- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 18 May 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 1 June 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans are contained within the current proposals for shellfish regulation orders in the Highlands, Orkney, the Western Isles and the Solway Firth to ensure that adequate enforcement regimes are in place.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-15859.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 18 May 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 1 June 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what its definition is of community enforcement in the context of existing and proposed shellfish regulation orders and how such enforcement will be carried out in practice.
Answer
I refer the Member to the answer given to question S1W-15859.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 18 May 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 1 June 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the enforcement procedures in place for existing and proposed shellfish regulation orders are adequate.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-15859.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 18 May 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 1 June 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects the foot-and-mouth disease provisionally free area status to be lifted.
Answer
Initial discussions have already been held with the European Commission, as a first step to establishing what criteria will be applied before Scotland, or parts of Scotland, will be eligible to export to the EU. It is difficult at this stage to say how long it will take to recover our export status.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 18 May 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 1 June 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to announce further relaxations of foot-and-mouth disease regulations to allow trading at auction marts in provisionally free areas.
Answer
Resumption of trading at auction marts is being kept under review in the light of the improving disease situation. However, I see no immediate prospect of their resumption.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 27 April 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 23 May 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the statutory consents necessary for the construction of an onshore wave energy power station and the authorities to whom each application for such consents must be submitted, what average time is taken to issue each consent and what the current level is of any consent application fee.
Answer
An onshore generating station of 50 megawatts or less will require the consent of the planning authority within whose boundaries the proposed development falls under section 28 of the 1997 Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act. The fee depends on the site area of the development, but the maximum would be £10,500. Planning legislation requires applications to be determined within two months (four where an environmental impact assessment is required), unless the developer agrees in writing to an extension of this period. The time taken can vary considerably, however, depending on the issues involved in a particular case. If the proposed station exceeds 50 megawatts in size, consent must be obtained from Scottish Ministers under section 36 of the 1989 Electricity Act. This consent can also include deemed planning permission under section 57 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997. An application for consent under the 1989 Act can attract a fee of between £5,000 and £20,000, depending on the output of the proposed scheme. There is no maximum time taken to issue such consents, although, as a guide, the relevant planning authority is allowed four months in which to submit its views as part of the consultation process.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 27 April 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 23 May 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-14245 by Rhona Brankin on 30 March 2001, when it expects to conclude its review of acquaculture regulation, which bodies and agencies are involved in this review and what the composition is of the review team.
Answer
The review is being led by officials within my Fisheries Group, but it is necessarily a cross-cutting exercise involving a number of other interests both within and outwith the Executive. As the first stage in this process, my officials wrote to those with an interest, inviting views by the end of April on how the existing arrangements might be improved. Formal consultation on a range of proposals will be undertaken over the summer. I expect to receive a final report towards the end of the year.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 04 May 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 18 May 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what baseline data it used in terms of the capacity and supply of electricity from different methods of generation, including renewables, when developing the Scottish Renewables Obligation targets and what its most up-to-date information is on the current levels of electricity generation and demand to inform these targets.
Answer
The target set for the Scottish Renewables Obligation (SRO) in 1994 was to support the development of 150 megawatts of new renewable electricity generation capacity. The latest projections from the energy regulator (Ofgem Scotland), based on feedback from SRO developers, indicate that this target should be achieved by 2003.The new Renewables Obligation (Scotland), or ROS, will place an obligation on all electricity suppliers to have a rising proportion of their electricity accounted for by renewable sources. We intend to use the ROS to raise this proportion from around 13% in 2003 to 18% by 2010, a similar increase to that planned for the UK as a whole. Previous studies have indicated that there is enough potential renewable energy in Scotland to meet economically the 2010 target, even allowing for growth in Scottish demand.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 04 May 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 18 May 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any planning or land use policies relating to the location and development of the nuclear industry in Scotland; when these policies were adopted and last reviewed, and whether the policy framework generally supports the development of new or replacement nuclear-powered electricity generating facilities.
Answer
Applications for consent for any new electricity generation plants over 50MW in capacity are considered by Scottish Ministers under the Electricity Act 1989, rather than under Town and Country Planning legislation. Any application for a new nuclear power station would be considered in this way, and therefore the series of National Planning Policy Guidelines does not include any advice on the development or location of such power stations.Our broad energy policy is to ensure secure, diverse, sustainable supplies of energy at competitive prices. As with other forms of generation, it would be for nuclear generators to bring forward proposals for new nuclear plant if they regarded the technology to be competitive with other forms of electricity generation.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 04 May 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 18 May 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it plans to take to encourage the development of renewable energy projects after 2010 to achieve targets beyond those under the Scottish Renewables Obligation.
Answer
The Scottish Renewables Obligation will remain in place until 2015, while the new Renewables Obligation (Scotland) will remain in place until March 2026. The latter obligation on all electricity suppliers will be for a specified proportion of their total electricity supply, so the amount of renewable energy needed to meet it will grow if the electricity market as a whole increases.
