Chamber and committees

The government is presently consulting with stakeholders on the recommendations made by the Farm Animal Welfare Council in their report on the castration and tail docking of lambs in consultation with stakeholders. The report does not recommend a ban on these procedures and acknowledges that there are circumstances when there are animal welfare advantages to these procedures being undertaken.

The government''s response will be published in due course.

It is anticipated that a consultation paper on proposals to require livery yards to be licensed will be issued in the autumn.

A total of ten applications containing peatland management options have been submitted to the Rural Development Contracts - Rural Priorities element of the Scotland Rural Development Programme. Eight of these have been approved.

The consultation exercise for South Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway is not due to end until 2 March 2009. Decisions will not be made until after the consultation responses and the Scottish Court Service final proposals have been fully considered.

The reasons for the Scottish Court Service recommendation in relation to Annan are set out in the consultation document. Scottish Court Service have advised that the building lay out at Annan Town Hall precludes any adaptation to address the security concerns in that building. No costing was undertaken.

The Scottish Government do not collect comprehensive information relating to farmers who have entered organic production. However, we do hold information on the number of farmers who have entered the Organic Aid Scheme each year, as shown in the following table.

Year	Organic Aid Scheme* Entrants
1999	252
2000	136
2001	127
2002	50
2003	14
2004	113
2005	95
2006	148
2007	0
2008	0

Note: *The Organic Aid Scheme closed to new applications on 31 March 2006.

The Scottish Government do not collect comprehensive information relating to the number of hectares of farmland used for organic production. However, we do hold information on the number hectares which have been entered each year under the Organic Aid Scheme which is shown in the following table.

Hectares Entered Under Organic Aid Scheme*

Year
1999	117,052
2000	50,659
2001	85,193
2002	8,277
2003	1,204
2004	19,497
2005	16,581
2006	76,076
2007	0
2008	0

Note: *The Organic Aid Scheme closed to new applications on 31 March 2006.

The new National Waste Plan for Scotland will perform this function.

The main mechanism used for the collection of waste data from local authorities is the waste data flow system. This is a web-based system used by all local authorities in Scotland to report their waste arisings, recycling levels and disposal. The system is also used to monitor the quantity of biodegradable municipal waste landfilled under the Landfill Allowance Scheme. In addition, waste data is collected from other sources including waste management licence operator returns, the register of exemptions and supplementary surveys. the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) have overall responsibility for the collation and management of all data collected.

The waste data gathered is used in various ways. For example, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency use it to produce publications such as the Waste Data Digest, which is an annual publication that sets out key waste facts and trends. The data is also used for target setting, performance and compliance monitoring, meeting reporting requirements and of course policy development. Further information on how the data is used can be found on SEPA''s website.

The following table shows a breakdown by region of both how many applications for organic production have been submitted to the Rural Priorities scheme, under the Scotland Rural Development Programme and how many of these have been approved. In total, 69 cases have applied of which 61 have been approved.

	Applied	Approved
Argyll	4	3
Ayrshire	0	0
Borders	9	9
Clyde	2	2
Dumfries and Galloway	2	1
Forth	3	2
Grampian	20	15
Highland	10	10
Northern Isles	8	8
Outer Hebrides	0	0
Tayside	11	11
Total	69	61

 

The following table shows a breakdown by region of both how many applications for organic production have been submitted to the Rural Priorities scheme, under the Scotland Rural Development Programme and how many of these have been approved. In total, 69 cases have applied of which 61 have been approved.

Formal contract documentation is due to be issued to successful applicants shortly.

	Applied	Approved
Argyll	4	3
Ayrshire	0	0
Borders	9	9
Clyde	2	2
Dumfries and Galloway	2	1
Forth	3	2
Grampian	20	15
Highland	10	10
Northern Isles	8	8
Outer Hebrides	0	0
Tayside	11	11
Total	69	61