Chamber and committees

The Scottish Executive recognises the difficult times affecting dairy farmers in Ayrshire. This is why the dairy sector was included in the recent special aid package announced on 30 March. The position is being kept under review. However, it is important to recognise that the nature of European Union dairy regime and the tightly drawn state aid rules mean that it is difficult to provide direct assistance outwith the normal rules.

The latest available data on forestry exports from Scotland are provided in the tables below:

			Exports to the rest of the UK £ million	Exports to the rest of the world £ million
Forestry Harvesting		1996	75.5	14.2
		1995	52.8	7.7
		1994	27.2	2.3

Source: Scottish Input-Output Tables and Multipliers 1996, 1995, 1994; Table 3.

Supporting Active Communities in Scotland, the draft strategy prepared by the Scottish Active Communities Working Group, was published for consultation on 31 January. Over 120 responses have been received and are currently being analysed. These will inform the Scottish Executive's response to the recommendations contained in the working group's report, which we hope to be able to announce soon.

In the case of registered social landlords this will be undertaken by Scottish Homes through its performance management system. In the case of local authorities, the Best Value regime provides a monitoring framework for the review of services in consultation with tenants.

The responsibility for consulting tenants about possible housing stock transfers lies with councils.

Responsibility for international aid and for the Government's relationship with British voluntary organisations that work overseas lies with the Department for International Development. I recently met with George Foulkes MP at DfID's offices in East Kilbride on 5 June to discuss our common interest in the voluntary sector in Scotland.

A number of international aid/development agencies are based in Scotland. The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO), which receives support from the Scottish Executive, is assisting them to interface with DfID and to link with each other.

No.

The Scottish Executive provides direct financial assistance to businesses under its SMART scheme and through Regional Selective Assistance (RSA). A total of £1.1 million was awarded in grants under SMART in the financial year 1998-99, £1.6 million in 1999-2000 and £0.3 million in the period 1 April 2000 to 31 May 2000. These grants were made, in the main, to new start up and very early stage businesses.A further £1 million was provided to new businesses under the Scottish Executive's SPUR Programme in 1998-99, £1.5 million in 1999-2000 and £0.2 million in the first two months of the current financial year.

Financial assistance under the RSA scheme is available to both new start and established businesses. Data on assistance offered under RSA, however, is not collated on the basis of the date of formation of the companies applying for grant.

Financial assistance for new start up businesses from local enterprise companies and their agents is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise and I have asked the chairmen of both organisations to reply to the member. A copy of the reply will be placed in SPICe.

All expenditure on Individual Learning Accounts (ILAs) has been directed through the Enterprise Network.

During 1999-2000 the Enterprise Network spent £1.2 million on developing the ILA model and determining operational requirements, as well as piloting the design. This also included an allocation of £0.4 million to Scottish Enterprise Grampian for its pilot, of which £0.3 million was for the payment of incentives to ILA holders.

Some further learning account projects were also run by a number of LECs, including Fife, during 1999-2000 using European Objective 4 funding together with their own discretionary funds. Information on the costs to individual LECs is not available.

Whilst a number of spending commitments have been made in the current year, actual expenditure to date by the Enterprise Network as a whole, including the LECs, has been £30,000.

I understand from Scottish Natural Heritage that Raptor Study Group members collect data on numbers, breeding distribution and breeding success of raptors throughout Scotland. SNH licenses this work as part of its ongoing surveillance and monitoring of birds of prey in Scotland, and continues to review and develop its collection and analysis of data on all changes to the natural heritage.