Chamber and committees

As part of the Scottish Climate Change Programme, the Executive is committed to raising the overall proportion of electricity generated from renewable sources in Scotland to 18% by 2010. I believe that the potential exists to go much further. I am therefore today publishing a consultation paper that examines the opportunities to go beyond our existing policy objectives and further increase Scotland's renewable energy in the period beyond 2010, potentially to as much as 40%.

The Energy Saving Trust (EST) secured the Department of Trade and Industry contract for this UK initiative in May and the Scottish Executive is currently in discussion with the EST about how best to promote the programme in Scotland. We anticipate a marketing campaign in the autumn, linked to our recently announced Scottish Community Renewables Initiative, which aims to encourage small community renewables projects using a range of technologies, including photovoltaic units.

The Forward Strategy for Scottish Agriculture, developed by the Executive in partnership with stakeholders from the food and farming industries and the environmental sector, sets out an action plan which is relevant to the organic sector as well as to other forms of environmentally sustainable farming. Specific to the organic sector, it challenges the sector to:(i) identify and tailor production to consumer demand and market outlets;(ii) develop the supply chain so that organic producers are matched by sufficient processing capacity;(iii) in the livestock sector, identify finishers to whom store producers can sell their produce;(iv) ensure the right business and technical advice is available on how to convert to, and, as importantly, maintain organic farming in Scottish conditions, and(v) ensure that Scottish farmers are able to use organic standards which avoid gold plating and reflect Scottish conditions.The Executive encourages the development of the organic sector in Scotland in a number of ways. These include the Organic Aid Scheme (OAS), which provides annual payments for five years for farmers converting their land, assistance under the Processing and Marketing Grants Scheme and the Marketing Development Scheme for projects that strengthen the organic food chain, the funding of an organic helpline operated by the Scottish Agricultural College, and the recently published Guide to Organic Marketing funded by the Executive.The Executive has recently completed a consultation exercise on measures to improve the operation of agri-environment schemes, including the OAS, in the short term. The Executive is considering responses to that consultation paper, and also possible longer-term changes to agri-environmental measures to enable them more effectively to support a range of environmentally sustainable forms of farming.

The assessment criteria for the current round of local authority bids for revenue support for outline school Public/Private Partnership projects were set out in Scottish Executive Education Department circular 8/2001. We have also announced our intention to put in place by the end of the year a school estate strategy for Scotland. That will be the most appropriate context in which to address issues of sustainable development in school buildings, including energy efficiency.

Provisional allocations for the additional £95 million of end-year flexibility (EYF) were distributed on the basis of each council's general Grant Aided Expenditure allowances for the current year. It will be up to each local authority how it allocates its allowance in support of the two policy themes of "children and young people" and "our local environment".Additionally, I announced on 26 June EYF of £76 million for the Environment and Rural Development portfolio, which includes £30.2 million for environment programmes. Full details of how this funding will be allocated are provided in the answer to S1W-27441 on 10 July 2002.

The end-year flexibility funding allocated to the environment and rural development portfolio totals some £76 million, including a planned carry forward of £21.3 million for the Fisheries Decommissioning Scheme. The additional funding will allow us to deliver a number of important policy outcomes, focused on improving environmental standards, reducing the impact of environmental issues on local communities, investing in the research base and working towards efficient and sustainable farming and fisheries.

• £8.000 million will be used to fund the Water and Sewerage Charges Reduction Scheme.

• £4.000 million will cover the transition and dissolution costs associated with the creation of Scottish Water and the winding up of the three former water authorities.

• £0.850 million will deliver improved public health through better management of private water supplies.

• £3.000 million will be used to deliver a grant scheme to facilitate improvements in bathing water standards where agricultural practices are major contributors to pollution.

• £2.750 million will go to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) to allow it to replace its ageing west coast survey vessel and allow more effective monitoring of coastal water quality. This sum also covers SEPA's increased workload in implementing environmental legislation.
• £3.000 million will go to local authorities and SEPA to clean up derelict and contaminated land that is creating health risks or causing blight on local communities.
• £0.950 million will be used for a diverse range of initiatives to improve the local environment. This will complement the £95 million the Minister for Finance and Public Services announced for local government on 26 June, and will focus on areas where the Executive can add value by setting a national framework.
• £1.000 million will go to delivering a high profile public awareness campaign on the key issues where changing individual behaviour can make a difference to the quality of our environment.
• £0.550 million will go towards litter initiatives to deal with a problem that many people say affects their quality of life. The initiatives will be delivered through Keep Scotland Beautiful.
• £3.380 million will be used to implement and enforce improved controls on ozone depleting substances, in line with a new EC regulation, and to drive forward the Executive's climate change policies.
• £1.500 million will be used to provide testing equipment to identify the reasons for poor air quality and to take action to reduce emissions from transport-related sources. Action will be targeted on the air quality management areas in the centres of Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen.
• £0.690 million will be used to fund research and projects to help build an evidence base for policy decisions needed in the coming years and facilitate uptake of policies based on voluntary approaches. Research will cover a diverse range of issues from studies on goose populations to consulting on management of radioactive waste.
• £0.430 million will go towards smoothing the establishment of our new National Parks, including funding of elections to the park authority.
• £0.100 million will go to the Central Scotland Countryside Trust to help them with accommodation costs.

• £21.3 million is existing budgetary provision carried forward to complete the Fisheries Decommissioning Scheme.
• £3.7 million will provide the initial budget for the construction of a new fisheries protection vessel.
• £3 million will allow, exceptionally, for a total provision of £63 million for the 2003 less favoured areas support scheme which is paid early in the calendar year.

• £1 million will go towards expanding the use of electronic reporting of cattle movements and to develop systems for electronic identification of animals.

• £4 million will be invested in research facilities.
• £2 million will be added to the budget for agri-environment schemes in the current year.
• £1.4 million will go to meet the financial needs of SEERAD's three Executive agencies which are responsible for fisheries protection and research and for agricultural science.

• £9.4 million will allow the Forestry Commission to deliver its planned programmes despite the drop in timber prices.

Where delivery is to be achieved through local authorities, I will announce allocations to individual authorities at a later date.

Noise problems in buildings are dealt with by a variety of measures, including building standards regulations and environmental health provisions. Recent research supports the current Scottish building standards relating to the transmission of sound and no review is planned until after the introduction of a new building standards system.

The police already have powers to deal with the playing of loud music, including the power to confiscate sound equipment for up to 28 days if a person fails to stop the noise on being asked to do so by a police officer. We have a range of other measures in place to address the problem of anti-social behaviour more generally. New legislation should not be considered unless there is evidence that existing provision is inadequate.

Passed to the Future sets out the principles of sustainable management of the historic environment. Caring for the historic environment in a sustainable way can improve the quality of life and help to revitalise our towns, cities and countryside. It can promote confidence and stimulate economic and social regeneration.

The Executive is committed to ensuring that each public body is subject to a regular policy and financial management review. A review of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) will start in June 2002. The terms of reference for the review will be:To examine the role and functions of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and the effectiveness and efficiency with which these functions are carried out. The review will:consider how effectively SEPA has performed since it was established and seek the views of a range of stakeholders on its performance;consider how well SEPA responds to the policies and priorities of the Scottish ministers and if the level of delegation to SEPA from the Scottish Executive is sufficient and appropriate;examine the role of SEPA in relation to other bodies with responsibilities for environmental protection and regulation;identify ways of improving the service that SEPA provides to local communities and regulated organisations;examine the policies and practices of SEPA in relation to the charges it levies for its regulatory service;look at ways of improving the system of environmental permits and emissions monitoring, andidentify the key issues that need to be addressed to allow SEPA to meet the challenges posed by the shifting focus of environmental legislation.The review will be expected to make recommendations to the Scottish ministers in all of the key areas outlined above.The review will be informed by other relevant reviews, in particular the recent quinquennial review of the Environment Agency in England and Wales and the December 2000 Audit Scotland report A Measure of Protection.These terms of reference take account of the outcome of the 2001 Public Bodies Review, which concluded that there was no fundamental change needed to the functions and structure of SEPA. The Public Bodies Review made cross-cutting recommendations relevant to all public bodies; the implementation of these recommendations in relation to SEPA will be considered as part of the review.As an essential part of the review process, officials will be consulting widely with interested parties. It is intended to hold a stakeholder event early in the review to help define the detailed scope and identify the key questions to be answered in the review, within the broad terms of reference.