Shiona Baird: The debate is clearly an occasion for reflection as well as for setting out a vision for a future Scotland. As we look forward to the next session of the Parliament and the future Scotland that we want, we must also consider the decisions that the politicians in the Parliament have made. After all, the decisions that have been made in the past four years will shape Scotland's immediate...
Shiona Baird: To ask the Scottish Executive when the outline business cases of the (a) Lothians and Borders and (b) North and South Lanarkshire strategic options review groups on National Waste Plan funding will be published and whether there will be any public consultation before decisions are reached.
Shiona Baird: To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of household waste was recycled by each local authority in the most recent period for which information is available.
Shiona Baird: To ask the Scottish Executive when its decisions on each of the strategic outline cases on National Waste Plan funding, published in May 2006, will be made public.
Shiona Baird: To ask the Scottish Executive what total amount of waste, including waste recycled, was handled by each local authority in each year from 1999 to 2006.
Shiona Baird: To ask the Scottish Executive how much (a) plastic, (b) glass, (c) metal, (d) paper and (e) compostable material was recycled by each local authority in the most recent year for which information is available.
Shiona Baird: To ask the Scottish Executive how much waste went to landfill in each year from 1999 to 2006, broken down by local authority area.
Shiona Baird: To ask the Scottish Executive in which local authority areas there are outline proposals to site thermal waste treatment facilities.
Shiona Baird: To ask the Scottish Executive what studies have been carried out to examine the energy content of residual waste once all cyclables have been removed.
Shiona Baird: To ask the Scottish Executive how many representations it received in respect of the Lewis Wind Power application for a wind farm on Lewis (a) during the formal consultation period and (b) in total and, of these, how many were (i) in support of and (ii) opposed to the application.
Shiona Baird: To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-31789 by Tavish Scott on 1 March 2007, of the 987 members of the public who corresponded with the Executive on the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route between 1 February 2006 and 31 January 2007, how many were in favour and how many were opposed.
Shiona Baird: To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to ensure that small businesses are not disproportionately penalised by the full cost recovery charging schemes of non-departmental public bodies.
Shiona Baird: To ask the First Minister when he will next meet the Secretary of State for Scotland and what issues he intends to discuss. (S2F-2786)
Shiona Baird: In the wake of the publication of the United Kingdom draft Climate Change Bill, Sarah Boyack hurriedly announced plans for a Scottish climate change bill that is intended to apply to devolved matters. Seven weeks before the election, will the First Minister tell voters whether the Scottish climate change bill will set binding annual targets on the Executive to reduce climate change pollution...
Shiona Baird: I thank the First Minister for that reply, but I disagree with him on his record in the Parliament. Does he agree that his Executive's green thread has snapped? The evidence is that on environmental justice, the Executive has failed; on waste reduction, it has failed; on energy efficiency, it has failed; on road transport reduction, it has failed; and on climate change action, it has gone...
Shiona Baird: I am grateful to the SNP for spending part of its debating time on a discussion of the role of small businesses in Scotland's economy. We feel that it is impossible to overstate the economic and social importance of small businesses. Economically, the figures speak for themselves. The vast majority—98 per cent—of Scottish businesses employ fewer than 50 people, and small to medium-sized...
Shiona Baird: We have always maintained that economic growth is essential, but that it must be sustainable. When I say that, I am referring to the terms of the Brundtland definition of sustainability. If Mike Rumbles looks that up, he will find out exactly what we mean.
Shiona Baird: Does the member not know the Brundtland definition of sustainability? I am sorry. [ Interruption. ]
Shiona Baird: It is desperately disappointing that none of those members seems to know the Brundtland definition of sustainability, when the Scottish Parliament is supposed to be mainstreaming sustainability.
Shiona Baird: Of course I do. Scotland's future sustainability will rely on the ability of our small businesses to meet the challenges of a world that is scarred by climate change and hampered by resource depletion. In the future, local economies will be more important than national economies. Increasingly, we will turn to small businesses. We must acknowledge that and put in place measures that will...