Chamber and committees

There has been a great deal of progresssince the launch of the Sea Fisheries Strategy (A Sustainable Framework for ScottishSea Fisheries) in 2005.

In September 2006, the SeaFAR group,which brought together all the key players in the Scottish sea fisheries sector,published an Action Plan to underpin the strategy. Real progress has beenmade on a range of issues on the ground including:

Improved communicationsbetween the Executive, the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency (SFPA) and the industryand significant improvements in compliance as evidenced by publication of figuresfrom the SFPA showing figures showing blackfish landings have declined to negligiblelevels;

Improved economicprospects for the whitefish fleet and the development and implementation of commercialstrategies for Scottish Langoustine and Scottish Haddock;

Development ofmore industry/science partnership, and

Publication of the first Environment and Rural Affairs Department newsletter for the sea fisheriessector as part of our commitment to improve communications with stakeholders.

I chaired the first meeting of a re-vamped SeaFAR group on 27March which will now oversee the full implementation of the plan. The group hasagreed that, so far, all the commitments in the plan are broadly on track.

The available information isshown is the following table. A breakdown by police force is not held centrally.

Year	No. of Officers Eligible to Retire	Percentage of Total Strength at 31 December 2006
2007-08	470	2.9%
2008-09	637	3.9%
2009-10	748	4.6%
2010-11	414	2.6%

 

These figures exclude any retirementson the grounds of ill-health.

This information is not heldcentrally. The staffing of police stations is an operational matter for chief constables.Force call centres are contactable by the public 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Table 1 shows the percentage of Scottishhouseholds living in dwellings below the bedroom standard in each local authorityarea, and table 2 shows the percentage of children in Scotland who live in suchhouseholds.

Table 1 Scottish Households Living Below the BedroomStandard by Local Authority Area

	1999 and 2000		2001 and 2002		2003 and 2004
	%	Base	%	Base	%	Base
Aberdeen City	3%	1,224	3%	1,280	3%	1,232
Aberdeenshire	2%	1,187	2%	1,230	2%	1,237
Angus	2%	637	2%	662	1%	628
Argyll and Bute	5%	576	2%	569	3%	551
Clackmannanshire	3%	587	3%	547	3%	579
Dumfries and Galloway	2%	878	3%	822	2%	815
Dundee City	3%	781	4%	868	2%	866
East Ayrshire	3%	676	2%	714	2%	696
East Dunbartonshire	1%	587	3%	608	2%	553
East Lothian	4%	585	1%	598	3%	549
East Renfrewshire	2%	494	2%	526	1%	580
Edinburgh, City of	4%	2,481	3%	2,374	3%	2,509
Eilean Siar	3%	658	3%	643	2%	549
Falkirk	3%	817	2%	790	1%	824
Fife	2%	1,895	2%	1,928	2%	2,083
Glasgow City	6%	3,136	5%	3,254	6%	3,294
Highland	1%	1,129	2%	1,208	1%	1,167
Inverclyde	7%	537	5%	529	4%	554
Midlothian	4%	612	4%	622	4%	561
Moray	2%	631	2%	614	1%	613
North Ayrshire	3%	822	2%	768	1%	752
North Lanarkshire	5%	1,617	5%	1,656	5%	1,758
Orkney Islands	1%	540	1%	649	2%	665
Perth and Kinross	3%	774	2%	747	3%	674
Renfrewshire	4%	951	4%	945	3%	1,000
Scottish Borders	2%	607	2%	642	2%	663
Shetland Islands	3%	561	2%	625	1%	653
South Ayrshire	2%	675	3%	685	3%	624
South Lanarkshire	5%	1,602	4%	1,608	3%	1,587
Stirling	2%	617	2%	601	1%	612
West Dunbartonshire	5%	535	4%	531	5%	509
West Lothian	2%	817	2%	796	2%	885

 

Table 2: Scottish Children Living Below the Bedroom Standardby Local Authority Area

	1999 and 2000		2001 and 2002		2003 and 2004
	%	Base	%	Base	%	Base
Aberdeen City	12%	477	15%	454	9%	491
Aberdeenshire	7%	741	6%	700	5%	628
Angus	6%	326	8%	310	4%	240
Argyll and Bute	16%	278	9%	269	9%	247
Clackmannanshire	8%	317	6%	266	9%	291
Dumfries and Galloway	10%	417	12%	406	4%	341
Dundee City	10%	295	16%	355	8%	302
East Ayrshire	9%	323	10%	350	7%	329
East Dunbartonshire	4%	316	6%	322	6%	282
East Lothian	9%	292	6%	313	10%	266
East Renfrewshire	5%	302	3%	285	4%	351
Edinburgh, City of	12%	993	11%	906	13%	950
Eilean Siar	11%	294	11%	267	6%	224
Falkirk	10%	433	7%	395	4%	361
Fife	7%	939	10%	930	8%	983
Glasgow City	21%	1,415	17%	1,336	22%	1,292
Highland	5%	564	8%	593	5%	575
Inverclyde	25%	268	15%	241	8%	218
Midlothian	14%	349	11%	362	15%	308
Moray	7%	309	6%	329	3%	311
North Ayrshire	9%	405	9%	356	5%	354
North Lanarkshire	15%	933	15%	945	15%	833
Orkney Islands	6%	261	4%	269	7%	311
Perth and Kinross	8%	346	7%	325	10%	272
Renfrewshire	13%	446	15%	409	14%	434
Scottish Borders	7%	294	7%	278	5%	287
Shetland Islands	7%	379	6%	372	6%	302
South Ayrshire	8%	331	11%	309	14%	251
South Lanarkshire	14%	792	11%	821	8%	766
Stirling	6%	296	6%	275	5%	277
West Dunbartonshire	12%	250	10%	207	16%	236
West Lothian	5%	467	5%	478	8%	444

Source: Scottish Household Survey, 1999-2004.

Notes:

1. The base numbersshow the sample sizes of the population participating in the survey but cannot beused to calculate how many respondents gave a certain answer. The bases in table1 refer to the number of households, and in Table 2 to the number of childrenin the household.

2. Year-on-year changes should beinterpreted with caution as the statistics can fluctuate from year to year due tosampling variability and relatively small sample sizes. This may be a particularissue for table 2 where the sampling unit is the household but the unit of analysisis the number of children in the household.

3. The results are given for two-yearsweeps as the survey is not designed to be representative for all sub-Scotland areasfor a single year.

4. Figures for 2006 have not yet beenpublished.

5. The bedroom standard representsthe minimum number of bedrooms required for a household based on the assumptionthat a separate bedroom is required for:

each cohabitingcouple;

any other personaged 21 years or over;

each pair of youngpersons of the same sex aged 10 to 20 years, and

each pair of childrenunder 10 years (regardless of sex).

Unpaired young persons aged 10 to 20 are paired with a childunder 10 of the same sex if possible or allocated a separate bedroom. Any unpairedchildren under 10 are also allocated a separate bedroom.

The information requested is not held by the Executive, butI understand that it is available from the Scottish Library and InformationCouncil.

I refer the member to theanswers to questions S2W-18148 on 18 August 2005,S2W-27311 on 8 August 2006 and S2W-28609 on 5 October 2006.All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’swebsite the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Over the past five years thenumber of police officers in Scotland has risen by 1,235 to 16,230 with supportstaff rising by 1,910 to 7,392.

Information on thedeployment of officers to particular duties is not held centrally and is anoperational matter for individual chief constables.

There are no Scottish Executiveproposals to change cemetery preservation practice. However, the Burial and CremationReview Group, which is reviewing the various Burial Ground and Cremation Acts andRegulations in Scotland, is currently preparing its recommendations. The groupand Historic Scotland are in discussions to ensure that the historic aspects ofgraveyards are recognised and taken into account. Many burial grounds are scheduledancient monuments; others are listed buildings, included either in the listing ofchurches or in their own right. Some local authorities may decide independentlyto adopt preservation practices to raise standards of repair and maintenance.

The information requested isnot held centrally. Payment of VAT by non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) isan operational matter for individual bodies to consider. Contact details for allNDPBs are contained in the Directory of Scottish Public Bodies featured on the PublicBodies and Appointments website at:http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/public-bodies/directory.

The appeal is scheduled to beginon 8 May 2007 and run for three days. A decision will then be issuedby the court. As the timescale for this is outwith the control of Scottishministers it is not possible to estimate at this stage when construction of thescheme will start.

Thelatest estimated cost is £18 million to £21 million exclusive of value added tax.

Transport Scotland hasthe operational responsibility for this area, and can be contacted for more informationif required.