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-28383

Asked by: Aileen Campbell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 October 2009
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 30 October 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what authorities have responsibility for maintaining records of common land.

Question reference: S3W-28385

Asked by: Aileen Campbell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 October 2009
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 30 October 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what rights and responsibilities are attached to common land.

Question reference: S3O-07979

Asked by: Aileen Campbell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 1 October 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to support rural development during the economic downturn.

Question reference: S3W-26996

Asked by: Aileen Campbell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 18 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive which (a) data zones and (b) council wards in the South Lanarkshire local authority area are in the (i) 15% and (ii) 5% most deprived such areas in Scotland.

A list of deprived data zones is available on the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) website: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/SIMD.

Of South Lanarkshire''s 398 data zones: 13 are in Scotland''s 5% most deprived areas and 56 are in Scotland''s 15% most deprived areas using SIMD 2006. These are listed in table 1. Maps of the deprived areas by local authority can be found at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/SIMD/Maps.

The SIMD is only calculated at data zone level, it does not rank wards in terms of levels of deprivation. However, it is possible to look at the number of data zones within each ward in the 5% and 15% most deprived areas. This is shown in table 2.

Note: SIMD 2009 is due to be published on 29 October 2009 in which Scotland''s 5% and 15% most deprived areas could change.

Table 1: South Lanarkshire Data Zones in the 5% and 15% Most Deprived Areas (SIMD 2006)

Datazone	In the 5% most deprived?	In the 15% most deprived?	Datazone	In the 5% most deprived?	In the 15% most deprived?
S01005874	Yes	Yes	S01005891	No	Yes
S01005913	Yes	Yes	S01005892	No	Yes
S01005951	Yes	Yes	S01005917	No	Yes
S01005959	Yes	Yes	S01005928	No	Yes
S01005965	Yes	Yes	S01005932	No	Yes
S01005966	Yes	Yes	S01005939	No	Yes
S01005990	Yes	Yes	S01005947	No	Yes
S01005992	Yes	Yes	S01005954	No	Yes
S01005995	Yes	Yes	S01005957	No	Yes
S01005998	Yes	Yes	S01005961	No	Yes
S01006040	Yes	Yes	S01005964	No	Yes
S01006061	Yes	Yes	S01005967	No	Yes
S01006063	Yes	Yes	S01005975	No	Yes
S01005675	No	Yes	S01005982	No	Yes
S01005683	No	Yes	S01005987	No	Yes
S01005748	No	Yes	S01005988	No	Yes
S01005752	No	Yes	S01006000	No	Yes
S01005755	No	Yes	S01006007	No	Yes
S01005757	No	Yes	S01006008	No	Yes
S01005759	No	Yes	S01006012	No	Yes
S01005762	No	Yes	S01006022	No	Yes
S01005764	No	Yes	S01006024	No	Yes
S01005814	No	Yes	S01006034	No	Yes
S01005848	No	Yes	S01006041	No	Yes
S01005855	No	Yes	S01006058	No	Yes
S01005865	No	Yes	S01006062	No	Yes
S01005869	No	Yes	S01006064	No	Yes
S01005880	No	Yes	S01006065	No	Yes

Table 2: South Lanarkshire Electoral Wards Containing Data Zones in the 5% and 15% Most Deprived Areas (SIMD 2006)

Electorial Wards (2001)	Number of Datazones in the 5% most Deprived?	Number of Datazones in the 15% most Deprived?	Total Number of Datazones
Burgh Ward	1	2	6
Burnbank/Blantyre Ward	2	5	8
Cadzow Ward		1	6
Cairns Ward		1	7
Cambuslang Central Ward		2	4
Cathkin/Springhall Ward	1	4	8
Coatshill/Low Blantyre Ward		1	5
Douglas Ward		1	5
Fernhill Ward	1	3	5
Forth Ward		1	6
Hallside Ward	1	2	8
Hamilton Centre North Ward		1	5
High Blantyre Ward	1	2	7
Hillhouse Ward	1	3	5
Kirkhill/Whitlawburn Ward	2	2	5
Larkhall East Ward		3	7
Larkhall South Ward		3	5
Larkhall West Ward		1	6
Lesmahagow Ward		1	6
Low Waters Ward	1	3	5
Rutherglen West Ward	1	4	6
Silvertonhill Ward		1	6
Spittal/Blairbeth Ward		2	5
Udston Ward		3	4
Whitehill Ward	1	2	5
Woodhead/Meikle Earnock Ward		2	7

Question reference: S3W-26247

Asked by: Aileen Campbell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 July 2009
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 8 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many microgenerators are registered under the Renewables Obligation (Scotland) scheme, broken down by (a) local authority area and (b) generator capacity size.

This information is not held centrally.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on accredited generators under the Renewables Obligation (Scotland). Ofgem however hold a register in the public domain which lists generators and their capacity by country level. This can be found on their website:

http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Sustainability/Environment/RenewablStat/Documents1/accredited_less_50kW_ROCCL.xls.

Question reference: S3W-26124

Asked by: Aileen Campbell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 July 2009
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 17 August 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on how many orchards there are and where.

Information is available from the June Agricultural Census on commercial orchards. The following table shows the number of agricultural holdings with commercial orchards, by agricultural region, along with the corresponding areas.

		Commercial Orchards
		Holdings	Area (Hectares)
North West	Shetland	0	0.00
	Orkney	0	0.00
	Eileanan an Iar	*	*
	Highland	28	5.77
North East	NE Scotland	20	4.92
South East	Tayside	12	4.20
	Fife	*	*
	Lothian	*	*
	Scottish Borders	*	*
South West	East Central	0	0.00
	Argyll and Bute	5	1.91
	Clyde Valley	13	20.68
	Ayrshire	*	*
	Dumfries and Galloway	11	5.44
Scotland		105	47.33

Note: *To prevent disclosure of information about individual holdings this information has been suppressed.

Question reference: S3W-26125

Asked by: Aileen Campbell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 July 2009
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 13 August 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the development or protection of orchards is covered by planning guidance or legislation.

Although orchards are not specifically highlighted, National Planning Policy Guideline 14 states that planning authorities should seek to protect trees, groups of trees and areas of woodland where they have natural heritage value or contribute to the character or amenity of a particular area. Planning authorities may therefore identify orchards in their development plans as areas to be protected from development.

Section 159 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 (as amended by the Planning etc. (Scotland) Act 2006) requires both Scottish ministers and planning authorities to ensure that wherever possible provision is made for the preservation or planting of trees when granting planning permission. If the orchard is in a conservation area or protected by a Tree Preservation Order, then the 1997 Act provides further legal protection. A commercial orchard may be classed as an agricultural use and the establishment or alteration of such may not require planning permission, under the terms of Section 26 of the Town and Country (Scotland) Act 1997. The decision on whether planning permission would be required rests with the relevant planning authority.

Question reference: S3W-25312

Asked by: Aileen Campbell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 June 2009
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 21 July 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-3652 by Shona Robison on 13 September 2007, for what reasons the number of prescriptions of Ritalin fell in each year between 2002 and 2007 and whether this number is expected to continue to fall in future years.

Ritalin is one of a number of products containing methylphenidate hydrochloride, used for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). While the total prescribing of these products increased between 2002 and 2007 and continued to increase in 2008 and 2009, the number of prescribed items for Ritalin continued to fall in 2008 and 2009 (3,466 and 2,723 prescribed items respectively).

The reason for this may be that prescribers have chosen other methylphenidate products. The decision on which product to prescribe for an individual patient is a matter for the clinical judgement of the prescriber informed by advice and evidence about the medicine.

Question reference: S3O-07463

Asked by: Aileen Campbell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 June 2009
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 25 June 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what structures are in place to monitor the transportation of nuclear material in Scotland.

Question reference: S3W-23177

Asked by: Aileen Campbell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 April 2009
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 6 May 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what regulations govern the installation and maintenance of domestic fuel oil storage tanks.

The installation of oil storage tanks used for heating or cooking facilities to all building types is covered by the Building (Scotland) Regulations 2004.

Such structures may require an application for planning permission to the planning authority. However, permitted development rights (PDR) grant a Scotland-wide planning permission, removing the need for a planning application, for various developments, in areas ranging from householder developments to development at airports, which might cover these structures depending on the circumstances. Specific PDR apply, for example, to a container for the storage of oil or liquefied petroleum gas within the garden of a dwelling house. These particular PDR are subject to conditions on size and location to protect visual amenity.

The maintenance of oil tanks is not covered by the building regulations. However, action may be taken under Section 28 (Defective Buildings) of the Building (Scotland) Act 2003 where a local authority considers that a tank has defects that require to be dealt with to prevent significant deterioration.