Chamber and committees

Dumfries and Galloway’s claim under the Bellwin scheme following the severe winter weather in late March 2013 was submitted in two parts. The second part of the claim amounted to over £794,000 for repairing the damage caused to the roads by the severe snow storms. This part of the claim was ruled out because the expenditure was to be incurred outwith the two month period following the incident. The council, in submitting the claim accepted that this part of the claim was outwith the two month period.

This left the first part of the claim which amounted to almost £965,000 of which around £650,000 was in respect of the immediate snow clearing and providing an emergency response following the incident. Unfortunately, this did not breach the council’s published Bellwin threshold of £679,994 that they are expected to budget for (0.2% of their net revenue budget) to cope with emergency situations. The remainder of the first part of the claim (almost £315,000) was in respect of work on drainage, fencing, dyking, hedging, resurfacing, surface dressing and verge repair, none of which would fall under the eligible costs of the scheme as it was not work to safeguard life or property in the immediate aftermath of an emergency situation.

We have produced a leaflet giving permanent park home residents information about their new and existing rights and responsibilities. This is being distributed to all affected residents and sites for which we have addresses. We are also writing to site owners and local authorities, and have contacted relevant advice organisations to make them aware of the changes. In addition the leaflet is available on the Scottish Government website at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2013/08/9282.

The independent expert group on opioid replacement therapies made no recommendations to the Scottish Government in Spring 2013.

The report of the independent expert group is available on the Scottish Government website:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2013/08/9760.

The Minister for Community Safety and Legal Affairs had no meetings with the independent expert group on opioid replacement therapies to discuss progress on evidence gathering. However, the minister met with the researchers for the group, as a stakeholder, to provide information to the group as part of their evidence gathering process. The Minister was also kept informed of the group’s progress during the course of the evidence gathering.

The report of the independent expert group is available on the Scottish Government website: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2013/08/9760.

The independent expert group on opioid replacement therapies met four times. The group also corresponded electronically outwith these meetings.

The report of the independent expert group is available on the Scottish Government website:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2013/08/9760.

The report of the independent expert group on opioid replacement therapies was published on 22 August 2013. Notification of the publication was sent to the Scottish Parliament’s Justice and Health committees, the Cross Party Group on Drug and Alcohol Misuse and the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe).

The report is available on the Scottish Government website:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2013/08/9760.

The report of the independent expert group on opioid replacement therapies, including a full list of stakeholders consulted, is available on the Scottish Government website:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2013/08/9760.

We regret that resource pressures did further delay the public consultation on the possible extension of the Scottish SPCA powers. I can confirm however that the consultation document will be published later this year.

In preparation for the tendering of the 2012-18 Northern Isles ferry services contract, in June 2010, the Scottish Government launched a detailed consultation on all aspects of the Northern Isles ferry services. The views of ferry service users and other stakeholders were sought on a broad range of issues including timetabling, routes and ports and also fares. As part of that consultation exercise, a number of public meetings were held with communities in the Northern Isles.

The consultation elicited over 400 responses from individuals and organisations whose comments were fully considered and influenced the final form of the tendered service specification.

In addition, Ministers and Transport Scotland officials regularly meet with local ferry users in the Northern Isles to discuss a range of policy and operational issues.

Collating data on passenger carryings is a matter for ferry service operators and not the Scottish Government.

The passenger data which is gathered by the operators relates specifically to the various ticket types available. Therefore, no precise record is kept of students, school pupils or pensioners who have used the Northern Isles ferry service over the last six years.