Chamber and committees

The European Commission''s 2005 guidelines on start-up aid to airlines remain in force and have prevented us from providing a successor to the Route Development Fund. The Commission is reviewing these guidelines and will consult publicly on any proposed changes. We continue actively to support air route development through direct engagement with airlines and the provision of market and route analysis.

There are currently eight wildlife crime coordinators in Scotland, one in each police force.

No.

There have been 17 snaring cases reported to the Procurator Fiscal Service from April 2010 to date.

Information on the number of prosecutions for illegal snaring for 2010-11 will not be available until publication of the Criminal Proceedings in Scotland, 2010-11 Statistical Bulletin. This is due to be published in December 2011.

The dates of all Scottish Government Official and National Statistics publications are pre-announced, and the up to date list of future publications can be found at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Search/Forthcoming.

My officials have maintained close contact with the South Australian group backing the City of Adelaide''s move. We''re all looking forward to the ship''s presentation as a celebration of the shared culture heritage of Scotland and Australia. Following a thorough technical appraisal and the granting of listed building consent by North Ayrshire Council, the move is on course for June or July of this year and we continue to support our Australian partners in achieving this.

In order to improve the rights and security of park home residents I have launched a public consultation on proposals to update the terms in agreements between residents and park owners. The consultation will run until 18 March 2011 and includes a draft Scottish Statutory Instrument which will be progressed following the consultation. This will update Schedule 1 to the Mobile Homes Act 1983 which sets out the rights of mobile homes residents by way of a list of contractual terms that it implies into agreements.

The Scottish Government has regular discussions with the UK Government on the UK National Reform Programme, most recently at the Joint Ministerial Committee (Europe) on 14 March 2011. Scottish Government officials are in regular contact with their Whitehall equivalents on the drafting of the UK National Reform Programme document.

The Scottish Government is fully supportive of the EU Small Business Act, which complements our Government Economic Strategy and Purpose. The Scottish Government welcomes the European Commission''s intention to review the Small Business Act as a helpful opportunity to examine progress made to embed the principles and implement its specific measures.

While we have not undertaken any formal evaluation or assessment to quantify the cumulative impact of the range of measures under the Small Business Act, it is important to identity what more needs to be done to ensure momentum is maintained to further improve the EU business environment for SMEs. We will take account of any new ideas or approaches that emerge in due course from the review.

Data from UK Government indicates that, in total, 68 UK small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) applied for funding for eco-innovation projects under the European 2010 Competitiveness and Innovation Programme. No data on the number of Scottish SMEs is held as information is not broken down below EU member state level.

To encourage further engagement with the programme over the next few months Enterprise Europe Scotland plan to raise awareness of eco-innovation opportunities through information days and capacity building sessions to businesses across a range of sectors.

This project, which is included within Intervention 22 of the Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR), will require many stages to be undertaken, including detailed design and development work before we can finalise the timescales for delivery.

A timetable for delivering the Dalry bypass will be set in the context of overall affordability and our commitments to other STPR proposals.