- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 May 2016
-
Current Status:
Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 24 May 2016
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the culling of mountain hares on estates practising driven grouse shooting.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not support large, indiscriminate culls of mountain hares in Scotland and recognises the concerns that have been expressed about the status of mountain hare populations in Scotland. The Scottish Government acknowledges that mountain hares are a legitimate quarry species and that there may be local requirements to control mountain hares to protect gamebirds and young trees. Any control of mountain hares should be undertaken in accordance with obligations under the EU Habitats Directive.
Given the concerns about possible over-exploitation, information on the management of hares has been reviewed by independent experts from the Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) Scientific Advisory Committee. This review was published in October 2015 and is available at: http://www.snh.gov.uk/docs/A1765931.pdf. The review identified the need for improved monitoring and data to assess national trends of mountain hare populations.
This work is underway in the form of a collaborative four year study (2014-17) involving SNH and scientists in the James Hutton Institute and the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, on trialling various methods of counting hares. The study has the aim of developing a reliable and cost-effective means of assessing mountain hare population density.
SNH is also working with Scottish Land & Estates to encourage greater transparency in the reasons why estates cull hares and to encourage estates to collaborate and develop a more measured and coordinated approach to sustainable hare management.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 May 2016
-
Current Status:
Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 24 May 2016
To ask the Scottish Government when it will announce its decision regarding extending the powers of the Scottish SPCA to tackle wildlife crime.
Answer
A decision on whether to extend the investigatory powers of the Scottish SPCA will be announced in due course.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 May 2016
-
Current Status:
Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 24 May 2016
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that Scotland's protected (a) land and (b) sea areas contribute to meeting the Aichi biodiversity target 11 and lead to an increase in the number of natural features that are recorded as being in a favourable condition.
Answer
The United Kingdom is party to the Convention on Biological Diversity which agreed the so-called ‘Aichi targets’ at its 10th conference of parties in Nagoya in 2010. Target 11 requires that at least 17 per cent of terrestrial and inland water areas and 10 per cent of coastal and marine areas, especially areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem services, are conserved through effectively and equitably managed, ecologically representative and well-connected systems of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures, and integrated into the wider landscape and seascape.
Protected areas in Scotland already exceed this target, with some 18% of Scotland’s land-mass designated as either a Special Area of Conservation, Special Protection Area or Site of Special Scientific Interest under the EU Habitats and Birds Directives and the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004, respectively.
The Scottish Marine Protected Area network presently covers 20% of the marine environment and represents the range of biodiversity found in our seas. Each site has a strict level of protection though the marine licensing system, and there is an on-going programme to deliver requisite fisheries management measures across the network.
The Scottish Government’s national indicator to improve the condition of designated sites continues to show progress as provided in the recent official statistics publication for Scotland on the proportion of Scotland's protected sites in favourable condition. The main findings showed that of the more-than 5,000 Scottish natural features on protected nature sites, 80.4% are either in favourable condition, or unfavourable but recovering towards a favourable condition. This figure represents a 1.1 percentage points rise in the proportion of natural features in favourable or recovering condition between 2015 and 2016. There has been a nine percentage points increase since assessment reporting began in 2005.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 May 2016
-
Current Status:
Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 24 May 2016
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4O-05291 by Aileen McLeod on 21 January 2016 (Official Report, c 8), what plans it has to implement each of the recommendations of the Wildlife Crime Penalties Review Group and when it will do so.
Answer
The Scottish Government wrote on 24 February 2016 to the Chair of the Wildlife Crime Penalties Review Group, Professor Mark Poustie, with a formal response to the report. The letter can be read in full at:
http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0049/00494565.pdf The ten recommendations were wide ranging in their scope. Some of the recommendations will require primary legislation and the appropriate vehicle for that will need to be identified, while others will require extensive discussion with other parties to establish the next steps. We will take forward work in these areas in the new parliamentary session.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 May 2016
-
Current Status:
Answered by Aileen Campbell on 20 May 2016
To ask the Scottish Government what meetings (a) ministers and (b) officials have had with (i) Judy Murray and (ii) organisations representing the interests of tennis at which development proposals at Park of Keir near Dunblane were discussed, broken down by (A) date and (B) location.
Answer
There have been no meetings involving ministers or officials with either Judy Murray or organisations where the development proposals at Park of Keir were discussed.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
-
Date lodged: Friday, 16 March 2007
-
Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 28 March 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of carbon dioxide emission reductions from the manufacturing and construction sector between 1990 and 2004 can be attributed to (a) improved energy efficiency in the sector and (b) closures in heavy manufacturing industry, such as the closure of the Ravenscraig plant.
Answer
Information on the relative contributionof different factors, such as energy efficiency, to reductions in emissions fromthe manufacturing and construction sector is not held centrally.
However, as indicated in Greenhouse Gas Inventories for England,Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland 1990-2004,published by the National Environmental Technology Centre and available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 42395), emissions frommanufacturing industry and construction have declined over the period by 41%, mainlydue to the closure of the Ravenscraig Steel Plant.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
-
Date lodged: Friday, 16 March 2007
-
Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 28 March 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how the scale of carbon dioxide sinks from land use, land use change and forestry is calculated and whether the methodology for this calculation has changed since the baseline year of 1990.
Answer
Estimation methodologies are includedin Appendix 1 of
Greenhouse Gas Inventories for England, Scotland,Wales and Northern Ireland published by the National EnvironmentalTechnology Centre. The latest available data, for the period 1990-2004, was publishedin 2006 and is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number42395).
Since 1990, improvements to data collection and estimation techniqueshave resulted in revisions to the data and methods used to estimate emissions. Whereappropriate, revisions are made to historic data which means that it is not appropriateto make comparisons with previous inventory reports without taking account of changesto data and estimation techniques.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 March 2007
-
Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 15 March 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress it is making in consulting on amending the Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994 in respect of ship-to-ship oil transfer in the Firth of Forth.
Answer
We would aim to bring forwardproposals for consultation at the earliest opportunity if review of the Regulationsestablishes the need for any change in the way that they apply to port and harbourauthority responsibilities.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2007
-
Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 5 February 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive when the Parliament will be given a progress report on the objectives presented in Changing Our Ways: Scotland’s Climate Change Programme, as outlined in Section 7.6 of that document, and when the Executive will propose that the Parliament debates the report.
Answer
Changing Our Ways; Scotland’s Climate Change Programme, publishedon 30 March 2006, commits the Executive to report annually to the ScottishCabinet in the first instance, and to then submit a report to Parliament. In linewith that commitment, the first annual report is due to be submitted to Cabinetby the end of March 2007 and, thereafter, to Parliament.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2007
-
Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 5 February 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether its Cabinet has received a report on the objectives presented in Changing Our Ways: Scotland’s Climate Change Programme, as outlined in Section 7.6 of that document, and, if not, when it will do so and discuss any progress.
Answer
Changing Our Ways; Scotland’s Climate Change Programme, publishedon 30 March 2006, commits the Executive to report annually to the ScottishCabinet in the first instance, and to then submit a report to Parliament. In linewith that commitment, the first annual report is due to be submitted to Cabinetby the end of March 2007 and, thereafter, to Parliament.
