Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to  question S3W-17784 on 17 November 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-17784 on 17 November 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-17784 on 17 November 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-17784 on 17 November 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Decisions taken about the crewing arrangements for the air ambulance service are operational ones for the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS). As such, the information sought is a matter for them and is not held centrally.

The SAS have provided the Scottish Government with an assurance that every air ambulance mission is evaluated to ensure no adverse effects and all mission performance is monitored on an on-going basis. This issue was most recently discussed at public annual review of the SAS on 24 September 2008.

There is no requirement for match funding from individual local authorities to be available to allow housing associations to access the accelerated £100 million funding.

I refer the member to the answers to questions S3W-15759 on 16 September, S3W-16452 on 26 September and S3W-17424 on 11 November 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

The ending of the Bull Hire Scheme does not raise any novel animal welfare issues. New owners and keepers of animals will have a responsibility to ensure their welfare in accordance with the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006 and the Welfare of Farm Animals (Scotland) Regulations 2000. There are also health and safety considerations in relation to the keeping of bulls and the Code of Recommendations for the Welfare of Cattle contains advice on the keeping of bulls. Crofters Commission staff will be available over coming months to assist with the training of crofting groups who wish to take on a bull.

It is too early to say what the arrangements for EU support might be after 2013.

The June 2007 Agricultural Census indicates that 470 registered crofts, or holdings containing crofts, had a total of 735 bulls on them. In the same year, the Crofters Commission provided a total of 121 hires. It is not known how many of the remaining bulls were owned by crofters. As at 13 November 2008, there are 17,885 crofts registered with the Crofters Commission.

The requested information is given in the following table:

Number of Suckler Cows by Agricultural Region

	Suckler Cows
	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
Agricultural Region	Number	Number	Number	Number	Number	Number
Shetland	2,022	2,001	2,111	2,038	1,934	1,960
Orkney	28,486	28,938	28,362	28,096	27,259	26,565
Eileanan an Iar	2,854	2,895	2,886	2,873	2,870	2,799
Highland	55,119	55,657	55,184	53,817	52,210	51,242
North East Scotland	95,399	95,854	96,260	95,352	94,471	92,626
Tayside	38,124	38,247	37,601	37,440	36,397	36,065
Fife	14,239	14,122	13,899	14,503	13,951	13,722
Lothian	13,476	13,711	13,721	13,622	13,436	13,696
Scottish Borders	48,853	49,137	50,290	49,331	46,789	45,371
East Central	13,561	13,679	13,643	13,475	13,152	12,976
Argyll and Bute	22,852	23,297	22,958	22,251	21,300	20,901
Clyde Valley	33,197	34,323	34,415	32,900	31,896	31,543
Ayrshire	30,589	30,804	31,017	31,222	29,993	30,168
Dumfries and Galloway	88,362	90,208	89,972	90,274	86,566	84,720
Scotland	487,133	492,873	492,319	487,194	472,224	464,354

Source: Scottish agricultural census. Data refers to first, non-Sunday, day in June each year.

The information for 2003 to 2007 is already available, through separate publications for each year, in the annual Scottish Agricultural Census Summary Sheets publication.

The information can be accessed through the agriculture and fisheries statistics website at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Agriculture-Fisheries/PubScottishCensus.