Chamber and committees

Any assessment of the impact of the recent proposals to reform the CAP is dependent upon the detail of the provisions. Much of this is only becoming available in on-going working group discussions in Brussels.My main concern is that decoupling, which breaks the link between subsidy and production, could lead to a decline in farming activity in certain sectors, notably suckler beef, with adverse effects for rural economies. Also, the proposals for modulation and degression would discriminate against Scotland's farmers and perpetuate the problem of the UK and Scotland's historically low share of rural development funding.We support the principle of CAP reform, but I will continue to press the case for improvements to the package of proposals as it now stands.

The Executive has made two allocations of specific grant and in each case consulted local authorities beforehand as to their potential costs. We are satisfied that the allocations are fair in all the circumstances and have no plans to carry out a third review.

I refer the member to the answers given to questions S1W-23475 on 7 March 2002 and S1W-32103 on 2 December 2002, (All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa) detailing the amounts of specific grant to local authorities in 2001-02 and 2002-03 respectively. The Executive's three-year funding settlement for local authorities, announced on 4 December 2002 and detailed in Finance Circular No 10/2002 (Parliament's Reference Centre Bib. number 25556), contained further provision for waste management and disposal of fridges, as follows:

Year	£ million
2003-04	4
2004-05	4
2005-06	2.5

That funding will be disbursed as part of the local authority settlement for those years and allocated under the GAE distribution formula for waste disposal.Local Authority Provisional Outturn and Budget Estimate returns to the Scottish Executive identify expenditure on Waste Collection, Waste Disposal, Street Cleaning and Recycling. They do not separately record expenditure on the storage, transportation and disposal of disused fridges and freezers.

Between 1999 and 2001, there has only been one occasion on which a scheme registered with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) failed to discharge the collective recovery obligation of its membership.

Between 1999 and 2001, one scheme registered with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) failed to discharge the collective recovery obligation of its membership. That was Wastepack, in respect of 2001. The SEPA subsequently considered whether to cancel Wastepack's registration with it in terms of Regulation 17 of The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 1997 but decided not to do so. I am currently considering whether Scottish ministers' approval of the scheme under regulation 12(4) should be maintained.Data for 2002 are not yet available.

There are no plans at the moment to reconfigure coronary care services at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee.

The peak times during which the CRU operates have been identified through the analysis of relevant clinical data, and are continually monitored to ensure the CRU can meet the predicted demand. The CRU currently operates between the hours of 8am and 8pm, Monday to Sunday.

Credit unions help to tackle poverty and financial exclusion by providing accessible savings, low cost loans and other financial services, such as home insurance.

The Financial Services Authority has indicated that in 2001 there were approximately 143,000 members of Scottish credit unions.

£1.1 million has now been allocated of the £1.5 million for the implementation of the credit union action plan Unlocking the Potential over the financial years 2001-02 and 2004-05.