Chamber and committees

No funds have been made available.It is difficult to predict the administrative costs to local authorities arisingfrom the abolition of the feudal system, but it is expected that these can be metfrom existing resources. As with any other individual or corporate body, it is amatter of choice for the local authority as to what, if any, action it wishes totake. The legislation does not require any action generating unavoidable costs forcouncils.

It is unlikely that local authoritieswill have incurred much expense to date, as the feudal system will not actuallybe abolished until 28 November 2004. It is currently possible for authorities to registernotices in the property registers in order to save certain types of feudal rightand authorities have been advised of the best way to ensure that they will retaina say in relation to housing complexes where they still own some of the properties.It is not anticipated that authorities will wish to use a large number of notices,and so the registration costs should not prove to be significant.

Matters relating to the regulationof international trade, including responsibility for GATS negotiations, are reservedto the UK Government. The Scottish Executive has ensured that the UK Government’s representationsto the European Union on GATS reflect the Executive’s commitment to retain Scotland’spublic water services in the public sector, and the UK Government has confirmed that it has no intentionof pressing for water services to be included in future GATS commitments. Nothingin the GATS process affects the Scottish Executive’s right to determine policy onhow water services are provided in Scotland.  The forthcoming Water Services Bill will not affectScottish Water's status as a public corporation.

The Executive remains fully committedto retaining water supply in the public sector. The Water Services Bill will prohibitthird parties from using the public water and sewerage networks, ensuring that ScottishWater remains the sole physical supplier of water and sewerage services to all premisesconnected to the public networks. This prohibition, together with the prohibitionon retail competition to domestic customers and provisions to license retail competitionfor non-domestic customers will reinforce our commitment to retain Scottish Waterin the public sector.

Sections 35 and 36 of theLocal Government in Scotland 2003 were fully commenced on 1 April 2004. The commencementof the other sections referred to depend on regulations being laid and approvedby the Scottish Parliament.

The Scottish Executive has undertakento consult local authority associations and others before laying regulations underthe Local Government in Scotland Act 2003 to ensure that they - and any subsequentguidance - are clear, unambiguous, and take practical issues into account. The consultationand feedback processes have been paced to ensure that overload and confusion isavoided.

Regulations to be laid undersection 11 will be published in draft within the next month for consultation.

Consultation on the content ofregulations to be laid under section 40 was undertaken earlier this year and regulationsare currently in development.

Consultation on the content ofregulations to be laid under sections 8 and 9 is planned to commence this summer.

The Scottish Executive’s supportfor all forms of renewable energy recognises the contribution that they can maketowards reducing harmful emissions, thus helping to protect and preserve Scotland’s environment.The local environmental impacts of each proposed development will vary, and areassessed against existing and robust planning guidelines as part of a consultativeprocess involving all key stakeholders.

Article 2 (a) provides a definitionof “plans and programmes” for the purposes of the Directive. Work on the preciseimplementation of the Directive is currently being taken forward by Executive officials.

The Executive has no plans toremove local road maintenance functions from local government.

Only two specialist reportingagencies provide electronic reports to Procurators Fiscal: the Vehicle and OperatorServices Agency and South Ayrshire Council. The Crown Office and Procurator FiscalService is establishing a secure web site that will allow all other specialist reportingagencies to provide reports on-line to Procurators Fiscal by the end of 2004.

The power to advance well-beingis designed as an enabling measure, giving local authorities the freedom to workin a more innovative and creative way in responding to the needs of their communities.

 The overall intention of the act is to offer trust withina framework: it is for the local authorityto decide whether any particular action would be likely to promote or improve thewell-being of its area and/or persons in it. Accordingly, local authorities arenot required to report to the Scottish Executive on how they have used, or intend to use, the power, andno records will be maintained centrally.

Guidance on the useof the power was issued by Scottish ministers in April 2004 (The Local Governmentin Scotland Act 2003: Power to Advance Well-Being Guidance). It may be foundon the Executive’s internet site at the followingaddress:

www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/localgov/pawbg-00.asp.

As indicated in the answer givento question S2W-116 on 2 June 2003, cases in which there has been a non-court disposalare not marked “no proceedings” and do not form part of any no proceedings dataprovided by Crown Office.

The numbers of cases closed bynon-court disposals in the categories listed for the period 2003-04 are as follows:

Total Reports Received	Cases Closed as Warning	Cases Closed as Conditional Offer	Cases Closed as Fiscal Fine	Cases Closed as Diversion from Prosecution
325,461	21,920	8,690	30,029	1,342
As % of Total Reports	6.7%	2.6%	9.2%	0.4%