Chamber and committees

Where the Scottish ministersact as the promoter of trunk roads schemes requiring the compulsory purchase ofland, the information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

The number of rural home ownershipgrants that have been awarded in each relevant local authority area since 1999,showing year-on-year percentage changes, is shown in the following table:

Number of Rural Home OwnershipGrant Awards by Relevant Local Authority Area (1999-2000 – 2005-06)

New Build Completionsby Local Authorities: 1999 to 2003

Source: Newbuild returns by local authorities to the Scottish Executive Development DepartmentAnalytical Services Division (Housing Statistics).

Notes:

1. There havebeen no completions of new local authority dwellings since 2003. However, Shetlandreport that six local authority dwellings were started in 2005.

2. The numbers of completions by local authoritiesis too small for the percentage change from year to year to be meaningful.

3. The followingsymbols are used – nil.

Where the Scottish ministersact as the promoter of trunk roads schemes requiring the compulsory purchase ofland, the information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

The Scottish Waste AwarenessGroup has produced a directory of the recycling facilities available to businesses.This directory can be found at www.wasteawarebusiness.com.The Waste and Resources Action Programme has run some trials on the collection ofrecyclate from SMEs, to ensure that good practice can be shared.

We also support bodies such asEnvirowise and Business Environment Partnership which provide advice to businesson how to minimise their waste.

The following table shows averageNet Farm Income estimates for Scotland for accounting periods 1999-2000 to 2004-05:

Source: Farm AccountsSurvey.

Notes:

1. Net Farm Income (NFI) representsthe return to the farmer and spouse for their manual and managerial labour and hasbeen calculated on a tenant-type farming basis. As the majority of farms in Scotland areowner-occupied, NFI estimates ought to be treated with some caution as they do notrepresent all the income of owner-occupied farms.

2. NFI results, which are generatedfrom the Farm Accounts Survey, are representative of eight main farm types in Scotland. Theydo not include incomes from farm types such as pigs, poultry or horticulture.

3. NFI results are only representativeof farms in Scotland above an economic size threshold of 0.5 standard labourrequirements.

4. Methodological improvementswere introduced to NFI estimates in 2002-03, so there may be a slight break in theNFI series in this period.

There are two main sources ofinformation on farm incomes :

The Farm Accounts Survey providesresults on average farm incomes at the national level, however the sample size of460 farms is insufficient to provide reliable or representative results at the localauthority level.

The Total Income From Farming(TIFF) measure is compiled at a national level using a range of national data sources,as such TIFF estimates are not produced at a local authority level.

The farming sectors are definedusing a European classification and take into account the main agricultural activityof the holding.

Source: June AgriculturalCensus.

Notes:

1. The arable sector consistsof cereal, general cropping and horticulture holdings.

2. The “other” sector includespigs, poultry and holdings with mixed activity.

3. There are a large number ofsmall holdings that do not report any labour in the June Agricultural Census. Thesehave not been included in the results above.

4. As the holding classificationis updated every year, individual holdings can move between sectors depending onagricultural activity reported on the June Agricultural Census. This should be notedwhen considering trends within specific farm sectors.