Chamber and committees

The consultation closes on 27 January 2009. All responses will be carefully considered and will be taken into account as part of a wider options review being carried out by Forestry Commission Scotland.

The bidding process for any lease would be subject to public procurement rules, which include compliance with international obligations. Therefore, foreign companies are free to bid.

It is therefore too early to say how many staff are working in the areas which might be selected for leasing, should that particular option be taken forward.

Edinburgh is a local authority which has seen its levels of resources protected this year receiving a total of £36.1 million in 2008-09. Projects within Edinburgh are therefore not currently being prioritised for the accelerated £30 million. No decisions have been taken on the allocation of the accelerated £70 million in 2009-10.

They will however shortly be seeking the Lord President''s views on ordinary court procedures with particular reference to meeting the requirements of the Aarhus Convention and European Directives for public participation in environmental decision making. As notified through the UK Government to the European Commission on 5 September 2008, this will cover decision making in relation to the EU Environmental Liability Directive.

The second public consultation exercise on the EU Environmental Liability Directive ran from 16 May to 8 August 2008. The draft Environmental Liability (Prevention and Remediation) (Scotland) Regulations published with the consultation are being revised with stakeholders. The revised regulations will be laid shortly.

More generally, the Scottish Government supports the use of alternative dispute resolution where it is feasible and appropriate to do so and is funding a number of mediation projects across a range of policy areas, currently including health, justice, housing and education.

At a domestic level:

We recently launched the Energy Saving Scotland advice network - a one-stop shop for advice on energy including energy efficiency, renewables and personal transport.

We will launch a new home-help service in the autumn, which will remove the hassle factor by offering intensive and tailored face to face support to help people find home installation solutions that are right for them.

We have secured the commitment of the energy companies to funding Scotland''s share of the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT). This could be worth at least £107 million each year for home energy efficiency improvements and savings of £83 million each year in household fuel bills.

We will be introducing the Home Report in December 2008 to raise awareness of energy efficiency at the point of house sale. This will signpost to the Energy Saving Scotland advice network to help households undertake improvements.

We are committing £45 million each year over the next three years to continue to help tackle fuel poverty. We have already made thousands of Scottish homes warmer and more affordable to heat by installing energy efficiency measures through our fuel poverty programmes.

In addition, the Scottish Government will be launching a consultation on further measures to improve the energy performance of existing homes later in the year.

At the utility level for generation and transmission, this is largely a matter for the companies and organisations involved, although we are keen to see losses minimised and the promotion of energy efficiency wherever possible. We are also due to hold meetings shortly with the main energy supply firms to discuss how they might promote better energy demand and management with their major industrial and large-scale consumers.