- Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 17 December 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 17 January 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the confirmed case of bluetongue virus in a cow imported to England from Germany, what representations it will make urgently to the European Commission for stricter adherence to export rules to prevent infected livestock being imported into bluetongue virus-free zones.
Answer
The Scottish Government fullysupports the strong representations being made to the Commission by the UK and othermember states regarding the urgent need to tighten up, and enforce, the rules onmovements out of restricted zones. I wrote to Hilary Benn on this subject in Decemberand the matter was discussed at a meeting of The Standing Committee on Food Chain and Animal Health (SCoFCAH) on the 10 January 2008.We will continue to monitor the situation closely.
- Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 17 December 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 17 January 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the confirmed case of bluetongue virus in a cow imported to England from Germany, what measures it will put in place urgently to prevent bluetongue from entering Scotland.
Answer
A post-import testing regimehas been in place in Scotland, and the rest of the UK, since the summer of 2006. Itis this regime that identified the infected animal at Kirkcudbright, and allowedit to be dealt with swiftly and effectively, preventing the circulation of the bluetonguevirus. This effective mechanism will remain in place.
In addition, the Scottish Governmentis currently in discussion with stakeholders regarding the development of post-movementchecks for animals coming into Scotland from the restricted zone in England, whichare not currently covered by the post-import mechanism.
- Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 December 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 16 January 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how it will ensure that the availability of prescription prepayment certificates is properly advertised and promoted.
Answer
We are currently developing proposalsto ensure that people are made aware of the reductions to prescription charges beingintroduced from 1 April 2008. We are specifically looking at ways of informing thepublic about the availability and benefits of Prescription Pre-payment Certificates.
- Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 December 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 14 January 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost per year is of the older and disabled persons concessionary travel scheme, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
In its first full year Scotland-WideFree Bus Travel for Older and Disabled People cost £154 million against a cappedbudget of £159 million in 2006-07. The ferry element of the Scheme cost £0.5 millionin 2006-07.
The cost of Scotland-Wide FreeBus Travel for Older and Disabled People is capped at £163 million in 2007-08. Thebudgeted cost of the ferry element of the scheme is £1.7 million in 2007-08.
As the national scheme is managedcentrally by Transport Scotland and because bus operators can and do cover a number oflocal authority areas it is not possible to provide a breakdown by localauthority area.
- Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 03 December 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 21 December 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what financial support it will put in place to assist farmers to meet their obligations in respect of the increased closed period in the Nitrate Vulnerable Zones Action Programme.
Answer
The proposed ScottishRural Development Programme will have several options to help protect the waterenvironment. One option includes support for the capital cost of manure or slurrystorage, which is expected to be the largest cost for farmers on slurry-based systemsin the Nitrate Vulnerable Zones(NVZs). No changes are proposedto the closed periods for manufactured fertilisers, and no closed periods are plannedfor farmyard manure.
The Scottish Governmentfunds the Scottish Agricultural College to provide guidance and training in responseto requests from farmers, and this may involve the NVZ rules designed to improvethe efficiency of the use of manure and slurry. This will be supplemented by guidancefrom the Scottish Government to all farmers within the NVZ areas. In addition, Iam convening a Nitrates Directive Implementation Group to consider how best we canwork with the industry in making the transition to compliance with the new standards.
- Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 03 December 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 10 December 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what assurances it will give that any financial support made available to assist farmers to meet their obligations in respect of the increased closed period in the Nitrate Vulnerable Zones Action Programme will not come from Scottish Rural Development Plan resources to the detriment of other areas of agriculture.
Answer
I do not considerthat the use of the Scottish Rural Development Programme resources to improve manureand slurry storage on livestock farms in the Nitrate Vulnerable Zones is to thedetriment of the other areas of agriculture.
- Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 03 December 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 10 December 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive from where in the budget any financial support made available to assist farmers to meet their obligations in respect of the increased closed period in the Nitrate Vulnerable Zones Action Programme will come.
Answer
Farmers in the Nitrate Vulnerable Zones will be eligible for Scottish Rural DevelopmentProgramme (SRDP) options.
- Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 15 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will abolish prescription charges for people suffering from chronic illnesses such as cancer.
Answer
Detailed arrangementsfor implementing the Scottish Government’s policy to abolish prescription chargesare under consideration. A statement will be made to Parliament in the near future.
- Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 15 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive which diseases will be defined as chronic conditions for the purpose of allowing patients access to free prescriptions.
Answer
Detailed arrangementsfor implementing the Scottish Government’s policy to abolish prescription chargesare under consideration. A statement will be made to Parliament in the near future.
- Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 15 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria it will use to determine whether a condition is chronic for the purpose of determining which patients are eligible for free prescriptions.
Answer
Detailed arrangementsfor implementing the Scottish Government’s policy to abolish prescription chargesare under consideration. A statement will be made to Parliament in the near future.
