Chamber and committees

The Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation has requested that the single document be amended to more accurately reflect the current specification of the Scottish Farmed Salmon PGI.

Yes, Scottish farmed salmon produced to organic standards is included in the Scottish Farmed Salmon PGI.

During the past year, Scottish Natural Heritage has revised the SNH website which now provides improved access to a broader range of indicators, including the 22 Scottish Biodiversity Indicators. The indicators are updated annually where survey data allows, the most recent update was March 2010. These indicators can be found at www.snh.gov.uk/publications-data-and-research/trends/scotlands-indicators.

Scottish Natural Heritage has provided Audit Scotland with a report on improvements to the biodiversity indicators. Scotland''s biodiversity indicators have undergone continuous improvement since 2007 in relation to the quantity and quality of the data; the rigour of statistical analysis, and the speed of releasing data.

The Animal Health and Welfare publicity budget for 2008-09 was under spent by £0.02 million, as the invoices for the cost of issuing the Code of Practice on the Welfare of Equidae and reprinting the welfare codes on cattle, sheep, pigs and laying hens were late. These invoices, amounting to £20,000, were subsequently met from the 2009-10 budget.

The outturn efficiency for the Scottish Sustainable Development Forum (SSDF) was delivered by incorporating the secretariat function within the remit of the Sustainable Development Commission Scotland and setting a fixed budget at the start of the year for events.

I understand that the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation has decided that at this time they no longer wish to pursue an amendment to the Scottish Farmed Salmon PGI specification.

We are planning to develop new guidance for public bodies on their biodiversity duty following the meeting of the Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Nagoya, Japan in October 2010. That meeting will consider future directions for biodiversity strategy in an international context, which will be relevant to setting targets and objectives for biodiversity protection at a national and local level. The biodiversity duty contained in the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004 makes direct reference to the Convention on Biological Diversity. We intend to hold discussion with local biodiversity stakeholders during the autumn to consider the requirement for and the scope of any additional guidance.

The five claimants are located within the following Local Authority areas “ Scottish Borders (1), Aberdeenshire (1), Angus (1) and South Lanarkshire (2).

The Scottish Government provide funding to 13 local family mediation services in Scotland amounting to £920,550 per annum. Some of those services run child contact centres although the Scottish Government do not fund these directly.

It is the responsibility of each local authority to develop and deliver waste management facilities and services that meet local needs and circumstances. If local authorities wish to work in partnership to deliver waste infrastructure or services then the Scottish Government would encourage and support such an approach where this represents best practice and delivers value for money.

Scottish Futures Trust has identified waste as one of its key priorities and works with local authorities across Scotland to help ensure that best value is achieved. Currently, Scottish Futures Trust is supporting a number of joint authority projects and authorities moving forward on an individual basis.