Questions and answers

Question reference: S4W-04837

Asked by: Mark McDonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 January 2012
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 30 January 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what emphasis the Curriculum for Excellence places on the importance of play in the early years.

Play is central to how children learn, both in terms of cognitive skills and softer skills around relating to other people. Through Curriculum for Excellence, the Scottish Government and local partners will continue to promote play-based learning, including in early primary to develop a motivating, challenging and enjoyable learning experience. Education Scotland will continue to focus on the quality of energetic and outdoor play on all inspection activities.

The Scottish Government also emphasises the importance of play outside a formal setting. On 18 January at Thornlie Primary School, I announced a £1 million funding package for play each year for the next three years. This funding will enhance play spaces and play opportunities for the children of Scotland.

Question reference: S4O-00607

Asked by: Mark McDonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 January 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 January 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to review the way in which section 75 developer contributions under the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 are used by local authorities.

Question reference: S4O-00438

Asked by: Mark McDonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 November 2011
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 December 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what recent discussions it has had with train operators and British Transport Police regarding passenger behaviour.

Question reference: S4W-03835

Asked by: Mark McDonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 November 2011
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 15 November 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many road fatalities have been as a result of a seatbelt not being worn in each police force area in each year since 1999, showing percentage changes in each year.

Question reference: S4W-03832

Asked by: Mark McDonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 November 2011
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 15 November 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) fatal and (b) non-fatal road accidents have been recorded in each police force area in each year since 1999, showing percentage changes in each year.

The following table shows the number of accidents where someone has been killed or injured in road accidents by police force.

Severity

Percent Change

		Fatal	Other Severity	Fatal	Other Severity
Northern	1999	35	874
	2000	41	761	17	-13
	2001	31	783	-24	3
	2002	25	719	-19	-8
	2003	32	768	28	7
	2004	29	770	-9	0
	2005	24	760	-17	-1
	2006	27	720	13	-5
	2007	34	704	26	-2
	2008	33	669	-3	-5
	2009	24	700	-27	5
	2010	24	550	0	-21
Grampian	1999	35	1,205
	2000	45	1,185	29	-2
	2001	46	1,098	2	-7
	2002	44	1,111	-4	1
Grampian	2003	45	1,055	2	-5
	2004	40	1,064	-11	1
	2005	48	1,155	20	9
	2006	56	1,052	17	-9
	2007	35	1,179	-38	12
	2008	28	1,371	-20	16
	2009	28	1,302	0	-5
	2010	33	1,056	18	-19
Tayside	1999	34	1,223
	2000	22	1,152	-35	-6
	2001	42	1,191	91	3
	2002	23	1,145	-45	-4
	2003	29	1,018	26	-11
	2004	31	1,041	7	2
	2005	29	948	-6	-9
	2006	20	1,001	-31	6
	2007	30	897	50	-10
	2008	29	902	-3	1
	2009	21	888	-28	-2
	2010	28	713	33	-20
Fife	1999	14	698
	2000	11	774	-21	11
	2001	19	715	73	-8
	2002	26	714	37	0
	2003	17	702	-35	-2
	2004	24	730	41	4
	2005	11	690	-54	-5
	2006	17	660	55	-4
	2007	10	596	-41	-10
	2008	13	563	30	-6
	2009	6	582	-54	3
	2010	13	543	117	-7

Lothian and Borders

1999	48	3,183
2000	49	3,256	2	2

	2001	36	3,164	-27	-3
	2002	33	3,018	-8	-5
	2003	44	2,786	33	-8
	2004	34	2,882	-23	3
	2005	35	2,740	3	-5
	2006	40	2,709	14	-1
	2007	40	2,470	0	-9
	2008	36	2,506	-10	1
	2009	30	2,314	-17	-8
	2010	17	2,245	-43	-3
Central	1999	9	726
	2000	18	653	100	-10
	2001	16	620	-11	-5
	2002	21	725	31	17
	2003	20	739	-5	2
Central	2004	16	667	-20	-10
	2005	18	639	13	-4
	2006	19	682	6	7
	2007	8	667	-58	-2
	2008	11	669	38	0
	2009	10	624	-9	-7
	2010	7	531	-30	-15
Strathclyde	1999	98	6,845
	2000	99	6,644	1	-3
	2001	106	6,421	7	-3
	2002	88	6,226	-17	-3
	2003	104	6,111	18	-2
	2004	101	6,050	-3	-1
	2005	85	5,759	-16	-5
	2006	95	5,569	12	-3
	2007	87	5,274	-8	-5
	2008	86	4,823	-1	-9
	2009	68	4,570	-21	-5
	2010	63	4,110	-7	-10

Dumfries and Galloway

1999	12	376
2000	12	409	0	9

2001	13	423	8	3
2002	14	411	8	-3
2003	10	437	-29	6
2004	8	432	-20	-1
2005	14	483	75	12
2006	19	424	36	-12
2007	11	464	-42	9
2008	9	410	-18	-12
2009	9	379	0	-8
2010	4	356	-56	-6

Question reference: S4W-03833

Asked by: Mark McDonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 November 2011
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 15 November 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) male and (b) female road fatalities of people aged (i) under-17, (ii) 18 to 25, (iii) 26 to 40, (iv) 41 to 64 and (v) over 65 have been recorded in each police force area in each year since 1999, showing percentage changes in each year.

The following table shows the number of people killed in accidents by police force, gender and age group.

Male	Percentage changes

		16 and under	17-25	26-40	41-64	65+	16 and under	17-25	26-40	41-64	65+
Northern	1999	3	9	10	4	1
	2000	2	6	12	11	2	-33	-33	20	175	100
	2001	1	9	10	5	3	-50	50	-17	-55	50
	2002	0	8	7	4	1	-100	-11	-30	-20	-67
	2003	1	6	12	6	2	-	-25	71	50	100
	2004	1	4	7	8	5	-	-33	-42	33	150
	2005	2	3	8	7	1	100	-25	14	-13	-80
	2006	3	8	7	6	2	50	167	-13	-14	100
	2007	2	11	4	9	1	-33	38	-43	50	-50
	2008	2	5	9	5	6	-	-55	125	-44	500
	2009	3	5	6	5	3	50	-	-33	-	-50
	2010	0	6	5	7	1	-100	20	-17	40	-67
Grampian	1999	3	8	5	5	3
	2000	1	11	11	14	1	-67	38	120	180	-67
	2001	0	16	11	5	4	-100	45	-	-64	300
	2002	3	10	7	10	7	-	-38	-36	100	75
	2003	3	8	12	9	4	-	-20	71	-10	-43
	2004	1	14	14	2	4	-67	75	17	-78	-
	2005	3	17	12	4	5	200	21	-14	100	25
	2006	1	19	15	9	9	-67	12	25	125	80
	2007	1	11	11	5	3	-	-42	-27	-44	-67
	2008	3	8	4	3	2	200	-27	-64	-40	-33
	2009	0	10	8	3	6	-100	25	100	-	200
	2010	0	4	12	7	4	-	-60	50	133	-33
Tayside	1999	1	7	5	9	7
	2000	1	2	6	6	0	-	-71	20	-33	-100
	2001	2	7	7	13	5	100	250	17	117	-
	2002	0	3	8	4	4	-100	-57	14	-69	-20
	2003	0	8	6	3	7	-	167	-25	-25	75
	2004	0	5	8	3	3	-	-38	33	-	-57
	2005	1	4	4	9	6	-	-20	-50	200	100
	2006	0	6	3	5	2	-100	50	-25	-44	-67
	2007	0	6	7	7	6	-	-	133	40	200
	2008	2	5	2	8	4	-	-17	-71	14	-33
	2009	0	5	6	3	3	-100	-	200	-63	-25
	2010	2	6	2	7	3	-	20	-67	133	-
Fife	1999	1	2	4	1	0
	2000	0	3	1	4	1	-100	50	-75	300	-
	2001	0	5	5	5	1	-	67	400	25	-
	2002	1	6	7	5	2	-	20	40	-	100
	2003	0	2	6	2	3	-100	-67	-14	-60	50
	2004	3	4	7	5	4	-	100	17	150	33
	2005	0	7	3	1	0	-100	75	-57	-80	-100
	2006	1	2	4	6	0	-	-71	33	500	-
	2007	2	6	1	2	1	100	200	-75	-67	-
	2008	0	5	2	3	0	-100	-17	100	50	-100
	2009	0	0	1	2	0	-	-100	-50	-33	-
	2010	0	5	1	4	1	-	-	-	100	-

Lothian and Borders

1999	3	7	13	8	5
2000	5	10	14	6	2	67	43	8	-25	-60

2001	2	6	7	7	4	-60	-40	-50	17	100
2002	3	4	7	10	5	50	-33	-	43	25
2003	0	9	9	6	6	-100	125	29	-40	20
2004	0	4	9	7	7	-	-56	-	17	17

2005	1	5	6	6	8	-	25	-33	-14	14
2006	3	6	8	11	7	200	20	33	83	-13

	2007	2	12	2	8	5	-33	100	-75	-27	-29
	2008	1	8	8	4	5	-50	-33	300	-50	-
	2009	0	11	2	5	6	-100	38	-75	25	20
	2010	2	1	8	2	1	-	-91	300	-60	-83
Central	1999	1	3	4	0	1
	2000	3	5	1	3	2	200	67	-75	-	100
	2001	0	2	5	5	0	-100	-60	400	67	-100
	2002	0	5	12	1	0	-	150	140	-80	-
	2003	3	2	5	4	3	-	-60	-58	300	-
	2004	0	0	5	5	2	-100	-100	-	25	-33
	2005	0	3	4	3	2	-	-	-20	-40	-
	2006	3	4	6	3	0	-	33	50	-	-100
	2007	0	0	3	2	0	-100	-100	-50	-33	-
	2008	2	1	2	1	4	-	-	-33	-50	-
	2009	0	3	1	5	1	-100	200	-50	400	-75
	2010	0	2	1	2	0	-	-33	-	-60	-100
Strathclyde	1999	7	24	19	19	13
	2000	4	11	25	17	18	-43	-54	32	-11	38
	2001	11	23	30	23	4	175	109	20	35	-78
	2002	4	15	25	16	5	-64	-35	-17	-30	25
	2003	4	26	24	18	6	-	73	-4	13	20
	2004	4	18	23	21	12	-	-31	-4	17	100
	2005	4	17	12	20	11	-	-6	-48	-5	-8
	2006	4	18	15	19	13	-	6	25	-5	18
	2007	3	18	21	12	14	-25	-	40	-37	8
	2008	6	16	14	21	12	100	-11	-33	75	-14
	2009	5	16	16	10	6	-17	-	14	-52	-50
	2010	3	8	11	16	9	-40	-50	-31	60	50

Dumfries and Galloway

1999	0	3	5	1	1
2000	0	2	2	1	2	-	-33	-60	-	100

2001	0	3	3	5	0	-	50	50	400	-100
2002	0	1	6	5	3	-	-67	100	-	-
2003	0	1	3	2	0	-	-	-50	-60	-100
2004	0	4	1	1	0	-	300	-67	-50	-
2005	2	3	1	3	1	-	-25	-	200	-
2006	2	4	5	4	1	-	33	400	33	-
2007	0	1	3	3	2	-100	-75	-40	-25	100
2008	0	1	3	2	2	-	-	-	-33	-
2009	1	0	0	4	1	-	-100	-100	100	-50
2010	0	1	1	1	0	-100	-	-	-75	-100

Female

Percentage changes

		16 and under	17-25	26-40	41-64	65+	16 and under	17-25	26-40	26-40	65+
Northern	1999	0	3	1	4	1
	2000	1	2	2	3	2	-	-33	100	-25	100
	2001	1	2	1	3	4	-	-	-50	-	100
	2002	0	2	1	2	2	-100	-	-	-33	-50
	2003	2	1	0	2	4	-	-50	-100	-	100
	2004	0	1	2	2	2	-100	-	-	-	-50
	2005	0	1	0	2	3	-	-	-100	-	50
	2006	0	1	1	1	1	-	-	-	-50	-67
	2007	1	1	2	6	2	-	-	100	500	100
	2008	1	2	2	2	3	-	100	-	-67	50
	2009	0	1	4	0	1	-100	-50	100	-100	-67
	2010	0	2	1	4	3	-	100	-75	-	200
Grampian	1999	2	3	3	1	2
	2000	3	2	3	4	3	50	-33	-	300	50
	2001	0	2	2	3	7	-100	-	-33	-25	133
	2002	1	4	1	2	4	-	100	-50	-33	-43
	2003	0	4	4	3	4	-100	-	300	50	-
	2004	0	3	1	2	3	-	-25	-75	-33	-25
	2005	2	3	1	3	3	-	-	-	50	-
	2006	2	3	2	1	1	-	-	100	-67	-67
	2007	0	1	1	0	4	-100	-67	-50	-100	300
	2008	4	5	0	2	4	-	400	-100	-	-
	2009	1	0	1	0	2	-75	-100	-	-100	-50
	2010	0	4	4	2	0	-100	-	300	-	-100
Tayside	1999	1	0	5	2	3
	2000	0	0	0	3	5	-100	-	-100	50	67
	2001	2	3	2	2	7	-	-	-	-33	40
	2002	0	1	1	3	3	-100	-67	-50	50	-57
	2003	3	1	1	3	5	-	-	-	-	67
	2004	1	5	1	5	4	-67	400	-	67	-20
	2005	0	2	1	2	0	-100	-60	-	-60	-100
	2006	1	1	0	1	2	-	-50	-100	-50	-
	2007	2	2	1	3	1	100	100	-	200	-50
	2008	1	1	0	2	6	-50	-50	-100	-33	500
	2009	1	0	0	3	0	-	-100	-	50	-100
	2010	0	2	3	3	2	-100	-	-	-	-
Fife	1999	2	0	2	1	2
	2000	1	1	0	0	1	-50	-	-100	-100	-50
	2001	1	1	1	1	1	-	-	-	-	-
	2002	0	1	1	3	3	-100	-	-	200	200
	2003	2	0	0	1	2	-	-100	-100	-67	-33
	2004	2	1	2	0	2	-	-	-	-100	-
	2005	3	0	0	0	1	50	-100	-100	-	-50
	2006	1	3	0	1	1	-67	-	-	-	-
	2007	0	1	0	1	0	-100	-67	-	-	-100
	2008	1	0	0	1	2	-	-100	-	-	-
	2009	0	1	0	1	1	-100	-	-	-	-50
	2010	0	1	1	0	0	-	-	-	-100	-100

Lothian and Borders

1999	1	1	5	3	6
2000	2	2	4	6	6	100	100	-20	100	-

2001	2	3	1	6	3	-	50	-75	-	-50
2002	1	0	0	3	5	-50	-100	-100	-50	67

	2003	0	5	2	6	2	-100	-	-	100	-60
	2004	0	4	0	1	3	-	-20	-100	-83	50
	2005	1	2	1	4	2	-	-50	-	300	-33
	2006	0	1	3	1	2	-100	-50	200	-75	-
	2007	2	2	3	2	3	-	100	-	100	50
	2008	0	1	1	3	6	-100	-50	-67	50	100
	2009	0	3	3	1	6	-	200	200	-67	-
	2010	0	1	1	1	1	-	-67	-67	-	-83
Central	1999	0	0	1	0	0
	2000	0	0	1	1	2	-	-	-	-	-
	2001	1	2	1	1	0	-	-	-	-	-100
	2002	0	1	1	2	2	-100	-50	-	100	-
	2003	0	3	1	1	2	-	200	-	-50	-
	2004	0	1	1	0	3	-	-67	-	-100	50
	2005	0	1	1	2	2	-	-	-	-	-33
	2006	0	1	0	2	0	-	-	-100	-	-100
	2007	0	1	1	0	1	-	-	-	-100	-
	2008	0	0	0	1	1	-	-100	-100	-	-
	2009	0	1	0	0	0	-	-	-	-100	-100
	2010	0	2	0	0	0	-	100	-	-	-
Strathclyde	1999	5	7	3	4	8
	2000	2	4	6	12	7	-60	-43	100	200	-13
	2001	2	5	3	6	10	-	25	-50	-50	43
	2002	6	5	5	3	8	200	-	67	-50	-20
	2003	6	8	5	9	9	-	60	-	200	13
	2004	1	4	3	6	15	-83	-50	-40	-33	67
	2005	2	7	3	6	9	100	75	-	-	-40
	2006	7	1	3	1	15	250	-86	-	-83	67
	2007	2	4	4	2	15	-71	300	33	100	-
	2008	1	5	5	8	6	-50	25	25	300	-60
	2009	0	1	6	7	5	-100	-80	20	-13	-17
	2010	0	6	2	4	10	-	500	-67	-43	100

Dumfries and Galloway

1999	0	0	0	2	1
2000	0	1	0	2	4	-	-	-	-	300

2001	0	1	0	1	-	-100	-	-100	-75
2002	1	0	1	1	-	-	-100	-	-
2003	2	0	1	1	-	100	-	-	-
2004	0	0	1	1	-	-100	-	-	-
2005	0	2	3	2	-	-	-	200	100
2006	1	4	4	0	-	-	100	33	-100
2007	1	1	0	1	-	-	-75	-100	-
2008	0	0	1	1	-	-100	-100	-	-
2009	2	0	1	1	-	-	-	-	-
2010	0	0	2	0	-	-100	-	100	-100

Question reference: S4W-03834

Asked by: Mark McDonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 November 2011
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 15 November 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many road fatalities occurred on (a) A, (b) B, (c) C and (d) unclassified roads in each police force area in each year since 1999, showing percentage changes in each year.

The following table shows the number of people killed in accidents by police force and the type of road involved.

Casualties by Police Force and Type of Road, 1999 to 2010

Type of Road

Percent Change

		A Roads	B Roads	C Roads	Unclassified	A Roads	B Roads	C Roads	Unclassified
Northern	1999	29	3	1	3
	2000	34	2	1	6	17	-33	-	100
	2001	29	6	-	4	-15	200	-100	-33
	2002	22	1	-	4	-24	-83	-	-
	2003	26	4	-	6	18	300	-	50
	2004	27	3	-	2	4	-25	-	-67
	2005	19	2	2	4	-30	-33	-	100
	2006	25	2	-	3	32	-	-100	-25
	2007	28	8	-	3	12	300	-	-
	2008	26	7	-	4	-7	-13	-	33
	2009	25	1	-	2	-4	-86	-	-50
	2010	17	8	-	4	-32	700	-	100
Grampian	1999	19	0	-	6
	2000	41	8	-	4	116	-20	-	-33
	2001	29	12	-	9	-29	50	-	125
	2002	26	14	-	9	-10	17	-	-
	2003	31	13	-	7	19	-7	-	-22
	2004	30	12	-	2	-3	-8	-	-71
	2005	33	10	-	10	10	-17	-	400
	2006	44	13	-	5	33	30	-	-50
	2007	20	10	-	7	-55	-23	-	40
	2008	23	6	-	6	15	-40	-	-14
	2009	17	11	-	3	-26	83	-	-50
	2010	25	8	-	4	47	-27	-	33
Tayside	1999	33	-	1	6
	2000	14	1	3	5	-58	-	200	-17
	2001	39	5	-	5	179	400	-100	-
	2002	17	3	1	2	-56	-40	-	-60
	2003	33	2	-	2	94	-33	-100	-
	2004	25	5	3	2	-24	150	-	-
	2005	20	5	2	-	-20	-	-33	-100
	2006	17	-	3	1	-15	-100	50	-
	2007	28	2	3	2	65	-	-	100
	2008	19	6	2	4	-32	200	-33	100
	2009	17	2	1	1	-11	-67	-50	-75
	2010	20	2	4	4	18	-	300	300
Fife	1999	9	3	3	-
	2000	8	1	-	3	-11	-67	-100	-
	2001	15	2	-	3	88	100	-	-
	2002	18	6	3	-	20	200	-	-100
	2003	8	6	1	3	-56	-	-67	-
Fife	2004	15	4	1	10	88	-33	-	233
	2005	11	3	-	1	-27	-25	-100	-90
	2006	14	4	1	-	27	33	-	-100
	2007	5	6	3	-	-64	50	200	-
	2008	10	1	2	1	100	-83	-33	-
	2009	3	2	-	1	-70	100	-100	-
	2010	9	4	-	-	200	100	-	-100

Lothian and Borders

1999	28	12	3	9
2000	36	7	2	12	29	-42	-33	33

	2001	23	5	1	11	-36	-29	-50	-8
	2002	24	2	2	9	4	-60	100	-18
	2003	24	5	1	14	-	150	-50	56
	2004	21	6	-	8	-13	20	-100	-43
	2005	24	5	2	5	14	-17	-	-38
	2006	23	4	1	13	-4	-20	-50	160
	2007	24	4	-	10	4	-	-100	-23
	2008	18	5	1	9	-25	25	-	-10
	2009	17	10	-	8	-6	100	-100	-11
	2010	13	1	-	3	-24	-90	-	-63
Central	1999	6	1	-	1
	2000	13	2	-	3	117	100	-	200
	2001	14	-	-	-	8	-100	-	-100
	2002	14	4	-	1	-	-	-	-
	2003	20	1	-	1	43	-75	-	-
	2004	12	2	2	1	-40	100	-	-
	2005	14	2	1	-	17	-	-50	-100
	2006	13	3	1	1	-7	50	-	-
	2007	5	-	-	1	-62	-100	-100	-
	2008	7	2	-	2	40	-	-	100
	2009	8	1	1	-	14	-50	-	-100
	2010	5	2	-	-	-38	100	-100	-
Strathclyde	1999	57	16	1	29
	2000	54	14	-	21	-5	-13	-100	-28
	2001	66	17	1	28	22	21	-	33
	2002	55	16	-	14	-17	-6	-100	-50
	2003	67	21	2	18	22	31	-	29
	2004	60	17	-	23	-10	-19	-100	28
	2005	46	13	-	26	-23	-24	-	13
	2006	56	11	1	22	22	-15	-	-15
	2007	60	9	-	23	7	-18	-100	5
	2008	58	15	1	14	-3	67	-	-39
	2009	33	8	-	24	-43	-47	-100	71
	2010	42	14	-	11	27	75	-	-54

Dumfries and Galloway

1999	8	3	1	-
2000	10	3	1	-	25	-	-	-

	2001	10	3	-	-	-	-	-100	-
	2002	12	-	-	1	20	-100	-	-

2003	6	-	1	-	-50	-	-	-100
2004	4	3	-	-	-33	-	-100	-

Dumfries and Galloway

2005	13	3	-	-	225	-	-	-
2006	21	2	1	1	62	-33	-	-

2007	9	2	-	-	-57	-	-100	-100
2008	7	2	-	1	-22	-	-	-
2009	6	1	1	-	-14	-50	-	-100
2010	3	1	-	-	-50	-	-100	-

Question reference: S4W-03831

Asked by: Mark McDonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 November 2011
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 14 November 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have been (a) arrested for, (b) charged with and (c) convicted of driving under the influence of (i) drink and (ii) drugs in each year since 1999, broken down by police force area and showing percentage changes in each year.

The available information is given in the table titled Police recorded crime and court proceedings for driving under the influence of drink or drugs in each year since 1999-2000, by police force a copy of which has been placed in the Scottish Parliament’s Information Centre - (Bib. number 53386).

Court proceedings information for 2010-11 will not be available until publication of the Criminal Proceedings in Scotland, 2010-11 Statistical Bulletin. This is due to be published in December 2011.

The dates of all Scottish Government Official and National Statistics publications are pre-announced, and the up to date list of future publications can be found at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Search/Forthcoming.

Question reference: S4O-00370

Asked by: Mark McDonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 November 2011
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 November 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what factors are taken into consideration when allocating funding from the proceeds of crime.

Question reference: S4W-02133

Asked by: Mark McDonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 August 2011
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 13 September 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance there is on the application of herbicides to tackle Japanese knotweed adjacent to waterways.

The range of herbicides available for use is restricted where the plant grows near a watercourse. Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) should always be consulted by operators planning to apply herbicides by any means in or near water for any purpose.

Further information can be obtained from local Scottish Environmental Protection Agency offices and the Scotland’s Environmental and Rural Services (SEARS) website. Additional guidance and an online form for completion by operators planning to apply herbicides is available at:

http://www.sears.scotland.gov.uk/Herbicide.aspx.

Chamber and committees