Chamber and committees

Information is only available for the four years during which the water authorities have been in existence. The figures represent the provision for bad debt as charged in the accounts.

£ million
1996-97	1997-98	1998-99	1999-2000
21.26	23.84	28.82	34.28

Ministers have already acted to safeguard NHS services this winter. £10 million has been made available to local authorities primarily to tackle problems arising from delays in discharging patients and a further £60 million has gone to the NHS mainly to target waiting lists and times, winter peaks and discharging delays. The detailed measures taken in Grampian are a matter for the health board and Trusts but I expect NHS planning for this winter to take into account the sound, practical recommendations of the Winter Performance Group to improve services. To ensure effective implementation, this planning should be undertaken jointly with Social Work Departments, Local Health Care Co-operatives and relevant voluntary bodies.

Local authorities are responsible for the collection of water charges on behalf of the water authorities. A variety of payment methods are offered by local authorities to enable customers to pay their accounts.

Information regarding those numbers of households whom are unable to pay the water charges is not available.

Questions which relate purely to operational matters for SQA have been passed to the Chairman for reply. Replies to other questions have drawn upon factual information supplied by the SQA as necessary. Other than this they have no role in drafting answers to parliamentary questions.

The climate change levy will not affect fuel for fishing vessels. Fish processors are subject to the levy but are eligible for 80% rebates available under the Food and Drink Federation's Climate Change Levy Discount Scheme. The Sea Fish Industry Authority has written to fish processors to make them aware of the rebate arrangements and will be carrying out further work to investigate the economic impact of the levy. Further information on the levy is available from www.energy-efficiency.org/climate.

Investigations by the Canadian authorities are continuing and we still await definitive information. The Scottish Executive's concern at this delay is shared by the UK Government which has sought recently from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency a progress report on its investigations into the circumstances that gave rise to the contamination of the Hyola rapeseed.

I refer to the answer I gave to question S1W-9808.

There is no comprehensive information available about the amount of fuel used by Scottish fishing vessels. A survey of costs and earnings of UK fishing vessels was undertaken by the Sea Fish Industry Authority in 1997-98. The Fishermen's Handbook, which is available from the SFIA, contains estimated fuel costs for vessels that were sampled. However, the information is not wholly representative because many vessel owners were unwilling to co-operate with the survey.

In 1997-98, 1998-99 and 1999-2000, SFPA has spent £654,179, £507,581 and £623,124 respectively for fuel in operating its Fishery Protection Fleet.

Fuel duty and taxes are reserved matters and the Scottish Executive has kept in close dialogue with the UK Government on the effects of rising fuel costs on the industry. The UK fishing industry is already exempted from fuel duty payments, so taxation is not a factor in the increase in fuel costs for fishing vessels.

Direct subsidies to the industry would almost certainly fall foul of EU state aid regulations. However, we are willing to consider whether fisheries structural funds could provide any longer-term incentives to switch to more energy-efficient fishing within the overall package of resources available to the industry.

UK Fisheries Departments have offered to undertake an examination of fuel use by the UK fishing industry and we will be involved in this work.