Hansard

Nora Radcliffe: LD Chamber

08 Mar 2007

SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE · Scottish Produce (Processing and Marketing)

Does the minister agree that it is important to support and promote Scotland's food and drink producers, particularly primary producers, during the next few years of transition in the agriculture industry? Will he join me in commending the taste of Grampian initiative, whose e...

3. Nora Radcliffe (Gordon) (LD): LD Chamber

08 Mar 2007

SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE · Scottish Produce (Processing and Marketing)

To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to support the processing and marketing of Scottish produce. (S2O-12309)

Nora Radcliffe: LD Chamber

28 Feb 2007

Organic Farming

As much as is needed, in light of experience. Shall I reply in writing to the member?Although Eleanor Scott took a gloomy view of the statistics, funding allocation through the organic aid scheme has doubled since 2005. Andrew Arbuckle flew the flag for conventional farming an...

Nora Radcliffe (Gordon) (LD): LD Chamber

28 Feb 2007

Organic Farming

This has been a short debate on an important agricultural sector. I am sure that Sarah Boyack's restatement of Executive support for the sector will be widely welcomed; her clear-sighted appraisal of the issues in the sector and how they can be met even more so. We noted the o...

Nora Radcliffe (Gordon) (LD): LD Chamber

21 Feb 2007

Transport (North-east Scotland)

I thank the members who signed the motion and members who have remained in the chamber for the debate, and I repeat my commendation of the Aberdeenshire environmental forum and the city of Aberdeen environmental forum for their facilitation of a thorough discussion of the prop...

Nora Radcliffe: LD Chamber

21 Feb 2007

Environment

I am sorry, but I have got a lot to get through in four minutes. Most important, building state-subsidised nuclear power plants will sap investment from the renewable energy industry.Scotland has the resources, the marine energy expertise and the manufacturing capability to de...

Nora Radcliffe (Gordon) (LD): LD Chamber

21 Feb 2007

Environment

Apart from its welcoming the High Court judgment, of which I will say more later, the SNP motion is one that I could endorse. The difficulty that I have with the SNP is its somewhat erratic record on some environmental matters. It talks the talk on green energy but, with a few...

Nora Radcliffe: LD Committee

14 Feb 2007

Petition

There is the classic tension between consultation—when things are not written in tablets of stone—and people wanting things to be written in tablets of stone, so that they can say whether they like the idea. Part of the problem is in trying to get across to people the idea tha...

Nora Radcliffe: LD Committee

14 Feb 2007

Cairngorms National Park Boundary Bill: Stage 1

The timeframe for a boundary review would be slightly different from the timeframe for the job that the quinquennial review was initially expected to undertake. If we gave the boundary review more time, it might dovetail better with the quinquennial review.

Nora Radcliffe: LD Committee

14 Feb 2007

Cairngorms National Park Boundary Bill: Stage 1

Does the revision of the park boundaries sit comfortably with the quinquennial review and the expectations about governance? Would it not be more sensible to have parallel processes, so that the boundary review is separate, perhaps on a slightly different timetable from the qu...

Nora Radcliffe: LD Committee

14 Feb 2007

Cairngorms National Park Boundary Bill: Stage 1

We do not have time politically. What is the timetable to interlock the park plan and the next local plan process for planning authorities around the park? I have forgotten how long they run for.

Nora Radcliffe: LD Committee

14 Feb 2007

Cairngorms National Park Boundary Bill: Stage 1

It is not just the communities in Blair Atholl that do not agree with us; they represent a large body of opinion.

Nora Radcliffe: LD Committee

14 Feb 2007

Cairngorms National Park Boundary Bill: Stage 1

I accept what you have said, that the bill is probably not the answer and that it throws up problems, but let us return to first principles and the creation of a coherent national park. Do you accept that Dalwhinnie is tiny and that Blair Atholl is much bigger because it is a ...

Nora Radcliffe (Gordon) (LD): LD Committee

14 Feb 2007

Cairngorms National Park Boundary Bill: Stage 1

I am trying to get my head around the extra burden that would be imposed by the proposed addition to the national park. How many more people and communities would be in the park? Would we basically add open hills, glens and historic walking routes through the Cairngorms?

Nora Radcliffe: LD Committee

07 Feb 2007

Petitions

Having read the petitions, I think that we have discharged what we were petitioned to do. The other issue is what we do with what we have learned from our consideration of the petitions. How do we take forward the evidence in drawing out what we might want to put forward as re...

Nora Radcliffe: LD Committee

07 Feb 2007

Petitions

But it does not answer my question. How long after all your information and the assessments that are acceptable to you have been released will you make your decision? As part of your decision-making process, is there an opportunity for people to comment on what is acceptable t...

Nora Radcliffe: LD Committee

07 Feb 2007

Petitions

What will be the gap between releasing that information and coming to your decision?

Nora Radcliffe: LD Committee

07 Feb 2007

Petitions

We are getting the impression that regulations on the application of the habitats directive, for example, are not terribly clear. From your experience, would it have been helpful to have clearer guidance on such matters?

Nora Radcliffe: LD Committee

07 Feb 2007

Petitions

So why is Shetland Islands Council still trying to recover costs from 1973?

Nora Radcliffe: LD Committee

07 Feb 2007

Petitions

So the polluters are legally responsible for all the costs that can be traced back to their negligence—or back to anything they have done?

Nora Radcliffe: LD Committee

07 Feb 2007

Petitions

Right. That is good. I will ask you a question that I asked an earlier panel. If the transfer went ahead, would it be competent to include in the oil spill contingency plan a requirement to foot the bill for any consequences of an oil spill?

Nora Radcliffe: LD Committee

07 Feb 2007

Petitions

You have done a great deal on the precautionary principle and risk assessment. How good are your data on what is at risk, such as migratory species, winter visitors, summer visitors, birds and cetaceans? You have done a good risk analysis, but for it to be relevant you have to...

Nora Radcliffe: LD Committee

07 Feb 2007

Petitions

The fact that you will have done any clean-up voluntarily may make your grounds for recovering compensation rather shaky.The MCA is considering secondary legislation on non-emergency ship-to-ship transfers within the 12 nautical mile zone, but outwith harbour authority areas. ...

Nora Radcliffe: LD Committee

07 Feb 2007

Petitions

I do not know whether this is a fair question to ask because it is about legal competence. Would it be competent to include in the oil spill contingency plan a clean-up duty? I was rather surprised to hear that local authorities do not have a statutory responsibility in that r...

Nora Radcliffe: LD Committee

07 Feb 2007

Petitions

One of the earlier witnesses pointed out the difference between certain types of crude oil and said that the oil in question is particularly heavy and polluting.

Nora Radcliffe: LD Committee

07 Feb 2007

Petitions

So we are talking about something that would take a few seconds to spill, and that is what we have modelled the spillage on. I just wondered if anybody had challenged the oil spill contingency plan on that basis.

Nora Radcliffe: LD Committee

07 Feb 2007

Petitions

I saw in the documents that modelling of what would happen if there was an oil spillage is based on a volume of 12m3. I read elsewhere said that the oil is pumped at 1 tonne per second. How much does 1m3 of oil weigh?

Nora Radcliffe: LD Committee

07 Feb 2007

Petitions

I suppose that the independent check was running the proposals past SNH. It sounds as though SNH was not particularly happy with the environmental impact assessment. Is that assessment deficient?

Nora Radcliffe: LD Committee

07 Feb 2007

Petitions

Is it a specialist company? I know nothing about it, so I wondered whether anyone could enlighten us.

Nora Radcliffe (Gordon) (LD): LD Committee

07 Feb 2007

Petitions

I want to pursue Mark Ruskell's line of inquiry about the environmental impact assessment, which I gather Aquatera was contracted to prepare for the developer. Aquatera is described as a Scottish environmental consultancy company, which is a very wide description. Can anyone g...

Nora Radcliffe: LD Committee

05 Feb 2007

Cairngorms National Park Boundary Bill: Stage 1

Would this proposal change any of the parameters of your activity? For example, would it affect the balance of the different types of provision in the park?

Nora Radcliffe: LD Committee

05 Feb 2007

Cairngorms National Park Boundary Bill: Stage 1

It might be appropriate to finish with a general question. Would including the area to the south in the national park change the balance of any of your policies and plans for the existing national park? Would it turn the existing park into something very different?

Nora Radcliffe: LD Committee

05 Feb 2007

Cairngorms National Park Boundary Bill: Stage 1

Thank you. I just wanted to clarify that.

Nora Radcliffe: LD Committee

05 Feb 2007

Cairngorms National Park Boundary Bill: Stage 1

That was part of a wider picture than the UK?

Nora Radcliffe: LD Committee

05 Feb 2007

Cairngorms National Park Boundary Bill: Stage 1

Is the wider category still open? Has the decision been made to go for category A because category B is no longer available, or are both categories available?

Nora Radcliffe: LD Committee

05 Feb 2007

Cairngorms National Park Boundary Bill: Stage 1

It has come to that conclusion, but does that have anything to do with the people who decide which sites get world heritage status? Has the UK Government just decided to go for one category and is the other category still open to it?

Nora Radcliffe: LD Committee

05 Feb 2007

Cairngorms National Park Boundary Bill: Stage 1

I get the point that the tentative nomination would be made on the ground of geology rather than natural history. Would it be a UK decision or an international decision?

Nora Radcliffe: LD Committee

05 Feb 2007

Cairngorms National Park Boundary Bill: Stage 1

You seem to be saying that if we do not move the boundary now, it would not be sensible to do so for at least another five years.

Nora Radcliffe: LD Committee

05 Feb 2007

Cairngorms National Park Boundary Bill: Stage 1

I am not talking about the money, but about the practicalities.

Nora Radcliffe: LD Committee

05 Feb 2007

Cairngorms National Park Boundary Bill: Stage 1

If we accept, hypothetically, that the boundary will change either now as a result of John Swinney's bill or later as a result of the quinquennial review, would it be preferable to revisit at this point all that you are doing now or to revisit when you are further ahead? If th...

Nora Radcliffe: LD Committee

05 Feb 2007

Cairngorms National Park Boundary Bill: Stage 1

One of the arguments against extending the boundary is that an increased cost would be incurred. You may have seen the figures that the Executive has provided. What do you think it would cost to incorporate an extra bit of land, including Blair Atholl, into the national park? ...

Nora Radcliffe: LD Committee

05 Feb 2007

Cairngorms National Park Boundary Bill: Stage 1

I have a general question for the whole panel. There have been hints that the Executive might consider the boundaries when it comes to the five-year review. Why do you think that it would be better to support the bill than to wait for a chance of changing things during the rev...

Nora Radcliffe (Gordon) (LD): LD Committee

05 Feb 2007

Cairngorms National Park Boundary Bill: Stage 1

Paragraph 3.2 of the Blair Atholl area tourism association submission talks about the boundaries and seems to suggest extending the boundary further than the bill suggests. Is that a misapprehension?

Nora Radcliffe: LD Committee

31 Jan 2007

Subordinate Legislation

I thought that the scientific investigation was needed to ascertain what period is needed for recovery from the damage that multiple gear has caused, not to ascertain whether the use of multiple gear aids conservation.

Nora Radcliffe: LD Committee

31 Jan 2007

Cairngorms National Park Boundary Bill: Stage 1

I want to come back to the points that John Swinney just made so eloquently about the SNH consultation. To me, it was thorough, wide ranging and inclusive, and it thrashed out all the questions about where the boundary should be and whether certain places should be in or out. ...

Nora Radcliffe: LD Committee

31 Jan 2007

Aquaculture and Fisheries (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2

I accept every bracket and subsection.

Nora Radcliffe (Gordon) (LD): LD Committee

31 Jan 2007

Aquaculture and Fisheries (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2

The minister's opening statement was helpful in setting out what is proposed and why, and the genesis of the proposal. I have thought long and hard about the representations that pike fishermen have made to us and I accept completely that responsible pike anglers would use as ...

Nora Radcliffe (Gordon) (LD): LD Chamber

25 Jan 2007

Crofting Reform etc Bill

Crofting tenure has sustained rural communities in the crofting counties since the Crofters Holdings (Scotland) Act 1886 was passed and the legal concept of a croft has developed through several reforms since then, but there has been widespread consensus in recent years that f...

Nora Radcliffe (Gordon) (LD) rose— LD Chamber

24 Jan 2007

Scottish Parliament (Disqualification) Order 2007 (Draft)

Nora Radcliffe: LD Committee

24 Jan 2007

Marine Environment Inquiry

I will bring the discussion down to a much more specific and local level. Shetland has been producing maps of areas around the Shetland Isles. Are you looking at the lessons that have been learned about the practicalities of putting information on maps? Is more work needed on ...

Nora Radcliffe: LD Committee

24 Jan 2007

Marine Environment Inquiry

I will ask a parallel question. How you handle all the information, store it, map it and co-ordinate it is a science in itself. Is any research taking place on information handling and the specifics, such as how to produce maps? That is also a skilled area. Has any research be...

Nora Radcliffe: LD Committee

24 Jan 2007

Marine Environment Inquiry

It is quite an opportune moment to come to me, because I want to widen the discussion about how data and information are collected and used. What is the Executive doing to identify gaps in our knowledge and information? For example, one key data gap that has been mentioned is ...

Nora Radcliffe: LD Committee

24 Jan 2007

Marine Environment Inquiry

Can we approach the argument about complexity from a different angle and get the benefit of your experience? You all do things in the marine environment. We are told that the framework that covers the marine environment is enormously complex and that, if someone wants to do so...

Nora Radcliffe: LD Committee

24 Jan 2007

Marine Environment Inquiry

There are two streams that we should be examining with regard to research. Not only the collecting but the handling of information is important, because unless it is useful, what is the point of having it?

Nora Radcliffe: LD Committee

24 Jan 2007

Marine Environment Inquiry

I notice that Shetland is doing a lot of digital mapping. Are you learning lessons about the practicalities of doing that that you could share with other people? Mapping is not as simple as it sounds, as there are questions to do with what you put in, what you leave out and ho...

Nora Radcliffe: LD Committee

24 Jan 2007

Marine Environment Inquiry

That is part of the same area.

Nora Radcliffe: LD Committee

24 Jan 2007

Marine Environment Inquiry

We have heard conflicting evidence on marine spatial planning. On the one hand, we have heard about limited competition between uses outside the main firths and that the main impacts on the marine environment occur in the coastal zone, and on the other hand we have heard that ...

Nora Radcliffe: LD Committee

24 Jan 2007

Subordinate Legislation

The Executive may decide to give further consideration to the matter. Perhaps it will press for a derogation on that issue, too. The Executive has done well. I welcome the derogations that it has won.

Nora Radcliffe: LD Committee

24 Jan 2007

Subordinate Legislation

We welcome the derogations that have been won and will watch with interest what happens with the angles of ramps, because it has not been demonstrated that that is necessarily an effective animal welfare measure, although it is going to be imposed in time.

Nora Radcliffe: LD Committee

24 Jan 2007

Subordinate Legislation

We do not know what the small number is. If there are only three vessels and they have been given a derogation to do research, that would alter the argument.