Chamber and committees

The recent review identified the need for modernising the Commission's constitutional arrangements, to meet new standards of public accountability, by converting the Commission into a modern NDPB or into an Agency. In the light of the balance of views expressed in the responses received, and following discussions with the Crofters Commission, I have concluded that the NDPB model is the appropriate one. When we have the opportunity we shall legislate to recast the Crofters Commission with a modernised Board structure and its own staff and budget. There will be scope for existing staff to opt to keep their current civil service status and to remain in post on a secondment basis. These are technical changes that will not change the essential character of the Commission.

The other issue was whether the Commission's development functions should be integrated with other support from Highlands and Islands Enterprise. The consultation process has demonstrated a strong preference for maintaining separate specialist support for crofters, and accordingly I am content that these functions stay with the Commission. At the same time, however, I expect the Commission and HIE to work increasingly closely together.

I attended the EU Agriculture Council meeting in Brussels on 20 March as part of the UK delegation led by Mr Nick Brown, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in the UK Government. Ms Christine Gwyther, Secretary for Agriculture and the Rural Economy at the National Assembly for Wales was also present.

The Council had an exchange of views on the Commission's White Paper on Food Safety, focusing particularly on the case for horizontal legislation providing for controls across the whole food chain, the need for transparency in the operation of controls, and procedures for the effective handling of the results of inspection visits. This, together with debates on the Commission's White Paper in other Councils, will inform the Commission's eventual report to Heads of Government.

The Council agreed on conclusions to guide the Commission in its strategy for accommodating budgetary and WTO pressures in the fixing of export refunds on processed goods. The UK delegation emphasised the importance of export refunds to the cereals-based spirit drinks sector, notably Scotch whisky, and urged the Commission to recognise this concern in its implementation of export refund reductions. A statement to this effect was recorded in the minutes of the Council.

The Council also had a first discussion of a proposal to maintain the EU subsidised school milk scheme, but on a basis of a reduced EU budget contribution and compulsory co-financing by Member States. The UK delegation stressed the importance to the UK of continuing the scheme for the benefit of school children, and requested the Commission to examine other possibilities for savings in the EU milk regime before co-financing had to be considered.

Amongst other issues discussed in the Council were the present state of negotiations on the EU banana regime and the impact on agriculture of the EU Nitrates Directive. The Council also agreed a request from Italy for authorisation for payment of a state aid in the sugar sector, with Finland, Denmark and the Netherlands abstaining.

I last met officials, officers and members of the Scottish Crofters Union on 1 October 1999 when I visited Lewis. We discussed a wide range of matters including the role and structure of the SCU, the value and nature of crofting, crofting regulation and support and the current difficulties for sheep producers.

National Planning Policy Guideline 4, (Land for Mineral Working) requires Highland, Western Isles and Shetland Islands Councils to consider identifying suitable opportunities for coastal quarries without significant detrimental environmental or socio-economic effects, and to include preferred locations for these in development plans.

A Direction is being issued to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency to designate an additional 11 Scottish waters under the Shellfish Waters Directive (79/923/EEC). The designations take account of the views expressed in the consultation exercise.

Scotland's shellfish farming industry is an excellent example of sustainable development. It supports the rural economy by providing much-needed jobs in some of the most economically fragile areas of the country. Water quality is vital to this success story because it is a key marketing factor when the industry promotes its product world-wide. Designating the additional waters will safeguard quality so that they can support shellfish such as mussels, oysters and scallops. This will be good for the environment generally as well as for the communities who rely on shellfish farming.

The waters to be designated are listed in the table below. A notice announcing the Designations will appear in the Edinburgh Gazette. A copy of the Direction to SEPA designating the new waters will be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre. Maps showing the boundaries of the new designations will be sent to the Information Centre in due course.

Classified Waters	Description
Bay of Firth, Orkney Mainland	An area inshore of a line drawn between the points HY404142 (Ferry Point) and HY390155.
Valia Sound, Shetland	An area inshore of a line drawn between the points HU236470 and HU246470 and between HU225472 and HU223474.
Olna Firth, Shetland	An area inshore of a line drawn between the points HU370640 and HU370651.
Loch Eriboll, North West	An area inshore of a line drawn between the points NC490650 and NC455650.
Loch Laxford, North West	An area inshore of a line drawn between the points NC172510 and NC189510.
Loch Kishorn, North West	An area inshore of a line drawn between the points NG813376 and NG809379 and between NG809379 and NG829392 and between NG829392 and NG821400.
Loch Snizort, Skye	An area inshore of a line drawn between the points NG233672 (Waternish Point) and NG359700.
Isle of Ulva/Mull (Loch Tuath)	An area bounded by lines drawn between the points NM365422 (Rubha na Sroine) and NM370450 and between the points NM450388 and NM480388 and between NM480388 and NM480394, extending to MLWS.
Seil Sound, Argyll	An area inshore of a line drawn between the points NM765147 (Rubba na Moine) NM779147.
Loch Creran, Argyll	An area bounded by lines drawn between the points NM900438 and NM900433 and between the points NM978445 and NM978444, extending to MLWS.
Loch Crinan, Argyll	An area inshore of a line drawn between the points NR790945 and NR783965 (Scodaig).

Measures are already in place which allow local authorities in rural areas to have a specified area designated as a rural area and allow the landlord a "first option" to purchase a RTB property before it can be sold on to a third party. This measure applies also to houses for which a registered housing association was the landlord at 7 January 1987, as it does for council houses, although only a council can seek to have an area designated.

The Scottish Executive has been in close contact with Scottish fishing representatives throughout the entire TAC process. I was grateful for the opportunity to meet with them both immediately before the December Council, and in Scotland House in Brussels during a break in Council proceedings. They provided a valuable contribution which I am sure helped us achieve a positive outcome to the negotiations.

The interests of stakeholders will be an important criterion to be taken into account. The other criteria will be how far the proposals help deliver government policy, how far they maximise accountability, and how far they maximise efficiency, effectiveness and value for money.

The Scottish Executive has no plans to introduce such a scheme. The very tight EU pigs regime and State Aid constraints which apply to this sector severely limit the scope for providing any direct aid unless, for example, associated with an exceptional occurrence.I believe the debt relief measures which the Republic of Ireland proposes to introduce for some of its pig farmers is based on the very special circumstances of the fire at the Ballymoney pig processing plant.

The Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee (SEAC) reviewed the ban on the use of porcine MBM as recently as November 1999. The Committee concluded that a relaxation of the feed ban in the UK to allow the inclusion of porcine MBM in poultry feed could not be supported on scientific grounds, reasoning that the comprehensive feed ban in place in the UK had been a critical factor in breaking the cycle of infection in the BSE epidemic. The Scottish Executive has accepted this advice.