Chamber and committees

Discussions took place on 27 August 2013.

The Scottish Government does not collect such data. However, the labelling of red meat is determined by the customers specification and marketing strategy, and these are commercial issues.

I have discussed the red meat levy repatriation issue with Quality Meat Scotland and the UK Government on a number of occasions, most recently with David Mundell, Parliamentary under Secretary of State at the Scotland Office, on 12 September.

As AHDB and EBLEX are accountable to Ministers in England in relation to red meat the Scottish Government does not engage directly with them on this matter.

The Food Standards Agency Scotland is responsible for ensuring that abattoirs in Scotland meet the required regulatory requirements.

FSA/S have advised that there are currently 30 approved red meat slaughterhouses and six poultry meat slaughterhouses in Scotland. There are also 20 approved establishments that handle wild game, and 14 authorised on-farm slaughter facilities for farmed game.

The English Beef and Lamb Executive and the British Pig Association respectively are responsible for the promotion of livestock processed in England.

Quality Meat Scotland advise that livestock born and reared in Scotland which are slaughtered in England would be marketed under either the red tractor scheme or the Quality Standard Mark, which is administered by EBLEX.

Quality Meat Scotland collected red meat levy income totalling £4.43 million in 2012-13, £4.85 million in both 2011-12 and 2010-11, £3.85 million in 2009-10 and £3.93 million in 2008-09.

The food and drink turnover figure of £13 billion was sourced from Scottish Annual Business Statistics 2011, which does not disaggregate the data down to this level of detail.

The Scottish Government is not aware of any complete data sources for land values in Scotland. There are some private sources, such as Savills and the Royal institute of Chartered Surveyors, but the diverse nature of land in Scotland and the low number of sales means that these data cannot provide meaningful averages for land value.

However, rental price offers another way of measuring the value of land. The Scottish Government carries out an annual survey of annual rent figures from a sample of holdings. The results for 2012 are published on the government website at the following link http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/0042/00425434.pdf

The results from the survey showed that overall average was £32 per hectare (£13 per acre), but this was heavily weighted by large areas of Less Favoured Area (LFA) land. The average for non-LFA land was £200 per hectare and the overall average has gone up by an estimated 15% between 2008 and 2011.

In Scotland we need a diverse and balanced energy portfolio to provide us with secure and affordable heat and electricity for decades to come. Diversity of sources in our energy portfolio and reduced reliance on energy imports makes our energy system more resilient.

Clearly we are aware that the energy sector is a dynamic industry and that alternative energy sources and projects are constantly emerging including such technologies as underground coal gasification.The Scottish Government’s view is energy sources should only be pursued as long as their development and use is consistent with environmental objectives.

Individual proposals for energy production projects in Scotland will be studied on their merits. Each proposal will be considered through the normal planning process and the appropriate regulatory regimes.