decision-taking.
- Asked by: Robin Harper, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 March 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 12 April 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to amend the definition of recycling to exclude ash from municipal waste incinerators, in line with the National Waste Strategy for England and Wales, and, if it does, when the definition will be amended.
Answer
The definition of recycling, for the purpose of setting targets, is being considered by the Recycling Targets Group which has been established by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and is made up of representatives from SEPA, the Scottish Executive, CoSLA, local authorities and Recycling Market Development Scotland (REMADE). A consultation paper will be issued to local authorities in the next few weeks and a final report issued later in the year.
- Asked by: Robin Harper, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 March 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 12 April 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive how and where ash from municipal waste incinerators closed since 1990 was disposed of.
Answer
This is a matter for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency. The information requested is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Robin Harper, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 March 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 12 April 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the exclusion of energy from waste from the Scottish Renewables Order would reduce the achievability of its target for electricity from renewable sources by 2010.
Answer
The achievement of our renewable energy target for 2010 under the Renewables Obligation (Scotland) will be dependent on many factors, of which the inclusion or otherwise of any particular technology will be only one.
- Asked by: Robin Harper, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 March 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 12 April 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to exclude energy from waste from renewable energy funding in the light of the majority of the responses to the consultation exercise on the Scottish Renewables Order objecting to its inclusion and given the position in England and Wales.
Answer
A final decision on the technologies to be included within the Renewables Obligation (Scotland) has not yet been taken. We will consider the options carefully in the light of responses to the recent consultation paper, and in the light of the various energy from waste technologies available, and an announcement will be made in due course.
- Asked by: Robin Harper, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 March 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 12 April 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive how many breaches of the authorised limits have been reported from each municipal waste incinerator in each year since 1990 and whether it will provide details of each breach.
Answer
This is a matter for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency. The information requested is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Robin Harper, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 March 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 12 April 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what subsidies have been given, and from what sources, for municipal waste incineration in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
Answer
We make no direct subsidy for municipal waste incineration. However, under the Scottish Renewables Obligation (SRO), there is a subsidy towards the cost of electricity generated by a SRO project. The only SRO energy-from-waste plant in operation in Scotland is at Baldovie in Dundee. For reasons of commercial confidentiality, we cannot provide detailed information in the form of the breakdown required. Level Playing Field Support, however, has been provided over the past two years to Dundee City Council for the Baldovie energy-from-waste Public/Private Partnership project. The provision was £0.8 million in 1999-2000 and £2.3 million in the current year. Support will be provided at the current year's level over 25 years.The general local government finance settlement allocations do not include any specific provision for waste incineration. It is for councils to consider their expenditure priorities.
- Asked by: Robin Harper, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 March 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 5 April 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the meeting between the First Minister and Scotland Environment Link on the decision not to appoint a dedicated Minister for the Environment has taken place and, if so, what the outcome was.
Answer
I hope that this meeting will take place soon.
- Asked by: Robin Harper, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 March 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 4 April 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to the forthcoming public consultation on fluoridation of the drinking water supply, how it intends to ensure that the public is as well informed about alternative methods of reducing dental caries as it is about fluoridation of the water supply.
Answer
As described in Our National Health: a plan for action a plan for change, the consultation will be wide-ranging and seek views on a range of measures to improve children's oral health, not only fluoridation of the public water supply.
- Asked by: Robin Harper, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 16 March 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 30 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive, regarding the timber used in the recent refurbishment of the Forestry Commission (Scotland) Headquarters at Corstorphine in Edinburgh, how much timber and of what type was from (a) environmentally sustainable sources and (b) other sources, and how the environmental sustainability of any timber used was assured.
Answer
The refurbishment of the Forestry Commission's headquarters will not be completed until next year. Timber suppliers will be required to provide information (such as origin and certification) to demonstrate that the timber comes from legal and sustainably managed sources, in line with the guidance on timber procurement contained in the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions' Green Guide for Buyers.
