Chamber and committees

There have beenno delays in the production of 2007-08 influenza vaccine. By the weekcommencing 5 November 2007 all vaccine orders for Scotland will have been delivered to the major Scottishpharmaceutical wholesalers

As far as I can determinethere have been no lay-offs in the vast majority of abattoirs in Scotland as a resultof the recent outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. The exception to this is the export-onlyabattoir at Annan. Any workers who find themselves in the unfortunate position ofbeing laid-off from their place of work, such as those employed at Annan, shouldcontact their local JobcentrePlus office to determine their entitlement, or otherwise,to benefits/financial assistance.

The registers of births,deaths and marriages, from which birth, death and marriage certificates (formallycalled “extracts”) are drawn, are public documents. The Registrar General, and localregistrars, have a statutory duty, under the Registration of Births, Deaths andMarriages (Scotland) Act 1965, to provide public access to and issue extracts fromany Scottish register on payment of the statutory fee. However, in the interestsof privacy, the act limits access to the registers by means of an index of surnamesonly, to prevent browsing through the records. A person wishing to acquire an extractwould need to provide to the Registrar General or a local registrar sufficient informationabout a specific event to be able to identify it in the index.

The Public Local Inquiryreport on the Harestanes wind farm application is available on the Scottish GovernmentEnergy Consents website www.scotland.gov.uk/enterprise/energy.The report is also available at Dumfries and GallowayCouncil planning department and at Saughton House library, Edinburgh. Copies can be obtained on request from the Energy ConsentsUnit.  (Tel. 0141 242 5480).

The private rented sectorplays a vital role in the provision of housing in rural areas, accounting forabout 11% of all rural households.

The Scottish Governmentprovides support for the private rented sector in rural areas through rural emptyproperties grants to help increase the supply of affordable housing by makinggrants to landlords for improvements to empty properties, which are then rentedto local tenants at affordable rents. We have also provided funding to the Scottish Rural Property and Business Association (SRPBA) to help the SRPBAprovide support to private landlords.

More generally, the HousingSupply Task Force has been charged with tackling the obstacles, such as landsupply and planning issues, which have been hampering the delivery of morehousing of all types. One of its early priorities is to examine the barriers toadequate housing provision in rural areas.

The Scottish RuralProperty and Business Association is not one of the organisations represented onthe “core” Housing Supply Task Force. However, there is scope for it and other organisationsto be involved in the task force process by contributing to work on particular themesor areas, for example housing supply in rural areas which is an early priority forthe task force. The task force will decide which organisations to involve in itswork on rural areas when it meets to discuss rural housing supply issues later thisyear.

The commissionpayable to park home site owners has not changed. The maximum rate remains at10%, as prescribed by the Mobile Homes (Commissions) Order 1983.

We have nocurrent plans to alter the rate of commission payable to park home site owners.

Grants areavailable to householders and a wide range of community organisations throughthe Scottish Community and Householder Renewables Initiative (SCHRI).

Grants for privatesector developers and consortiums are being provided via the ScottishGovernment’s support schemes for wave and tidal energy, biomass and hydrogen.

Projectssupported in these ways may also receive Renewables Obligation Certificates forthe electricity they generate, subject to meeting the eligibility criteriaunder the Renewables Obligation (Scotland).

Dumfries and Galloway Community Planning Partnershiphas been given £210,000 New Futures Successor Funding in each year for 2006-07 and2007-08.