Chamber and committees

A copy of the Memorandum of Understanding is available on the Marine Scotland Website at www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/marine/Fish-Shellfish/international.

The Norwegian Government sent a representative to speak at an Aquaculture Science and Research event held by the Scottish Government in Glasgow last year, and regular discussions have taken place between officials in both countries. The Memorandum of Understanding Committee will meet in Edinburgh later this year, at which a formal approach to collaboration on research will be agreed.

An Improved Containment Working Group was established on 22 September 2009 as one of six Working Groups of the Ministerial Group on Aquaculture. The group will develop a Scottish technical standard for fish-farming equipment (moorings, cages and nets) over the course of the next year.

Government will work closely with the aquaculture industry as this work progresses. Scottish Government officials and members of the Improved Containment Working Group will also liaise with the Norwegian government under the auspices of the Memorandum of Understanding on Aquaculture Cooperation.

An update on progress will be provided to the next Ministerial Group on Aquaculture on 22 June 2010 and published on the Scottish Government website at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/marine/Fish-Shellfish/18364.

The protected geographic indication for Scottish farmed salmon was not included on the agenda for the UK Aquaculture Forum and the topic was not raised during discussions.

The first meeting of the Joint Committee for Bilateral Co-operation on Aquaculture will be co-chaired by the Marine Director of the Scottish Government and the head of the Department of Aquaculture in the Norwegian Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs. Other participants will include representatives from individual aquaculture companies, trade bodies, regulators, government officials and scientists.

Following the current public consultation the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will approach Scottish Ministers for approval before proceeding with the Order.

These proposals reflect the position prior to the introduction of the Scotland Act 1998 and mirror the powers that the Scottish Parliament approved for the River Tweed in 2006.

The information requested is provided in the following table for 2005-06 onwards, the period for which electronic records are available. The information for 1999 to 2005 could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. Allocations are based on an application process, rather than being made automatically. The figures given below are total allocations for two separate grant schemes, relating to Local Air Quality Management and vehicle emissions testing. Not all local authorities apply for funding in a given financial year. Complete figures are not yet available for 2009-10.

From 2008-09 all local authorities have also received a direct non ring fenced allocation for air quality work. This is a consequence of the concordat signed by the Scottish Ministers and the COSLA presidential team in November 2007, which rolled up a number of specific capital grants into a single General Capital Grant. The air quality allocation is based on funding provided over the previous five years.

Local authority	2005-06 (£)	2006-07 (£)	2007-08 (£)	2008-09 (£)
Aberdeen	46,313.19	62,866.31	39,126.60	53,550.00
Aberdeenshire	0	0	0	0
Angus	14,433.12	13,549.00	21,999.00	0
Argyll and Bute	0	21,958.18	7,357.32	0
Clackmannanshire	0	0	0	0
Dumfries and Galloway	0	0	0	4,986.00
Dundee	118,000.00	106,817.00	17,850.00	0
East Ayrshire	10,703.14	0	28,913.00	43,803.66
East Dunbartonshire	53,201.06	86,203.79	46,593.18	35,610.00
Eilean Siar	0	0	0	0
East Lothian	0	0	10,466.00	0
East Renfrewshire	400.00	1,850.00	12,206.00	3,995.00
Edinburgh	0	28,124.71	12,500.00	0
Falkirk	0	17,705.00	16,950.00	7,500.00
Fife	41,386.00	23,127.00	60,000.00	54,784.00
Glasgow	263,990.88	351,360.89	265,000.00	320,698.07
Highland	0	0	12,250.15	0
Inverclyde	0	0	10,750.50	0
Midlothian	25,494.06	0	0	20,285.64
Moray	0	0	0	0
North Ayrshire	0	0	10,305.44	32,689.22
North Lanarkshire	57,975.61	60,226.72	89,130.50	134,537.19
Orkney	0	0	0	0
Perth and Kinross	74,931.50	72,193.50	44,555.50	41,500.00
Renfrewshire	8,720.00	27,916.00	48,622.00	24,590.00
Scottish Borders	0	0	21,930.00	0
Shetland	0	0	30,000	0
South Ayrshire	23,728.49	13,353.92	46,830.27	12,735.18
South Lanarkshire	0	0	111,094.00	0
Stirling	14,000.00	14,918.00	14,768.46	0
West Dunbartonshire	40,830.00	55,530.00	28,000.00	11,999.30
West Lothian	80,232.66	76,589.66	175,511.25	147,190.59

 

The responsibility for delivering the Zero Waste strategy lies with the Scottish Government. The Scottish Future Trust (SFT) is supporting local authorities in developing and delivering solutions to meet the requirement of both the EU Landfill Directive and the emerging requirements of the Scottish Government''s Zero Waste Plan and I have asked Barry White, Chief Executive of the Scottish Futures Trust to give details of this support. His response is as follows:

The Scottish Futures Trust has been invited by Glasgow City Council, North, South and East Ayrshire Councils, West Lothian Council, Edinburgh and Midlothian Council and North Lanarkshire Council to support the development and delivery of their residual waste treatment projects.

For Glasgow, the North, East and South Ayrshire collaborative project and the Edinburgh and Midlothian collaborative project, SFT sits on the project board and works alongside the council''s project teams. Together these projects deal with more than a quarter of Scotland''s residual waste.

For West Lothian Council, SFT will undertake independent peer reviews at key milestones during procurement as well as being a centre of expertise resource for the project team.

For North Lanarkshire Council, discussions are at an early stage to determine how best the SFT can support the council''s project team.

In addition to the above, SFT is also undertaking a number of actions in partnership with COSLA, SoLACE and the Scottish Government. With COSLA, SFT is working on a data collection exercise to enable the public and private sector to have a clearer picture as to the individual waste infrastructure plans of each of the 32 local authorities to meet both landfill diversion and recycling targets. With SoLACE, SFT has been asked to facilitate future discussions as to how best those local authorities, not currently in procurement, could deliver their future waste infrastructure requirements.

SFT has also initiated, as part of the development of its centre of expertise role, a waste procurement forum to share and disseminate best practice and lessons learnt and set up a training session for local authority waste officers on commercial issues relating to residual waste projects.

The single document is intended for information purposes and is to contain the main points of the specification.