Chamber and committees

I shall reply to the Member as soon as possible.

Payments to Flour City Architectural Metals (UK) Ltd were withheld since the work in respect of which payment was claimed did not meet quality and delivery requirements in the contract.

The SPCB is not aware of any breaches of contract on health and safety grounds by Flour City Architectural Metals (UK), in relation to the MSP Building Cladding contract.

These notices are part of the documents concerning Flour City Architectural Metals (UK) Ltd which, on legal advice, should not be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre, as the documents may form part of the productions in any litigation which may follow.

No. The SPCB cooperated fully with the Auditor General's 2001-02 audit, but did not in any way attempt to lead or direct his enquiries. It will be a matter for Lord Fraser to determine what evidence he will consider and from whom. The SPCB shall fully co-operate with the inquiry being conducted by Lord Fraser.

A letter from the Forum of Private Business in Scotland has been received and I have agreed to meet them.

The Scottish Biodiversity Forum's IACS Year Calendar 2003-04 was issued with Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS) packs to all IACS producers in the spring of this year. The distribution of the IACS year calendars in the IACS packs was jointly authorised by Scottish Executive Rural Affairs Department's agricultural staff, CAP Management and Countryside and Natural Heritage divisions. Following issue of the IACS Year Calendar 2002-03 last year, the Scottish Biodiversity Forum's Agriculture Working Group (AWG) invited NFUS Farming Leader recipients to provide feedback on the calendar, in particular whether one should be produced for 2003-04. Eighty-eight per cent of questionnaire respondents requested an IACS Year Calendar for 2003-04 and on the basis of that result, AWG members agreed that another calendar should be produced. It was clear from the responses that a majority of IACS producers considered the calendar to be valuable not only in biodiversity terms but also for highlighting key dates for events and grant and subsidy scheme deadlines. The IACS year calendars are not Scottish Executive publications but have been produced by the AWG. A wide range of organisations is represented on the AWG (now known as the Rural Land Use Working Group) and several have been directly involved in creating and contributing to the cost of the two calendars.The production and issue of IACS year calendars to almost 20,000 IACS producers in 2002 and 2003 is just one of several ways the AWG has gone about fulfilling its remit of raising awareness of the importance of biodiversity and encouraging its protection and enhancement. Such publications will contribute towards farmers' understanding of the natural environment and how important their role is maintaining biological diversity in the countryside. This is particularly worthwhile as farmers become involved in a more environment-focused CAP system, cross-compliance and other environmental issues. A copy of the IACS Year Calendar 2003-04 was sent to 19,725 IACS producers at an additional postage cost of £6,706.50. The total cost of producing 20,000 and distributing 19,725 IACS Year Calendars for 2003-04 was £16,819. As in the previous year, all these costs were met by the AWG.

We are discussing with the Presiding Officer how best to establish budgetary arrangements which both enable the investigation to be as thorough and effective as it needs to be and provide for proper financial accountability to the Parliament. In parallel, the Scottish Executive and the Parliament are discussing with Lord Fraser and the Auditor General for Scotland the plans for the conduct of the investigation, so that a budget can be set. Lord Fraser has suggested that his fee should be set according to the standard scale rates and has offered to cap the total payment. The cost of the Auditor General's inquiry is, as with all his inquiries, a matter for the Auditor General and Audit Scotland rather than the Scottish Executive.

The provision of bus and rail services is a matter for individual bus and rail operators and local transport authorities. The Executive provides substantial financial support to the bus industry to support the provision of services and is supporting the development of several infrastructure projects and enhancement schemes which will facilitate new passenger railway services. As outlined in A Partnership for a Better Scotland the Executive is committed to piloting better value bus services through a route development scheme to promote particular under-used routes. In addition the Executive will be looking to bidders to come forward with innovative proposals for new services during the franchise re-letting process for the Scottish passenger railway.

A Works Directive Periodic Indicative Notice, which advertised external cladding and windows packages for the new Parliament building, was published in the Official Journal of the European Community (OJEC) in February 1999.