Chamber and committees

Any feed or forage that contains ragwort is unsafe to feed to horses and other animals. The Agriculture Act 1970 and the Feeding Stuffs (Scotland) Regulations 2000 govern the sale of animal feed and forage. Regulation 14 makes it an offence to sell any material for use as a feeding stuff which is found, or discovered as a result of analysis, to be unwholesome for or dangerous to any farmed animal, pet animal or human being. The penalty for this offence would be a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale (currently £5,000).

Current proposals for the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Bill do not explicitly cover the production of animal feed. However, there are two sections in the draft bill that could be used to deal with this issue.

The proposed section 20 of the draft bill would make it an offence to administer a poisonous or injurious substance to an animal, if the person administering that substance knows that substance to be poisonous or injurious. Knowingly feeding ragwort to an animal susceptible to ragwort poisoning would therefore be an offence. The definition of “poisonous or injurious” substance would certainly include ragwort fed to horses.

The proposed section 22 of the draft bill would make it an offence to fail to ensure that the needs of animals are met and this would include ensuring that an animal is fed a suitable diet. Hay or haylage contaminated with ragwort and fed to animals susceptible to ragwort poisoning would not be providing the animal with a suitable diet. We would expect the person responsible for feeding the animal to check that the animal feed was suitable, if necessary removing any ragwort.

The penalties for both these offences on summary conviction would be imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale (currently £5,000) or both.

The Scottish Executive’s Accident Investigation and Prevention (AIP) Unit investigate all fatal accidents which occur on the trunk road network. Investigations into the circumstances of the accident at Auldgirth on 22 November 2005 are underway.

More generally the safety performance of the trunk road network is monitored annually and a programme of AIP measures are implemented to mitigate identified problem areas. The 2005 annual review of accidents on the trunk road network is about to commence and will identify AIP schemes for implementation in 2006. The potential for further AIP schemes at accident cluster sites on the A76 Trunk Road will be considered and prioritised for implementation.

The number of injury accidents recorded on each section of the A76 in each of the last five years (January 2000 to December 2004) is as follows:

1. A75 Glasgow Road Roundabout to B729 Junction

Year	Fatal	Serious	Slight	Total
2000	0	2	4	6
2001	0	3	4	7
2002	0	0	6	6
2003	0	0	3	3
2004	0	1	2	3

 

2. B729 Junction to Dalswinston

Year	Fatal	Serious	Slight	Total
2000	1	1	2	4
2001	0	1	2	3
2002	0	0	2	2
2003	0	0	6	6
2004	0	1	2	3

 

3. Dalswinton to Thornhill

Year	Fatal	Serious	Slight	Total
2000	0	0	4	4
2001	0	1	2	3
2002	0	1	2	3
2003	0	1	1	2
2004	0	3	5	8

 

4. Thornhill to A702 Junction, Thornhill

Year	Fatal	Serious	Slight	Total
2000	0	0	0	0
2001	0	1	0	1
2002	0	1	1	2
2003	0	0	1	1
2004	0	3	5	8

 

5. A702 Junction, Thornhill to A702 Junction, Carronbridge

Year	Fatal	Serious	Slight	Total
2000	0	0	1	1
2001	0	0	1	1
2002	0	0	0	0
2003	0	0	0	0
2004	0	1	0	1

 

6. A702 Junction, Carronbridge to Petrol Station, Sanquhar

Year	Fatal	Serious	Slight	Total
2000	1	2	2	5
2001	0	3	2	5
2002	1	1	3	5
2003	0	2	3	5
2004	0	1	2	3

 

7. Petrol Station, Sanquhar to Manse Junction

Year	Fatal	Serious	Slight	Total
2000	0	0	0	0
2001	0	0	3	3
2002	0	1	0	1
2003	0	0	2	2
2004	0	0	1	1

 

8. Manse Junction to Kelloholm

Year	Fatal	Serious	Slight	Total
2000	0	0	3	3
2001	0	0	1	1
2002	0	0	0	0
2003	0	1	3	4
2004	0	1	1	2

 

9. Kelloholm to Kirkland

Year	Fatal	Serious	Slight	Total
2000	0	1	0	1
2001	0	0	0	0
2002	0	1	0	1
2003	0	0	1	1
2004	0	0	1	1

 

10. Kirkland to East Ayrshire Boundary

Year	Fatal	Serious	Slight	Total
2000	0	1	0	1
2001	0	0	4	4
2002	0	0	1	1
2003	0	0	2	2
2004	0	0	3	3

 

11. East Ayrshire Boundary to Polquhirter West Junction

Year	Fatal	Serious	Slight	Total
2000	0	0	2	2
2001	0	1	2	3
2002	0	0	1	1
2003	0	0	2	2
2004	0	0	1	1

 

12. Polquhirter West Junction to Rottenyard Farm

Year	Fatal	Serious	Slight	Total
2000	0	0	1	1
2001	0	2	1	3
2002	0	2	2	4
2003	0	0	1	1
2004	0	1	1	2

 

13. Rottenyard Farm to Skerrington Roundabout

Year	Fatal	Serious	Slight	Total
2000	0	1	0	1
2001	0	1	2	3
2002	0	0	1	1
2003	1	0	1	2
2004	0	0	5	5

 

14. Skerrington Roundabout to A70 Cumnock Roundabout

Year	Fatal	Serious	Slight	Total
2000	0	1	0	1
2001	0	0	1	1
2002	0	0	0	0
2003	0	1	0	1
2004	0	0	2	2

 

15. A70 Cumnock Roundabout to B7063 Auchinleck Roundabout

Year	Fatal	Serious	Slight	Total
2000	1	0	0	1
2001	0	1	0	1
2002	0	0	1	1
2003	0	0	0	0
2004	0	1	0	1

 

16. B7063 Auchinleck Roundabout to B705 Catrine Road Junction

Year	Fatal	Serious	Slight	Total
2000	1	0	3	4
2001	1	0	2	3
2002	1	0	3	4
2003	1	1	3	5
2004	0	3	1	4

 

17. B705 Catrine Road Junction – Hillhead Junction

Year	Fatal	Serious	Slight	Total
2000	0	0	2	2
2001	0	0	2	2
2002	0	1	1	2
2003	0	0	3	3
2004	0	0	4	4

 

18. Hillhead Junction – Cessnock Water Bridge

Year	Fatal	Serious	Slight	Total
2000	0	1	6	7
2001	1	3	4	8
2002	0	3	3	6
2003	0	1	1	2
2004	0	1	2	3

 

19. Cessnock Water Bridge to Hurlford Interchange

Year	Fatal	Serious	Slight	Total
2000	0	0	3	3
2001	0	0	1	1
2002	0	0	1	1
2003	0	0	3	3
2004	0	0	4	4

 

The figures quoted may differ slightly from those published elsewhere because they were extracted on a different date and the database may have changed between the two dates e.g. due to late returns or corrections to earlier returns.

We have always been quite clear: the purpose of pursuing efficiency savings is to enhance levels of service not to reduce them. Only those savings which meet the criteria set out in our definitions of time or cash releasing savings can be counted as efficiency savings.

Details of the projects which have received funding from the first round of the International Development Fund are available on the Scottish Executive website at:

www.scotland.gov.uk/news/releases/2005/11/04144130.

In total, £4.3 million over the next three years has been awarded for work in sub-Saharan Africa and  Sri Lanka.

One hundred and two applications were received in the first funding round. Of these, 38 were accepted on to the second stage of the application process. Two projects withdrew at this stage, and of the 36 second stage applications received, 33 were approved for funding. As a result, funding of £4.3 million over the next three years has been committed for sub-Saharan Africa and Sri Lanka.

Concept notes were assessed against the criteria published on our website: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/International-Relations/internationaldevelopment/fundingguidance.

These decisions were also reviewed by our expert group, which was established to provide expert advice to ministers.

In response to the views expressed in the public consultation Paying for Water Services, the Scottish Executive announced to the Parliament in February 2005 its intention to end the link between rateable values and charging non-domestic customers for water and sewerage services. It will consult on detailed proposals for a new charging regime prior to the regime’s implementation in 2010.

In the meantime, the current basis for charging un-metered non-domestic premises by reference to the rateable values that were in place in March 2000 will remain in place for the next four years. This approach is intended to ensure as little disruption as possible to the charging regime before the major changes planned for 2010.

The details of individual customers’ charges for water and sewerage services is a matter for the customer and Scottish Water in the first instance. Customers with concerns about their charges should draw these concerns to Scottish Water.

The risk to public health due to the release of radioactive caesium from burning timber depends on both the concentration of the material in the timber and the level of exposure to combustion products. Measurements of the radionuclide concentration in woods from the West of Scotland were carried out by the National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB) in 2003 on behalf of Forest Research. The measured activity concentration of Caesium 137 was in the range two to 110 Becquerels per kilogram of undried sawdust. Interpretation of this result by the NRPB indicates that for any reasonably foreseeable scenario involving the burning of such timber, the public health consequences will be negligible.