- Asked by: Robin Harper, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 June 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 16 June 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-33201 by Richard Lochhead on 30 April 2010, whether it accepts The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity definition of non-native species.
Answer
Yes.
- Asked by: Robin Harper, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 June 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 16 June 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-33201 by Richard Lochhead on 30 April 2010, whether it considers black francolin to be a naturally occurring species in Great Britain and, if not, for what reasons the provisions of Article 11 of the EU Directive on Conservation of Wild Birds (79/409/EEC) should not apply to it.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not consider black francolin to be a naturally occurring species in Great Britain. We expect Article 11 of the EU Directive on Conservation of Wild Birds (79/409/EEC) would apply to any introduction of black francolin, although this is ultimately a matter for the courts. Domestic provisions to control harmful releases of species in the wild would apply, if appropriate.
- Asked by: Robin Harper, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 June 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 16 June 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-33201 by Richard Lochhead on 30 April 2010, whether it considers grey squirrel, American mink and Canada goose to be naturally occurring in the United Kingdom.
Answer
The question refers to a previous answer (S3W-33201) concerning provisions of the Birds Directive (2009/147/EC), which is relevant to Canada goose. Canada goose is included on the European Commission''s list of bird species of the European Union as an accidental visitor and as having an artificially introduced breeding population. Whether this could be considered as naturally occurring for the purposes of the provisions of the Birds Directive could be a matter for the courts to determine. We are not aware of any case law to inform a view on this.
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/conservation/wildbirds/eu_species/voous_en.htm.
Grey squirrel and American mink are invasive non-native species which were also introduced artificially into the EU and are regular breeders in the wild.
Provisions of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004 enable the Scottish Ministers to regulate the introduction into the wild of any species where appropriate.
- Asked by: Robin Harper, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 June 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 16 June 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-33201 by Richard Lochhead on 30 April 2010, whether it recognises the British Ornithologists’ Union as the scientific authority on the status of birds that occur in the United Kingdom.
Answer
The British Ornithologists Union is one of the scientific authorities on the status of birds that occur in the United Kingdom.
- Asked by: Robin Harper, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 June 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 16 June 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-33201 by Richard Lochhead on 30 April 2010, what it understands the natural world range of the (a) pheasant and (b) red-legged partridge to be.
Answer
The common pheasant (phasianus colchicus)
is understood to be native to parts of Asia. The common pheasant has been widely introduced throughout the world for sporting purposes and has been breeding in the UK in the wild for centuries.
The red-legged partridge (alectoris rufa) is understood to be native to southern Europe, including France, Spain and Portugal. It has been widely released in the UK for sporting purposes. Some red-legged partridges do breed in the wild in Scotland, although it is doubtful whether the population would be self-sustaining without further releases.
- Asked by: Robin Harper, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 15 April 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 30 April 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what action has been taken to ensure that the repeated large-scale release of pheasants and red-legged partridges into the countryside poses no harm to local flora and fauna and what consultations have taken place with the European Commission regarding these practices, as required by Article 11 of the 2009 EU Directive on the conservation of wild birds.
Answer
The Scottish Government will consider any evidence of significant damage to flora and fauna resulting from releases of pheasants or red-legged partridges. Scottish Natural Heritage is responsible for monitoring the condition of designated sites which protect many of Scotland''s most important flora and fauna, including identifying any activities which appeared to be having a negative impact on the condition of such sites.
Article 11 of the EU Directive on Conservation of Wild Birds (79/409/EEC) is concerned with the introduction of any species of bird which do not occur naturally in the wild state in the European territory of the member states and does not therefore apply to pheasants and red-legged partridges.
- Asked by: Robin Harper, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 April 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 29 April 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive how many grants it issued under the Energy Saving Scotland home renewables grant scheme in each of the last three years and how much this amounts to in carbon savings.
Answer
The information requested is provided in the following table.
| Year | Number of Grants Offered | Associated Lifetime Carbon Savings (tC) |
| 2007-08 | 999 | 7,288 |
| 2008-09 | 1,074 | 9,881 |
| 2009-10 | 1,164 | 10,218 |
- Asked by: Robin Harper, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 April 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 29 April 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it had with (a) individuals and (b) organisations to inform its decision to withdraw the Energy Saving Scotland home renewables grant scheme for electricity generating technologies and for new build properties.
Answer
The Scottish Government''s recent consultation on the Energy Efficiency Action Plan gave individuals and organisations an opportunity to feed in views on whether Scottish Government support for microgeneration should be adjusted with the introduction of Clean Energy Cashback schemes. These views are summarised in the analysis of consultation responses, which was published on 16 April 2010 on the Scottish Government website
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2010/04/15164620/0 In addition, Scottish Government maintains a regular dialogue across its own directorates and with the microgeneration industry and UK Government officials to inform policy and programme decisions.
- Asked by: Robin Harper, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 April 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 29 April 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive for what reason it reduced the maximum payable under the Energy Saving Scotland home loan scheme from £10,000 to £4,000 for electricity generating technologies and what evidence it collected to inform this decision.
Answer
The Scottish Government reduced the maximum payable under the Energy Saving Scotland home loan pathfinder for electricity generating technologies to balance the wider needs of the scheme and allow support for a range of measures, not just renewable electricity devices which are now supported by the Feed-In Tariff (FIT).
Alongside the FIT, it is important to continue to assess public receptiveness to zero or low-interest loans. This will inform the evaluation of the loans pathfinder, the Energy Efficiency Action Plan and future policies and programmes.
- Asked by: Robin Harper, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 March 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 26 April 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of current restructuring in preparation for the formation of Creative Scotland, what discussions it has had with the Scottish Arts Council on the continuing concerns of small organisations regarding their funding for the forthcoming year.
Answer
No specific discussions have taken place. The Scottish Arts Council is continuing with business as usual until Creative Scotland is established, and the legislation makes it clear that Creative Scotland will honour all funding arrangements entered into by the Scottish Arts Council. We have specifically preserved the level of funding for Creative Scotland, despite the difficult financial settlement this year.
The Joint Board of the Scottish Arts council and Scottish Screen announced on 15 December 2009 that £7.98 million would be available for organisations to apply for flexible funding of over £50,000 from 2011 to 2013. The deadline for organisations to apply was 5 March 2010.
The Scottish Arts Council''s first open application funding round will start soon and details of the funds available will be published on 23 April 2010. Creative Scotland will honour all these commitments.
