Chamber and committees

I am pleased to confirm,along with the Secretary of State for the Environment and the EnvironmentMinisters for Northern Ireland and Wales, the appointment of the 12 remaining members to theCommittee on Radioactive Waste Management.

With the help of the chair,Katharine Bryan, we have selected what we believe is a dynamic and varied teamof people to review the long-term options for the management of high andintermediate level radioactive waste.

The appointees are:

Mary Allan,Ross-shire - Lecturer, School of Business, The North Highland College;

Professor David Ball, Norfolk -Professor of Risk Management, Middlesex University;

Fred Barker, West Yorkshire- nuclear policy analyst;

Dr Keith Baverstock, Finland -former Head of Radiation Protection Division, World Health Organisation;

Professor Andrew BlowersOBE, Bedfordshire - Professor of Social Sciences at the Open University, localcouncillor;

Professor Brian DrummondClark, Aberdeen - former Professor of Environmental Management andPlanning, Board Member of the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency;

Dr Wynne Davies,Buckinghamshire - Vice President, Group Health, Safety and Environment,Amersham plc;

Dr Mark Dutton, Cheshire -physicist and nuclear decommissioning expert, NNC;

Dr Gordon MacKerron, Brighton -economist and energy policy consultant, Associate Director, NERA;

Professor Lynda Warren,Powys - zoologist and Emeritus Professor of Environmental Law at the University of Wales;

Jennifer Watson, London -Commissioner, Women's National Commission and Chair; and

Pete Wilkinson, Suffolk - Director of WilkinsonEnvironmental Consultancy, former Chair of Greenpeace and co-founder of Friendsof the Earth (UK).

We are announcing today apackage of support totalling almost £3 million over the next two years forvoluntary organisations working with vulnerable and excluded children and youngpeople. This includes:

continuation until March2006 of support for the Lloyds TSB Partnership Drugs Initiative at the currentrate of £750,000 per year, and the continuing secondment of a Scottish Executive staff member to manage the project. This initiative is aimed atpromoting voluntary sector work with children and young people affected by drugmisuse, whether directly or because of their parents’ addiction.

£1.2 million over two years(2004-06) to commission Columba 1400 to take up to 300 care leavers a year ontotheir personal development programme. This will provide an opportunity for careleavers to tap into their own potential for leadership and self determination.It will build their confidence and capacity, helping them in the transition toindependent living.

One-off funding of £250,000 toa new foundation that will fund combined groups of voluntary organisations to providecontinuity of care and support to vulnerable young people. A Scottish Executive member of staff will also be seconded to assist the foundation.

There is no definitiveestimate of Scottish peatland coverage but Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) hasproduced estimates for two of the three main types of peatland, namely blanketbog and raised bog.

Blanket Bog

SNH’s recently developedScottish blanket bog inventory estimates the total extent of blanket bog as1,927,000 ha. Some 55% of this is considered to be degraded to varying degreesas a result of past agricultural drainage, peat cutting, erosion etc.

Raised Bog

SNH have estimated thatthere are approximately 24,000 ha of raised bog at present, of which 14% isactively peat forming, 23% is degraded but capable of restoration and 63% is nolonger restorable.

Fens

Fens, the third habitat andthe lesser of the three types in terms of area, are the least known in terms ofdiversity, extent and condition. Scottish Natural Heritage has recently embarkedupon the development of a Fen Inventory to collate information held by itself,other agencies and voluntary organisations.

It is not possible to identify specific amounts spent on peatland restoration through Scottish Executive agri-environment schemes.

Complete restoration of whole woodlands to peatland is not provided for in forestry grant schemes, but Forestry Commission Scotland’s Woodland Grant Scheme and the new Scottish Forestry Grant Scheme fund restoration work in relation to the management of forest edges, and smaller scale restoration of peatland habitats within forests.

Forestry Commission Scotlandis also undertaking peat bog restoration on national forest lands as part of a number of EU LIFE projects as shown in the following table:

Forestry Commission Scotland Net Expenditure Contributing to EU LIFE Projects on Peatland Restoration on National Forest Lands: 1999-2004

Year	Area (hectares)	Net Expenditure (£000) (Following EU Reimbursement)
1999-2000	none	-
2000-01	none	-
2001-02	25	11
2002-03	159	29
2003-04 (to date)	110	50
2000-04 (to date)	Longbridgemuir SSSI, Dumfriesshire	126

Scottish Natural Heritage(SNH) operates a number of management schemes which include prescriptions toensure the sympathetic management and restoration of peat bogs. These includethe Caithness and Sutherland Peatland Management Scheme, the LewisPeatlands Management Scheme and the Skye Peatlands Management Scheme. Scottish NaturalHeritage also negotiates individual management agreements with the owners andoccupiers of peat bogs throughout Scotland. Total expenditure on SNH management agreements thattarget peatland features was:

1998-99	£597,314
1999-2000	£562,898
2000-01	£605,802
2001-02	£647,409
2002-03	£674,469

In addition to thesemanagement agreements, SNH has contributed approximately £0.5 million for peatbog restoration in Scotland through EC LIFE Nature schemes.

The Executive’s actions toreduce greenhouse gas emissions cut across a number of different policy areas.In each of these areas, the main policy driver may not necessarily be climatechange, but the impact on greenhouse gas emissions is an importantconsideration when policies are being formulated. The Scottish ClimateChange Programme, available on the Executive's climate change website at www.scotland.gov.uk/climatechange,includes information on expenditure in a number of these areas. Suchexpenditure will often bring social, economic and environmental benefits besidethat of reducing greenhouse gas emissions: we do not keep records of theproportion of expenditure directly attributable to emission reductions.

There is no data availablespecifically on emissions from peat soils.

The most recently publisheddata on Scottish greenhouse gas emissions, including emissions from all soilsdue to land use change are available in the publication Greenhouse Gas Inventories for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland: 1990-2000. A copy of this report has beenplaced in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 29467) and is alsoavailable on the Executive’s climate change website at www.scotland.gov.uk/climatechange.

TheExecutive has agreed to make an equitable contribution to the UK Kyoto targetand to work in partnership with the UK Government in moving towards thedomestic goal to reduce 1990 levels of UK carbon dioxide emissions by 20% by 2010. The Scottish response toclimate change therefore contains a mixture of reserved and devolved measures.Information on Scotland’s historic contribution is available in the publication GreenhouseGas Inventories for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland: 1990-2000,a copy of which has been placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bibnumber 29467) and is also available on the Executive’s climate change websiteat www.scotland.gov.uk/climatechange.

Irefer the member to the answer given to question S2W-3377 on 5 November 2003. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for whichcan be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.

Datain the format requested are not collected by the Executive. The most recent data on Scottish greenhouse gasemissions are availablein the publication Greenhouse Gas Inventories for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland: 1990-2000. A copy of this report hasbeen placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib number 29467) and is alsoavailable on the Executive’s climate change website at www.scotland.gov.uk/climatechange.