Chamber and committees

International quota swaps area regular and important feature of the UK’s quota management arrangements. To date this year, some36 international swaps have been concluded, securing almost 13,000 tonnes of additionalquota, including around 4,400 tonnes of North Sea haddock. The Executive will continueto pursue further opportunities as the year progresses where they are in the bestinterests of the Scottish industry.

The Scottish Executive supports,in principal, any measure that can help raise awareness of energy consumption andencourage behavioural changes amongst the public to reduce carbon emissions in homes.

The Scottish Executive is currentlyawaiting the outcome of an Ofgem consultation into the benefits and costs of smartmetering, and further details of DTI’s smart metering pilot scheme before we considerwhat action we might take.

Information on local authoritybudgeted expenditure for energy costs is not held centrally. However, local authorityexpenditure on operating expenses, which includes energy costs, is given intable 1 of the publication Scottish Local Government Financial Statistics,copies of which are available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre. Thereference numbers of the three most recent of these publications are given below.

Bib. Number	Year
38657	2004-05
35476	2003-04
32947	2002-03

 

The Commission’s investigationof the French scheme found that it did not meet state aid rules. I understand theCommission is pursuing the matter but corrective action is a matter for the particularmember state and the Commission.

Nineteen awards totalling £2.7million have been made to the white fish sector under the Financial Instrument forFisheries Guidance (FIFG), Processing and Marketing Grant Scheme. This has supportedtotal new investment of almost £14 million. 35 awards totalling some £6.6 millionhave also been made by the scheme to the pelagic sector. This has supported totalnew investment of almost £33 million.

The Scottish Executive continuesto promote energy efficiency in the domestic and commercial sectors by funding thework of the Energy Saving Trust and the Carbon Trust in Scotland. In2006-07, funding amounted to over £10 million. These organisations provide a rangeof support including information, advice and guidance on reducing energy use andfree on-site energy audits for business.

In the domestic sector the ScottishExecutive has so far spent over £276 million on its fuel poverty programmes, providingcentral heating systems to over 69,000 homes and insulating over 229,000 under theWarm Deal.

The Scottish Executive is alsocurrently developing the first Energy Efficiency Strategy for Scotland, whichis due for publication later this year.

Under the Flood Prevention (Scotland)Act 1961 (the 1961 Act), the Moray Council submitted the Lhanbryde FloodPrevention Scheme for confirmation in December 2003. After the withdrawalof the only objection on 24 March 2004, Scottish ministers considered the submission and confirmedthe Scheme, without modification, on 5 May 2004. ANotice of Intention to Develop (NID) for the Lhanbryde scheme was notified toScottish ministers on 9 March 2004, and planning permission was granted on 5 April 2004. Anoffer of grant funding of 50% of the estimated eligible costs of £1,354,107 wasmade in August 2004. The level of grant support was subsequently revised to 80%following the abolition in 2004 of specific capital consents for schemes andthe introduction of the prudential regime.

In addition, the MorayCouncil formally advertised the Forres (Burn of Mosset) Flood PreventionScheme on 23 February 2005 and submitted the Scheme to Scottish ministers forconfirmation in June 2005. Although the Council sought to address theobjections received by Scottish ministers four objections were not withdrawn. Accordingly,in accordance with the 1961 act, a Public Local Inquiry (PLI) requires to beheld to consider the objections and this has been arranged to open on 26 September 2006. AfterScottish ministers have considered the report of the PLI, they may confirm the scheme,with or without modification, or refuse to confirm the Scheme. Should the schemebe confirmed, the indications are that the scheme would be eligible for grantat 80% of the eligible costs.

Scottish ministers also havea NID for the Forres (Burn of Mosset) Flood Prevention Scheme beforethem. Letters of representation were received and the planning application wasnotified to Scottish ministers on 1 June 2006. This case is currently underconsideration, with the 28 day deadline due to expire on 3 July. As the case iscurrently before Scottish ministers, it would be inappropriate for any commentto be made on the merits of the particular proposal at this stage.

The information requested isnot available centrally.

The first nationalcollection of information on waiting times for services provided by AlliedHealth Professionals, including chiropody and podiatry, was undertaken on 14 September 2005. Theresults from this census will be published by ISD Scotland on 6 July 2006 andwill be available via its website:

http://www.isdscotland.org/.

The Executive is promotingsafety at sea for fishermen by providing grant aid to fund fishermen’s safetytraining and to assist fishermen with the costs of purchasing safety equipment.Across the UK the issue of general marine safety is a reservedfunction delivered through the Maritime and Coastguard Agency of the Departmentof Transport.

If, as seems possible, fuelprices are set to stay at current levels for a long time, the industry mustconsider how it can adjust. Short-term measures which do not address thelong-term issues facing the industry are unhelpful.

To help the industry in thismatter the Seafish Industry Authority is leading an integrated programme ofprojects, with part funding from the Scottish Executive, that aim to find waysof enhancing the fuel efficiency of fishing vessels.

One of these projects islooking into the provision of cheaper, environmentally friendly fuel byinvestigating two different approaches:

Theproduction of a form of bio diesel that can be used in existing fishing vesselengines, and

Biofuels which can be used after modifications to engines.

Testing on the latter willcommence on two vessels over the coming months, with the aim – if all goes well– of investigating widespread commercial use by the end of 2007.

Other Seafish projects will involvethe examination of thinner twines to reduce trawl drag and other areas in gear,vessel engineering and vessel operations which can produce significant savingsor improvement in efficiency.

The new EFF regulation alsoprovides the possibility of grant aiding the purchase of replacement engines. Conditionsare attached to prevent increases in fleet capacity that could undermine thevalue of the difficult measures we have taken in Scotland to match better fleetcapacity to available stocks.