Chamber and committees

We shall be considering this and other provisions of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 in the context of our plans for local government legislation generally.

Future sea level rise and its implications for Scotland were covered in the Scottish Executive's report Climate Change: Scottish Implications Scoping Study which I launched in December last year. In addition, Scottish Natural Heritage has commissioned further work on the implications of sea level rise for Scotland, the report on which they plan to publish later this year. The Executive have also just commissioned further research which includes consideration of the implications of sea level rise on coastal flooding which will inform its consideration on the effects of rising sea levels.More locally, in 1999 research was undertaken by SNH in liaison with the Forth Estuary Forum to investigate, among other things, the issue of sea level rise in the Firth of Forth. The forum is currently considering how best to take forward the findings of the study.National Planning Policy Guideline (NPPG) 7: Planning and Flooding, published in 1995, provides guidance on the action which might be taken against the possibility of rising sea levels and storm tide surges affecting new developments.The primary responsibility for safeguarding land from encroachment by the sea, including coastal flooding, lies with the landowner. It is for them, together with local authorities and other interested parties, to consider any action that is required based on predictions of likely sea level rise. To date we are unaware of any strong drive by landowners or local authorities to address concerns about sea level rise and have not received any request for financial support in this context.

The New Housing Partnerships Steering Group are considering the issue of incorporating higher energy efficiency standards following housing transfer. The Executive will take full account of these views when reaching its decision.

This is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise and I have asked the Chairman to write to the member. A copy of the reply will be placed in SPICe.

This is an operational matter for Highlands and Islands Enterprise and I have asked the Chairman to write to the member. A copy of the reply will be placed in SPICe.

By agreement with CoSLA, the single allocation formula is used to determine the main part of the non-housing capital allocations for local authorities. The formula has two parts - a base calculation (explained in the answer to question S1W-3658) which is then adjusted to take account of capital receipts. The formula allocation represents a measure of relative need for non-housing capital spend between councils.

In addition to the formula allocation, local authorities also receive capital allocations for the HRA programme, New Housing Partnerships, project specific allocations and allocations for government initiatives.Scottish Ministers are responsible for determining the total capital allocations for all local authorities in Scotland. As part of the new arrangements introduced by the Public Finance and Accountability Act, the aggregate figure for local authority capital allocations is specified in the Budget Bill which is subject to the approval of the Scottish Parliament.

The provision made for new burdens and pressures recognised in the settlement for 2000-01 is set out in the table below:

	£m
Abolition of Advanced Corporation Tax credits	38.5
Contaminated Land	2.0
Assessors Costs	1.0
National Waste Strategy	2.5
Unidentified New Burdens	4.0
Housing Stock Transfer	0.092
Working Time Regulations	0.083
Deregulation (Weights and Measures) Order	0.057
Air Passenger Duty	0.014
Hallmarking Regulations	0.003
Consumer Protection Regulations	0.003

Note: Unallocated provision was made in the CSR for new burdens unidentified at that time. This has been added to the Miscellaneous GAE figure.

In addition to the statistical information which was historically provided in the former Scottish Office Industry Series of Statistical Bulletins, the Scottish Executive's new Scottish Economic Statistics publication, which is due for release in February, will include:

• Service sector statistics.
• Agriculture sector statistics.
• A range of information on the personal sector (household income, expenditure, DSS benefits).
• Labour market statistics (economic activity, employment, unemployment, rates, average earnings, occupations etc.).
• Regional Selective Assistance by industry and ownership.
• Analysis of trade and the domestic content of Scottish exports.
• Historic time series for the new Scottish GVA index.
• Aggregate Scottish Supply and Use matrices.
• Analysis of the total economic effects of Scottish final demand (consumers, government, etc.).
• A range of indicators disaggregated to sub-Scotland (Unitary Authority) levels.
• General and local government expenditure and income.
• Housing indicators (private sector activity, new dwellings and changes in tenure).
• Transport indicators (passenger and freight traffic, and numbers of new vehicle registrations).

In additional to providing a significant range of new information about Scotland's economy, by presenting this information in a single publication, it is anticipated that a deeper understanding and analysis of Scotland's economy will be developed.

I am currently giving careful consideration to the merits of paying further agrimonetary aid. Since Scotland cannot go it alone on this matter I am involved in on-going discussions with the other UK Agricultural Ministers.

The Scottish Executive has sympathy for dairy farmers who are in financial difficulty through having to adjust to lower raw milk prices. However, in what is now an unregulated market, the Executive's ability to influence the position is limited.Competition policy is a reserved matter and the Monopolies and Mergers' Commission produced a detailed report in February 1999 on the supply of raw cows' milk in Great Britain. Any evidence of anti-competitive behaviour should be passed direct to the Office of Fair Trading.