Chamber and committees

The information requested is provided in the following table.

Year	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Number of Organic Aid Scheme* payments	746	606	496	546	666

Note: *The Organic Aid Scheme closed to new applications on 31 March 2006.

The information requested is provided in the following table.

Year	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Organic Aid Scheme* expenditure	£5.7 million	£3.5 million	£2.5 million	£3.0 million	£5.1 million

Note: *The Organic Aid Scheme closed to new applications on 31 March 2006.

The consultation exercise for South Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway is not due to end until 2 March 2009. Decisions will not be made until after the consultation responses and the Scottish Court Service final proposals have been fully considered.

The reasons for the Scottish Court Service recommendation in relation to Annan are set out in the consultation document. Scottish Court Service have advised that the building lay out at Annan Town Hall precludes any adaptation to address the security concerns in that building. No costing was undertaken.

The main mechanism used for the collection of waste data from local authorities is the waste data flow system. This is a web-based system used by all local authorities in Scotland to report their waste arisings, recycling levels and disposal. The system is also used to monitor the quantity of biodegradable municipal waste landfilled under the Landfill Allowance Scheme. In addition, waste data is collected from other sources including waste management licence operator returns, the register of exemptions and supplementary surveys. the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) have overall responsibility for the collation and management of all data collected.

The waste data gathered is used in various ways. For example, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency use it to produce publications such as the Waste Data Digest, which is an annual publication that sets out key waste facts and trends. The data is also used for target setting, performance and compliance monitoring, meeting reporting requirements and of course policy development. Further information on how the data is used can be found on SEPA''s website.

The Scottish Government do not collect comprehensive information relating to farmers who have ceased organic production. However, we do hold information on the number of farmers who have ceased participating in the Organic Aid Scheme each year and this is shown in the following table.

Year	Organic Aid Scheme* Leavers
1999	8
2000	8
2001	10
2002	15
2003	31
2004	162
2005	115
2006	105
2007	57
2008	16

Note: *The Organic Aid Scheme closed to new applications on 31 March 2006.

The Scottish Government do not collect comprehensive information relating to farmers who have entered organic production. However, we do hold information on the number of farmers who have entered the Organic Aid Scheme each year, as shown in the following table.

Year	Organic Aid Scheme* Entrants
1999	252
2000	136
2001	127
2002	50
2003	14
2004	113
2005	95
2006	148
2007	0
2008	0

Note: *The Organic Aid Scheme closed to new applications on 31 March 2006.

The following table shows a breakdown by region of both how many applications for organic production have been submitted to the Rural Priorities scheme, under the Scotland Rural Development Programme and how many of these have been approved. In total, 69 cases have applied of which 61 have been approved.

	Applied	Approved
Argyll	4	3
Ayrshire	0	0
Borders	9	9
Clyde	2	2
Dumfries and Galloway	2	1
Forth	3	2
Grampian	20	15
Highland	10	10
Northern Isles	8	8
Outer Hebrides	0	0
Tayside	11	11
Total	69	61

 

The following table shows a breakdown by region of both how many applications for organic production have been submitted to the Rural Priorities scheme, under the Scotland Rural Development Programme and how many of these have been approved. In total, 69 cases have applied of which 61 have been approved.

Formal contract documentation is due to be issued to successful applicants shortly.

	Applied	Approved
Argyll	4	3
Ayrshire	0	0
Borders	9	9
Clyde	2	2
Dumfries and Galloway	2	1
Forth	3	2
Grampian	20	15
Highland	10	10
Northern Isles	8	8
Outer Hebrides	0	0
Tayside	11	11
Total	69	61

 

Under the terms of the concordat it is the responsibility of individual local authorities to determine how best to manage any business waste collected. Accordingly, we do not intend to place an obligation on local authorities to provide recycling services for business waste. The Scottish Government does however encourage local authorities to recycle business waste whenever possible.

It should of course be remembered that facilities already exist in a number of local authority areas to allow businesses to recycle their waste, and the Waste Aware Scotland Website has an excellent search facility to allow businesses to locate recycling facilities in their area. Additionally, Waste Aware Scotland are running a Waste Aware Business Campaign that aims to raise awareness of how businesses can deal with their waste more sustainably.

The Scottish Government do not collect comprehensive information relating to the number of hectares of farmland used for organic production. However, we do hold information on the number hectares which have been entered each year under the Organic Aid Scheme which is shown in the following table.

Hectares Entered Under Organic Aid Scheme*

Year
1999	117,052
2000	50,659
2001	85,193
2002	8,277
2003	1,204
2004	19,497
2005	16,581
2006	76,076
2007	0
2008	0

Note: *The Organic Aid Scheme closed to new applications on 31 March 2006.