Chamber and committees

The detailed design for the works in the A7 Auchenrivock Improvement is still underway. Ground Investigation works are on-going at present and the preferred road alignment has been adopted. I anticipate that draft orders will be published in late 2005 and, subject to satisfactory completion of the statutory procedures, work on construction could commence in early 2007 for a completion date in early 2008. I expect the scheme to cost £5.6 million plus any VAT that might be due.

The Protection of Animals (Scotland) Act1912 and the Performing Animals (Regulation) Act 1925.

The draft bill makes no distinctionbetween circus and other animals. The animal health provisions in part 1 of thebill will apply to any circus animal which is susceptible to one of the listed diseases.All of the animal welfare provisions in part 2 of the bill will apply to circusanimals as long as they meet the definition of “animal” in section 14.

Any board wishing to set up such a scheme can seek guidance from the Executive.

The new five-in-one vaccine is the only vaccine available via the NHS against the serious diseases of diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) and polio.

The previous and new vaccines are compatible, so children will be fully protected as long as they complete the programme of immunisations, including the pre-school boosters, in the childhood vaccination programme. Inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) has now replaced the live oral polio vaccine (OPV) for all routine indications, including the childhood vaccination programme. This gives less risk of side effects as the inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) does not carry any risk of causing vaccine associated paralytic polio (a rare complication that occurred with the oral polio vaccine (OPV)).

The new five-in-one vaccine for infants provides effective protection against diphtheria, tetanus, acellular pertussis (whooping cough), Hib and inactivated polio (IPV). Vaccines for pre-school children boost this protection and include diphtheria, tetanus, acellular pertussis and inactivated polio components in one combined vaccine.

There is no evidence that the routine childhood combination vaccines overload the immune system. Vaccines only use a very small part of a child’s immune system and children come into contact with thousands of bacteria and viruses in the environment every day.

These were the Waste Management Licensing Amendment (Scotland) Regulations 2004, amending the Waste Management Licensing Regulations 1994. Composting is dealt with in regulation 14 of the 2004 regulations, enforcement of which is a matter for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.

In Scotland the storage of horse manure, pending its collection, at the site where it is produced, does not require payment of a charge. Whether composting horse manure attracts a charge depends on the scale of the activity, and the method by which it is undertaken. The current regulations regarding composting in Scotland have been in force since 12 January 2005.

The Scottish Executive has not earmarked a specific budget for Scots language development. It provides funding for Scots activities through the general resources which it makes available to cultural and educational bodies, local authorities and the enterprise network. There are a range of groups supporting and promoting Scots in Scotland including the Scots Language Society, the Scots Language Resource Centre, Scottish Language Dictionaries, Dictionary of the Scottish Tongue and the Association for Scottish Literary Studies. Expenditure by these bodies and groups on projects and programmes related to the Scots language is not centrally collated.

The Executive has advocated the inclusion of Scots in the school curriculum where appropriate. There is continuing support on the part of the Scottish Executive, Learning and Teaching Scotland, and the Scottish Qualifications Authority which is designed to assist schools in making pupils aware of the richness and diversity of language, including Scots, in introducing them to a range of Scottish literature, and in encouraging them to develop the ability to understand and to communicate effectively in forms of Scots.

The Scottish Executive provides funding for the protection and promotion of the Gaelic language through funding for the Gaelic Media Service, Bòrd na Gàidhlig, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig and funding for Gaelic medium education. Funding for the years 2005-06 to 2007-08 is shown in the table:

Year	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08
Gaelic Media Service	£8.5 million	£8.7 million	£8.9 million
Bòrd na Gàidhlig	£2.8 million	£4.7 million	£4.7 million
Education	£3.8 million	£4.2 million	£4.8 million
Sabhal Mòr Ostaig	£0.45 million	£0.5 million	-

 

Within the Executive there are funding programmes that do not have a specific Gaelic designation, but a proportion of the funding will go to Gaelic education. Examples of this would be pre-school funding, HM Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) activity, National Grid for Learning, Scottish Qualifications Authority examinations, school materials, teacher training, classroom assistants and further and higher education funding.

If the Association of ScottishNeighbourhood Watches were to apply formally to the Executive for funding with aproper business plan we would consider this.