Chamber and committees

The Commission Proposals to the Council of Europe were published on 13 February. An official from the Scottish Executive was present when they were discussed at the Council's Special Committee of Agriculture on 26 February and 12 March. I attended the Agriculture Council on 19 February and an official attended a Council Working Group on Wednesday 28 February. On each occasion, our strong opposition was expressed to elements of the proposals that could adversely affect Scotland's beef industry.

Officials from the Food Standards Agency notified Scottish Ministers on 12 January that offal from the offspring animal may have passed into the food chain.

The Food Standards Agency has advised that there is no need to ban importation of meat from other countries. All beef produced in the EU must be produced in accordance with EU law. Imports of any meat from outside the EU are only allowed if the European Commission has approved the meat plant as producing to standards at least equivalent to those required by European law. The agency does not consider that it is necessary to ban imports on risk grounds. The best available scientific advice indicates that the risks from eating imported beef and British beef are comparable, and are very small indeed. There have been recent studies carried out by Dr Christl Donnelly, of Imperial College, London. An article on French beef was published in Nature on 14 December and also a more recent study, (published 21 March) looked into risks of beef from Republic of Ireland.

The Food Standards Agency advises that the Meat Hygiene Service (MHS) routinely carries out random checks on all consignments of imported meat arriving at licensed cutting premises. These random checks have recently been stepped up in light of specified risk material (SRM) failures in consignments of beef from several member states.The agency has instructed the MHS to step up checks on imported meat and specifically to inspect every single consignment of carcass beef imported from Germany through licensed cutting plants, following the cases of beef with SRM attached. Local authorities have also been advised to step up checks on bone-in-beef and sheep meat and the health marking of all meat in the premises they supervise.

The Enterprise Networks are subject to regular and full Policy and Financial Management Review by my department. Management Statements provide the financial, managerial and operational framework for the networks and annual Operating Plans provide the main focus for operational scrutiny. Both are published and are publicly available. The annual accounts of both Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise are published, laid before Parliament and are publicly available. The networks have also been subject to scrutiny by the Scottish Affairs Committee, the Committee on Standards in Public Life, the National Audit Office and now by Audit Scotland.The Strategy for Enterprise, A Smart Successful Scotland, published on 30 January 2001 will result in a more strategic relationship between the Executive and the networks. The Executive will set the broad direction, work with the networks on policy development, monitoring and evaluation and the networks themselves will take responsibility for implementation. A new Joint Performance Team (comprising of the Executive and the Enterprise Networks with other external support) will review performance and set challenging targets for the networks. This will enable performance to be judged against the key challenges identified by the Executive of raising productivity, encouraging entrepreneurship, raising skill levels and connecting Scotland globally.

The Scottish Executive considers that the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and the Deliberate Release Regulations 1992 (as amended) are the appropriate body of law under which to regulate such trials.

There are no plans to consult with the communities of Mallaig and Morar in connection with the possible construction of a footway/cycleway alongside the A830. One metre wide strips on either side of the main carriageway are being provided on the new sections of the road to help cyclists.Under the Trunk Road Cycling Initiative (TRCI) available resources for the provision of separate cycleways continue to be directed towards assisting schemes which form part of the proposed Sustrans National Cycle Network. The A830 corridor is not a part of that programme.

The Scottish Society for Autism was awarded a total of £129,285 through the Special Educational Needs Innovation Grants Programme for two projects:A Social Inclusion Partnership Project, from April 1999 to March 2002A Positive Interaction Video, from September 2000 to March 2001The society received a social work training grant of £28,000 in 1996-97 and 1997-98 and £26,000 in each of the three financial years 1998-99 to 2000-01.In addition, an offer of a grant of £16,400 was made to the Society on 16 March 2001, to conduct a mapping exercise to help prepare for the national network for people with an autistic spectrum disorder as recommended in The same as you? report.Following the learning disabilities review, we are providing additional funds of £36 million over three years, starting in April 2001, to improve services for people learning disabilities. This will benefit, amongst others, families affected by autistic spectrum disorder.

I have asked Mr Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:The available information is given in the Scottish Prison Service Annual Report and Accounts, save as respects reimbursement of travel and subsistence expenditure, which is on the same basis as for other staff.

The Scottish Executive has no plans to introduce a 30mph speed limit within the vicinity of the Banavie Primary School. The accident history, traffic flows and pedestrian movements in the Corpach area together with the existence of a School Crossing Patroller and associated signage were all considered in the assessment process. The risk to children is considered to be low.Scottish Executive is aware of representations made by the Kilmallie Community Council concerning this matter.