- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 December 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 23 February 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to develop wave power schemes in Scotland in order to generate electricity from wave power and create employment opportunities for Scotland's engineering and construction industries.
Answer
To date the mechanism for encouraging the development of renewable energy projects in Scotland has been the Scottish Renewables Obligation (SRO), the third round of which was announced last year. The support offered under the SRO is designed to enable renewable technologies to become more competitive and to gain a foothold in the market. The third round included support for wave energy for the first time, and three contracts for wave energy were awarded to developers. In addition, in March, the Government announced a new wave energy R&D programme as part of the Department of Trade and Industry's (DTI) New and Renewable Energy Programme.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 December 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 23 February 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has assessed the cost benefit to Scotland of the development of renewable energy resources in terms of both savings in costs associated with dealing with climate change and benefits from the development of jobs.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is firmly committed to the promotion of renewable energy, which is an executively devolved matter. This policy takes account of the contribution which renewable energy can make to climate change mitigation, as well as the economic benefits of renewable energy projects themselves and the economic development opportunities that these technologies may bring to Scotland.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 December 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 23 February 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with Her Majesty's Government to develop a strategy for the development of renewable energy schemes in Scotland as part of the overall UK strategy to meet international obligations to reduce the burning of fossil fuels.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is firmly committed to the promotion of renewable energy, which is an executively devolved matter. The Department of Trade and Industry is currently reviewing the mechanisms required to achieve the generation of 10% of the UK's electricity from renewable energy sources by 2010. The Scottish Executive has participated in this review since its inception, and is determined that Scotland will pay a full part in meeting the target.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 November 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 23 February 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has a policy for the development of Scottish ports and harbours and, if so, what consultation it has carried out, or plans to carry out, with the Scottish Port and Harbours Authorities on this policy.
Answer
The Scottish Executive recognises the importance of developing ports and harbours as part of Scotland's transport system and in providing trading links.A Ports Policy Paper is being prepared, following consultation with the industry, to provide a framework for the further development of ports in Scotland within the Executive's integrated transport policy.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 February 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 23 February 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide details of the traffic growth forecasts used as the basis for formulating its transport polices and whether these figures are available on a regional basis.
Answer
In formulating transport policy, the Scottish Executive takes account of the National Road Traffic Forecasts (Great Britain) 1997 amongst a range of other considerations. The NRTF is produced by the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, and provides the latest forecasts of the projected growth in the volume of motor traffic on roads in Great Britain until the year 2031. This forecast shows an estimated growth in traffic levels from 1996 to 2011 of 28% and from 1996 to 2021 of 46% based on the capacity of the current road network, current policies and current behaviour. The NRTF figures are available for Great Britain but cannot be robustly broken down for Scotland.The NRTF is currently being up-dated and revised by DETR with assistance from the Executive. The revised figures will provide more localised results. They are expected to be available later in the year.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 February 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 23 February 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive how many applications have been received for the public transport fund on an annual basis since 1998, how many bids have been successful and whether there are any plans to review the level of available funds to allow the implementation of more projects each year.
Answer
There have been two Public Transport Fund competitions held to date. In the first competition, for projects commencing in 1999-2000, 17 bids were received with 12 awarded funding. 26 bids were received in the second competition for projects commencing in 2000-2001 of which 21 have been awarded funding. Details of a third competition for projects commencing in 2001-02 will be issued to local authorities shortly and the level of funding available will be considered as part of the forthcoming spending review.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 December 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 10 February 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what the projected figures for road traffic growth are for the next (a) five; (b) 10; (c) 20 and (d) 30 years and whether it plans to review these figures to reflect policies of traffic reduction.
Answer
The current projections for road traffic growth are contained in the
National Road Traffic Forecasts (Great Britain) 1997 published by DETR on 14 October 1997. These figures were calculated from a 1996 base and relate to Great Britain as a whole. The figures below represent annual percentage growth rates for each period assuming the most likely forecast of traffic growth:
| 1996-2001 | 1.74% |
| 2001-06 | 1.69% |
| 2006-11 | 1.53% |
| 2011-16 | 1.48% |
| 2016-21 | 1.19% |
| 2021-26 | 0.91% |
| 2026-31 | 0.89% |
DETR will consult the Scottish Executive about the review of these projections to reflect current transport policies. The intention is to publish revised forecasts in 2000.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 January 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by John Home Robertson on 7 February 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether assistance under the Infectious Salmon Anaemia Re-Start Scheme is currently limited to a "de minimis" level of ?100,000 cumulative over three years and, if so, what action it is taking to raise the limit so as to allow full payment of justified claims.
Answer
The "de minimus" provisions referred to do not apply to aquaculture. HIE will be revising its guidance on the matter.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 December 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 7 February 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether implementing all of the proposals covered in the Strategic Roads Review would result in (a) more vehicle journeys and (b) longer average journeys.
Answer
The information requested would only become available after detailed engineering design had been undertaken on all schemes considered in the Strategic Roads Review. This detailed work will, however, be confined to these schemes to be progressed.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 21 January 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 4 February 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what role the use of vehicles using liquid petroleum gas can play in reducing the environmental damage caused by vehicles.
Answer
Vehicles using liquid petroleum gas play a number of important roles in respect of the environment. They help reduce emissions of air pollutants that impact on local air quality, as well as reducing emissions of carbon dioxide. Compared to diesel vehicles used in heavy-duty applications, LPG vehicles emit considerably lower levels of nitrogen oxides and particles, which are harmful to health. LPG vehicles are also substantially quieter at low speeds than the diesel equivalents.
