Chamber and committees

The contracts with BEAR Scotland Ltd have been awarded for a period of five to seven years and do not need to be reviewed. The contractual performance of the Operating Companies on all four contracts is monitored on an on-going basis by Halcrow in association with PricewaterhouseCoopers (the Performance Audit Group) and the Scottish Executive. There are a range of corrective measures and financial sanctions within the contracts which the Scottish Executive can consider in the event of unsatisfactory performance by the Operating Company. Having exhausted these, the Scottish Executive can terminate the contract if serious non-performance continues to be identified. Costs would be incurred in relation to securing a new Operating Company.

I have no plans to meet with the Scottish Hill Packs Association, nor have I been asked by them to do so.

A request from the Scottish Gamekeepers Association for a meeting with officials was made in November and that meeting took place on 13 December. The association subsequently asked whether I could attend that meeting also but other engagements prevented me from doing so. I have, however, asked officials to report the discussions of that meeting to me.

BEAR's contract is complex and detailed and minor breaches will inevitably occur. There are set procedures for rectification of more significant breaches. The first step of this procedure is to issue a default notice to BEAR to ensure the level of service is maintained. The Scottish Executive has not issued default notices in relation to BEAR's performance concerning winter maintenance on 8 and 9 November 2001.

The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Bill has yet to complete its passage through the Parliament. In keeping with the approach under other statutory Freedom of Information regimes, it is envisaged that all requests for information would be considered on a case-by-case basis and, as such, it is not possible to anticipate whether any particular information relating to the Executive's contract with BEAR Scotland Ltd would be disclosed.

Any arrangements concerning the valuation of the land occupied by Drummond School, Inverness would be for The Highland Council as the education authority responsible for the management of the school. Such arrangements do not involve the Scottish Executive or any public body or agency for which the Scottish Executive may have responsibility.

The legislation permitting the slaughter of lambs from approved slaughter premises in Dumfries and Galloway and the Scottish Borders was introduced on 3 December. Licences for movements to slaughter were subsequently issued that day.The first export health certificates were issued on 4 December for shipment on 6 December.

This is a matter for Scottish Natural Heritage and I have asked that they respond to you accordingly.

The information sought is either unavailable or not available in the requested format, and is not held centrally by the Executive. The following estimates and commentary have been supplied by Scottish Natural Heritage or derived from published sources.Raven and Buzzard:There is no national population census for ravens or buzzards either on a Scottish or UK basis. However, both species are monitored through the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) published by the British Trust for Ornithology, Joint Nature Conservation Committee and Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, which provides population trends for a range of common and widespread birds. The latest available data is derived from the 1999 BBS which covers the period 1994-99. During this period the abundance of buzzards in Scotland increased by 44%, with ravens showing a 19% rise. The BBS analysis records only the increase in buzzards as a statistically significant change.Dotterel:The latest UK population estimate for the dotterel, which is based on a 1999 survey, was 630 breeding males, of which all but one was in Scotland and only two outwith the Highlands. Such estimates are not prepared annually and no census data is available for the period requested.General:Estimates of future population levels of birds are not normally made. This is because of the impracticality of predicting the influence of external factors, such as the weather, on breeding success.

The Parent Company Guarantee was provided by Flour City International Inc and was requested due to the failure of Flour City Architectural Metals (UK) Ltd to provide a Performance Bond. No deadline was given for the provision of a Parent Company Guarantee. The Parent Company Guarantee covered any breach of Flour City Architectural Metals (UK) Ltd's obligations or duties under the contract. The guarantor would then, without delay, procure the remedying of any breach of Flour City Architectural Metals (UK) Ltd's obligations, failing which, the guarantor would pay to the employer and/or assign the amount of losses, damages, costs and expenses which may be incurred by the employer, by reason of any default on the part of Flour City Architectural Metals (UK) Ltd. No monetary sum can yet be attributed to any breach of contract by Flour City Architectural Metals (UK) Ltd.