Chamber and committees

The Scottish Squirrel ActionPlan was prepared by a Working Group comprising Forestry Commission Scotland,Scottish Natural Heritage and the Scottish Executive. Successful implementationof the plan will call for a similar level of co-operation and partnership workingbetween these bodies who have the lead responsibility as well as others with aninterest. I do not think that the appointment of a single individual to direct implementationof the plan would enhance the partnership approach that is required.

The Forestry Commission Scotland(FCS) and Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) are providing £103,000 of combined financialsupport, over the current financial year, to a Defra-led project that aims to testand adapt fertility control agents. These agents were initially developed for usein the USA on several wild and domestic species and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) are currently investigating their suitabilityand effectiveness as a measure for grey squirrel control in Britain.

Information on Executive Agenciesand public bodies formally classified as non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs),is contained on the Public Bodies and Appointments website at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/government/publicbodies/

Details of bodies not classifiedas Executive Agencies or NDPBs are not held centrally by the Executive.

Given the existence of arecently completed flood defence scheme, it is in the interest of Perth andKinross Council, its consulting engineers and the Scottish Executive to ensurethat a thorough investigation of the events at Milnathort is undertaken toestablish the reasons for the December flooding. In the first instance it isfor the council to investigate the facts and produce a report. Perth andKinross Council published its initial report on Wednesday 17 January 2007.The report makes recommendations for completing investigations into the causesof the flooding and on the implementation of likely remedial actions. We needtime to consider this and subsequent reports before we can offer comment. Onlyonce this stage is complete will it be possible to establish the nature ofcause of the flood and whether damage caused by the flood was attributable tosome deficiency in the flood defence scheme.

Flood risk management arrangementsare already addressed at a national level. After the extreme flood events of thesummer of 2002, an Ad Hoc Committee of Ministers, chaired by the Deputy First Minister,was instigated to consider the arrangements for addressing flood risk in Scotland. InFebruary 2003 the Cabinet agreed a Statement of Commitments and an action plan inthe form of the National Flooding Framework; this aims to address the problems offlooding through four areas of action, namely awareness, avoidance, alleviationand assistance. In addition, the Flooding Issues Advisory Committee was set up in2005 to assist in the on-going development of national policy on sustainable floodmanagement, and to help implement the National Flooding Framework.

When making a flood preventionscheme the onus is on the local authority to ensure that its scheme is fit for purpose.To assist local authorities in this aim the Executive is issuing guidance to localauthorities on best practice for the promotion of flood prevention schemes underthe current statutory framework in Scotland. The guidance is modular in format: two chapters – oneon economic appraisal and the other covering approaches to risk – have already beenissued and we expect further chapters to be issued over the course of this year.Copies of the chapters issued are available at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/10/0794935/49364.

The funding provided to supportflood prevention schemes promoted since 1999 by Perth and Kinross Council, whichcovers all of the schemes in the catchment of the River Tay, is set out in the followingtable:

Year	Funding Provided (£)
2006-07	1,092,493
2005-06	nil
2004-05	744,747
2003-04	1,714,225
2002-03	1,962,628
2001-02	313,856
2000-01	2,803,215
1999-2000	4,550,455

 

The Scottish Executive has notheld discussions on the provision of funding for Scottish members of the SpecialOlympics team.Sportscotland does not providedirect funding for Scottish members of the Special Olympics team. Further informationon alternative sources of funding for athletes from sportscotland and other organisationsis available at http://www.sportscotland.org.uk/SiteNavigation/Funding/.

The Scottish Executive does notdirectly fund members of the Special Olympics Team.Sportscotland can provide fundingfor athletes, including members of the Special Olympics Team and further informationon a variety of sources of funding for athletes is available at http://www.sportscotland.org.uk/SiteNavigation/Funding/

The UK Red Squirrel Group co-ordinatesactions to support red squirrel conservation. The relevant Scottish statutory agenciesare represented on this group as are those from the north of England. Thisprovides a forum for discussion of cross-border issues and for sharing informationand good practice.

The Scottish Red Squirrel ActionPlan 2006-2011, recognised the importance of targetted grey squirrel control asthe most effective approach to red squirrel conservation. It also recognised theparticular risks currently facing red squirrels in the south of Scotland from thespread of grey squirrels testing positive for Squirrelpox virus antibodies. Actionhas been taken by SNH and FCS to control the flow of potentially infected grey squirrelsfrom the Cumbria region through the employment of grey squirrel controlofficers.