Current Petitions

The next petition is PE444, from Mr Alan Berry, on the subject of the quantity of radioactive substance in Scottish coastal seawater and marine life.We agreed to seek the views of the Executive and the North Atlantic Fisheries College. We have received a response from the Executive only recently, but have not yet received one from the college. The Executive suggests that we approach the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and the Food Standards Agency Scotland for further information on the monitoring research that is being conducted in this field. I suggest that we do so and that we ask SEPA and the FSA to address the petitioner's concerns.I also suggest that we continue to pursue a response from the North Atlantic Fisheries College and that we extend an apology to the petitioner for the lengthy time that it has taken to progress the petition. I further suggest that we send a copy of the Executive response to the clerk to the Transport and the Environment Committee for information only.

Petition PE444 will continue to be an active petition in the next session of Parliament.

We are not apologising for anything that the clerks have done. The clerks have always done an excellent job. We are apologising because of the problem that arises when the people to whom we write—in this case the Executive—do not respond. We are making an apology for the time that it has taken to get a response out of the Executive. Is the suggested approach agreed?Members indicated agreement.