Chamber and committees

Through the Forum for Renewable Energy Development in Scotland(FREDS), the Executive is working in partnership with academia and industry to producean action plan to accelerate the commercial deployment of marine energy devicesand to develop a manufacturing base for marine energy technologies in Scotland. Thedevelopment of marine technologies will also benefit from the work of the new Energy Intermediary Technology Institute, which will fostercloser collaboration between the academic and business sectors in Scotland.

The European Marine Energy TestCentre off Orkney, of which the Executive is the major funder, will allow Scotland’s marineenergy industry to test, accredit and showcase its products for the growing worldmarket.

All renewables technologies areeligible for support under the terms of the Renewables Obligation Scotland.

The “Dumb Dumpers” Stop Linereceived 315 calls during its first month of operation.

The Food Standards Agencyhas advised me that there are general requirements under the various hygieneregulations applying to food businesses which require all food and foodequipment to be handled in such a way as to protect against any contaminationlikely to render the food unfit for human consumption or injurious to health.

In addition, the agency hasadvised me that as part of its strategy to help protect the interests of foodallergenic consumers, it is advising industry that where “may contain”warnings are used, they should be used responsibly and only when strictlynecessary. They should be worded in a way that allows consumers with foodallergies to make informed choices about what food they eat.

The Food Standards Agencyhas advised me that its board recently agreed a detailed strategy that wouldhelp protect the interests of food allergenic consumers. This includes workingwith all parts of the food industry, including caterers and enforcement bodies,as well as providing information for consumers themselves. As part of thiswork, the agency is currently producing best practice advice aimed at caterersand enforcement bodies on the issues raised by food allergy and foodintolerance.

I have been advised by theFood Standards Agency that new European rules have recently been agreed thatwill improve current labelling requirements and make it compulsory to listcertain specified allergens including nuts and nut products. The new rules willalso remove the current “25% rule”, thus making it compulsory to listcomponents of compound ingredients that make up less than 25% of the finalproduct. These measures will be particularly helpful to allergic consumers sothat those with food allergies can avoid ingredients that may damage their health.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA)funds an on-going research programme, costing approximately £1 million peryear, on food allergy and intolerance. Since 1995, this programme has funded 13projects that directly address issues surrounding peanut allergy, includingresearch into the causes, development and prevalence of this allergy. Detailsof these projects are available from the FSA’s website.

In addition, the NationalResearch Register (NRR), a UK wide research database, records four on-goingprojects and six completed projects on the causes of nut allergies. Details ofthese projects are available from the NRR, a copy of which is in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 17404).

Copies of any publicationsarising from completed projects listed in the NRR or on the FSA’s website www.food.gov.uk will be available from thenamed contact.

This is not possible to predict.The amount of electricity exported depends on a number of factors including themix of generation available in Scotland at the time, local and other demand for electricity andthe prevailing market conditions.

The nature of the technologiesand areas of research for ITI Energy will be an operational matter for the Instituteitself.

The UK Energy White Paper, OurEnergy Future – creating a low carbon economy, maintained the UK Government’s strong commitment to furtherincrease the amount of CHP, including a commitmentto increase CHP capacity in the UK to 10,000MW by 2010. The Scottish Executive contributed to the development of the white paper and remains closely involvedin its implementation, including the targets for CHP. Scotland is alreadyplaying a full part in achieving its share of the UK target andto date has installed capacity of 743MW. The Scottish Executive will continueto encourage further opportunities to advance CHP.

We believe that the changes thatwe have made to the Renewables Obligation Scotland (ROS) can enhance the securityof our electricity supply by extending the operating span of existing fossil fuelledplant. However, there are many other factors external to the ROS which will havean influence on Scotland’s future electricity supply.