Chamber and committees

It is the responsibility of the NHS board or Primary Care NHS Trust to assess the overall provision ofdental services in its area. However, the Scottish Executive recognises that there areincreasing problems with access to NHS dental services in Dumfries and Galloway. Forthis reason, Dumfries and Galloway is one of the designated areas of Scotlandwhich benefit from enhanced incentives from the recruitment and retentionpackages introduced by the Executive.

Access to NHS dentistry andthe conditions under which dentists work is being kept under constant review.

The Scottish Executive has made no recent assessment of the containment measures, as this is a matter forthe Ministry of Defence.

QinetiQ operates the Luce Bay range onbehalf of the Ministry of Defence and undertakes an annual survey of the trialarea. A full survey was conducted on 26 August 2002,and an interim visual assessment in April this year. Both the survey and visualassessment confirmed the safe and satisfactory containment of the area inquestion.

A further full surveycommenced on 3 September 2003.

I announced on 14 December 2000 that the 10 ESA schemes in Scotland would close to new applications on 31 December 2000 and would be replaced by the Rural Stewardship Scheme which makes funding for conservation management available to farmers and crofters throughout Scotland. It is for ministers in individual administrations to decide their priorities so schemes which operate in Scotland may differ from those that operate in the rest of the UK.I am currently considering arrangements for continued agri-environment support for farmers and crofters whose ESA scheme agreements are coming to an end. I intend to make an announcement shortly.

In Scotland, there is a long tradition of providing financial support direct to farmers and crofters who obtain specialist ecological advice in drawing up their agri-environment proposals, and the Rural Stewardship Scheme currently pays applicants up to £300 for the costs of specialist ecological advice. I am considering extending these arrangements to the Organic Aid Scheme in the light of the responses to the consultation paper Proposals for Changes to Agri-Environment Schemes in Scotland which I issued on 5 March and the work of the Organic Stakeholders Group which is taking forward implementation of the Organic Action Plan which I published in February.Local assessment of individual applications is undertaken by staff who have been trained in conservation issues, and who have access to specialised sources of advice where necessary, for example, from Scottish Natural Heritage and the Royal Society for Protection of Birds.In addition, the Executive is progressing with the appointment of a number of area project managers whose main duties will include the promotion and delivery of the Farm Business Development Scheme and also promoting and advising on other SEERAD grants including agri-environment schemes within designated areas of Scotland.

There are four main differences between the Rural Stewardship Scheme (RSS) and the Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA) Schemes.Firstly, there is no RSS equivalent to the ESA Tier 1 payment. Secondly, ESA Scheme payments are subject to limits: there is no limit on the level of payments available through the RSS. Thirdly, there is currently no equivalent in the RSS to the "Specially Identified Wetlands" prescription available in the Central Borders ESA Scheme. Finally, ESA Schemes only apply to farmers and crofters in 10 local areas in Scotland, whereas the RSS offers agri-environment support to farmers throughout Scotland.

The sections of motorway in Scotland which are classified as subject to either higher or medium congestion are listed in the table. The remaining motorways are classified as subject to low congestion. This information can also be accessed on the Strategic Rail Authority's website at www.railfreightonline.co.uk/news/articles/n31.

Classification	Motorway	Junction	Comments
High	M8	13-14
High	M8	15-16
High	M8	18-20
Medium	M8		M73 intersection to Garthalmock
Medium	M8	28	Junction 28 to 0.3km west of junction
Medium	M8	27-28
Medium	M8	26-27
Medium	M8	16-17
Medium	M8	14-15
Medium	M74	4
Medium	M74	6-5
Medium	M8	17-18
Medium	M8	26	Junction 26 to 0.23km east of junction
Medium	M8	25-26

In 1999, the Scottish Office published its National Planning Policy Guideline (NPPG17). Within this document is advice to local authorities on the preservation of disused transport routes, which include dismantled railways. Copies of this document (Bib. number 1107) are held in the Parliament's Reference Centre.

The Assessing the Best Practicable Environmental Option for waste from the Dumfries area is developed in The Area Waste Plan for Ayrshire, Dumfries and Galloway, which is available at: http://www.sepa.org.uk/nws/guidance/awp.htm.This is a high level document which discusses strategic waste solutions. Lochar Moss itself is currently regulated through the waste management licensing system, which applies the concept of "best available technique". The Scottish Environment Protection Agency is of the view that piping leachate to a sewage treatment works for treatment is a more environmentally friendly technique than tankering to a different site with a smaller capacity, which is the solution currently adopted. Scottish Water will apply trade effluent conditions to ensure the sewage treatment works can safely handle the leachate and meet the conditions the Agency applies to effluent from the works.

Officials of the Scottish Executive have had numerous productive meetings and correspondence with officials from Dumfries and Galloway Council since November 2002. The most recent meeting was on 9 July. We hope to see the contract signed for the public private partnership waste management project during the course of this summer.

Information on sports participation is gathered by sportscotland from NFO World Group's (System Three) Scottish Opinion Survey. Participation is defined as having taken part in sport at least once in the four weeks prior to the survey. To smooth out some of the year-on-year fluctuations attributable to sample variations, the figures have been averaged out over three years and are set out in the following table:

Years	% Participation
	Adults 16+	Children 8-15
1987-89	58	n/a
1988-90	58	n/a
1989-91	56	n/a
1990-92	54	n/a
1991-93	56	n/a
1992-94	59	n/a
1993-95	61	n/a
1994-96	60	n/a
1995-97	60	n/a
1996-98	61	n/a
1997-99	63	n/a
1998-2000	65	n/a
1999-01	64	n/a
2000-02	62	99