Chamber and committees

The British Bone Marrow Registry(BBMR) is run by the National Blood Service in England on behalf of the English,Scottish and Northern Ireland Blood Transfusion Services.

The Scottish National Blood TransfusionService provide tissue typing in support of the BBMR.

The questions raised are of an operational nature. I have therefore askedthe Chief Executive of Scottish Water to reply. His response is:

ScottishWater raised £13 million from domestic customers in Dumfries and Galloway in 2002-03, and the West of ScotlandWater raised £11.8 million in 2001-02. The equivalent figures for business customersare not available, as these are not identified by local authority region.

The Westof Scotland Water Authority spent £16.8 million in 1999-2000, £26.7 million in 2000-01and £30.6 million in 2001-02. Scottish Water has announced that, as part of the£1.8 billion capital investment programme, they will spend in excess of a further£60 million by March 2006 in Dumfries andGalloway.

The questions raised are of an operational nature. I have therefore askedthe Chief Executive of Scottish Water to reply. His response is:

ScottishWater is expecting to raise £14.5 million from domestic customers in Dumfries and Galloway in 2003-04. The equivalent figurefor business customers is not available, asthese are not identified by local authority region. Charges schemes for the nextfour years have not yet been agreed. However, the revenue cap for all Scottish Watercustomers has been set to increase by 4.6% in 2004-05 and then to fall by 1.3% in2005-06.

ScottishWater has announced that, as part of the £1.8 billion capital investment programme,they will spend over £60 million by March 2006 in Dumfries and Galloway.

Since its creation 17 monthsago, Scottish Water has made steady progress in merging systems and operationsinherited from the former three water authorities and I am satisfied with itsadministration. There is, however, no room for complacency and rates of progress on overalllevels of customer service, operating efficiency, and investment and assetmanagement will be assessed annually by the Water Industry Commissioner.

Under the Weeds Act 1959, responsibility for the control of ragwort rests with the occupier of the land on which ragwort is growing. If ragwort growth on roadside verges has been caused by a ragwort problem on agricultural land, and is brought to the attention of the Scottish Executive Environmentand Rural Affairs Department, officials will carry out inspections of agricultural land and instigate proceedings.

Under roads legislation (section1 of the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984) local authorities have a general duty to maintain local roads and verges in their area. The local authorities are therefore responsible for maintaining the verges including the control of ragwort. Neither the Scottish ministers nor the Scottish Executive has any responsibility to intervene in how councils carry out their day to day responsibilities on this issue.

Where ragwort is apparent on trunk road verges, embankments and central reserves, the Trunk Roads Maintenance Contracts require the Operating Companies to control injurious weeds, such as ragwort, by undertaking treatment, including hand pulling operations. An Independent Performance Audit Group, appointed by the Executive, monitors the services and performance provided by the Operating Companies. The Performance Audit Group is directly responsible to the Director of Trunk Roads in the Executive. Appropriate action will be taken by the Scottish Executive if the requirements of the contract with regard to weed control are not met.

Ministerial approval to the eTourism joint venture partnership proposal was based on a detailed business case, the public version of which was placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre in October 2002 (Bib. number 27374). The business case covered a range of factors critical to the success of the joint venture including a number of performance criteria relating to service standards.

The final allocation of funding for each project ascribed pipeline status has not yet been determined. An announcement will be made in due course.

This is a matter for visitscotland.com. The information is not held centrally.

There is currently no evidence of any link between the identified cases of MS in Leswalt and Kirkcolm with tributyltin (TBT) levels in Loch Ryan.Despite a great deal of research worldwide it has not been possible to identify the cause of multiple sclerosis (MS). There is however some evidence that there may be a genetic factor that may particularly affect persons of Celtic and Scandinavian descent.

The Scottish Executive has been informed by the ME Association of their financial position, and is keeping the situation under regular review with the organisation.