Chamber and committees

There is currently no intention to amend the areas to which the Locational Guidelines for the Authorisation: Marine Fish Farms in Scottish Waters apply.

The Scottish Government does not collect data on expenditure at school level. Argyll and Bute Council receives an extra £1.97 million from the Special Islands Needs Allowance which recognises that it costs more to provide services to island communities as well as an extra £15.566 million over and above their formula share of funding as a result of the main funding floor which protects councils from significant year-on-year reductions in funding.

Harbour dues are a matter for the harbour authorities, Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL) and Argyll and Bute Council. Harbour authorities have a statutory duty to charge reasonable harbour charges for the operation, improvement and maintenance of the facilities they control. The Scottish Government has however agreed to engage with CMAL on the level of harbour dues at Gourock for the next tendered contract. The Scottish Government will also engage with Argyll and Bute Council on the level of harbour charges at Dunoon. The outputs will be fed into the invitation to tender for the next Gourock-Dunoon town centre ferry service contract.

A prior information notice issued on 16 December 2015 setting out our intention to undertake a public procurement process to appoint a service operator to provide a subsidised passenger ferry service between Gourock and Dunoon town centres from 30 June 2017. We will also encourage potential participants to provide an unsubsidised vehicle-carrying service at their own commercial risk.

A meeting of the Gourock Dunoon Ferry Service Steering Group will take place on 19 January 2016 to discuss details of our approach to the procurement process and the timeline leading up to the award of the contract. The Gourock-Dunoon ferry service contract will be awarded in good time, ensuring it is in place and operational on 30 June 2017.

The Scottish Government's position in relation to harbours dues will be reflected in the invitation to tender for the Gourock-Dunoon town centre ferry service when it is issued to qualifying participants.

Cross-subsidisation within networks is an appropriate way of supporting island and remote communities as it helps ensure fair access to and affordability of services to those communities. The Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services contract operated by CalMac Ferries Ltd is an example of this. The current structure of Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd’s (CMAL) harbour charges is based on the principle role of its harbour network in supporting these essential ferry services. The Gourock-Dunoon service is provided under a separate public service contract. The Scottish Government will engage with CMAL and Argyll and Bute Council on the level of harbour dues at Gourock and Dunoon for the next tendered contract. It has been confirmed by CMAL that the current level of income generated by Gourock does not match the past, present or future improvements needed and as such the Gourock harbour is cross-subsidised by CMAL from the dues collected at other ports in their network.

As such the remarks attributed to Mr Docherty are consistent with the Scottish Government’s continued support of island and remote mainland communities. The Scottish Government's position on harbour charges will be reflected in the invitation to tender for the Gourock-Dunoon town centre ferry service when it is issued to qualifying participants.

In 2015-16 Argyll and Bute Council lose £89,000 in grant aided expenditure (GAE) provision as a result of the reallocation of GAE to recognise teacher remoteness and distant islands allowances. They also lose a further £58,000 from the secondary school teaching staff secondary indicator. Only the three wholly Island authorities gain from these reallocations.

Argyll and Bute Council does however gain £3.293 million from the reallocation of primary school teaching staff secondary indicator that recognises the percentage of pupils in small schools.

Argyll and Bute Council also receives an extra £1.970 million from the special islands needs allowance which recognises that it costs more to provide services to island communities as well as an extra £15.566 million over and above their formula share of funding as a result of the main funding floor which protects councils from significant year-on-year reductions in funding.

The public services contract between Argyll Ferries Limited and the Scottish Ministers does include a requirement for to meet the harbour charges from Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL) for the use of Gourock harbour. It should be noted that Gourock harbour is a complex facility and has enjoyed a disproportionate level of expenditure in recent years compared to its activity levels. The contract can be found at the attached link:

http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/water/ferries/gourock-dunoon

On the level of harbour charges, I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-29093 on 6 January 2016. 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/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

It has been confirmed by CMAL that the current level of income generated by Gourock does not match the past, present or future improvements needed and as such the Gourock harbour is cross-subsidised by CMAL from the dues collected at other ports in their network.

The distribution formula which allocates funding to all local authorities on a fair and equitable basis is kept under constant review by the joint Scottish Government and COSLA settlement and distribution group. This is an officer led group that makes recommendations to both central and local government politicians. Any proposal to review the distribution formula which provides support in recognition of the additional costs of island education proposed by COSLA on behalf of local government would be carefully considered.

Scottish Ministers designated the Forestry Commission as a responsible authority, with associated duties to reduce overall flood risk under the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009. In Scotland, Forestry Commission Scotland exercises flood risk-related functions on behalf of the commissioners through policy, regulation and grant support, with action on the National Forest Estate directed by Forest Enterprise Scotland.

Forestry Commission Scotland has contributed to the preparation of flood risk management strategies and local plans as required by the Flood Risk Management Act. These will be published in December 2015 and June 2016 respectively.

The Act also requires that flood plans take account of natural flood management measures, where the landscape and natural features are used to slow down and store flood water. Targeted woodland creation is part of these measures.

In particular, in 2015, Forestry Commission Scotland launched the opportunity mapping project that identifies areas in priority catchments in Scotland where woodland creation has the greatest potential to reduce flooding and diffuse pollution. Targeted support to deliver this work is available under the Scottish Rural Development Programme’s ‘Woodlands for Water’ grant.

Forestry Commission Scotland is also contributing to the revision of the UK Forestry Standard on forests and water. The revision will take into account the new duties for reducing overall flood risk in a forestry context.

The forestry industry has developed advice which highlights how productive private woodland can reduce the likelihood of floods. The report is available at http://www.confor.org.uk/Upload/Documents/37_TheRoleofProductiveWoodlandsinWaterManagementConforMarch2015.pdf.