Chamber and committees

The minimum production ofall power generation technologies (conventional or renewable) is zero, incircumstances where there is no fuel or resource available.

The Scottish Executive is currently in the process of commissioning a study into energy supplyand use in Scotland to inform the development of an integrated strategyfor demand-side management and renewable generation.

Sir Sean Connery’s visit to theHolyrood Parliament building on Thursday, 28 August was filmed by the Parliament’sBroadcasting Unit under the authority of the Parliament’s Head of Broadcasting inconsultation with the Parliament’s Head of Media. The pictures generated were madeavailable to the broadcast media and these pictures were subsequently used in newsfeatures on the BBC Reporting Scotland Scotland, BBC Breakfast News (UK Network),and, STV’s Scotland Today. Whilst extensive use of the footage was made by thesebroadcast outlets, time restraints meant not all of the footage provided was used.

In order to allow parliamentarystaff and MSPs the opportunity to see Sir Sean Connery’s visit in full, and withit see progress on the site to date, a short film was made by the Parliament’s BroadcastingOffice, using almost all of the footage provided to the media.

This film was made in less thanthree hours by a single member of the Broadcasting Office’s staff, within the patternof a normal working week, and using existing in-house parliamentary equipment. Thefilm was made on the authority of the Parliament’s Head of Broadcasting, and nocosts were incurred, over and above the normal running costs of the BroadcastingOffice.

The broadcast of the film onthe Parliament’s new Information Channel on Thursday 4 September was authorisedby the Information Channel’s Pilot Project Group.

The Central StatisticalDatabase contains information on the road class and number (if any), the gridreference of the locations of road accidents, local authority area and policeforce area.

Figures for the numbers ofaccidents on individual roads can only be produced from the central statisticaldatabase in cases where the roads are of class M, A(M), A or B, and in caseswhere figures are sought for particular stretches (rather than their fulllengths within Scotland), the start and end points are specified.

The following table givesthe number of fatal and serious road accidents by road class and number inAngus in each of the years since 1999.

It should be noted that thestatistics given are based upon the data which are held in the centralstatistical database and which were collected by the police at the time of theaccident and subsequently reported to the Executive. They may differ from anyfigures which the local authority would provide now, because they do not takeaccount of any subsequent changes or corrections that the local authority mayhave made to the statistical information, for use at a local level, about thelocation of each accident, based upon its knowledge of the road and areaconcerned.

Fatal and Serious Accidents inAngus, 1999 to 2002

	1999	2000	2001	2002
A90	9	8	13	9
A92	10	9	12	10
A923	1	2	2	1
A926	6	5	5	3
A928	3	1	3	0
A929	1	0	0	0
A930	1	1	1	5
A932	2	0	2	2
A933	3	7	5	5
A934	2	1	1	0
A935	5	0	4	4
A937	4	1	1	1
A94	1	3	2	0
B9095	1	0	0	2
B9113	0	3	0	1
B9127	1	1	1	2
B9128	3	5	2	1
B913	1	0	0	0
B9134	3	1	2	1
B951	1	0	0	0
B954	1	3	2	1
B961	2	6	1	4
B962	1	0	1	0
B966	1	1	3	3
B978	3	1	1	0
C Roads	8	11	10	12
Unclassified	30	20	21	17
Total	104	90	95	84

 

Provision of publicly fundedflood defences is a matter for local authorities. Arising from the 2002spending review, the Executive increased the capital allocation available tolocal authorities for flood prevention and coast protection programmes to atotal of £40 million for the period 2003-04 to 2005-06. The amount of thiscommitted so far for flood defences is the £10.9 million announced recently forthe Kilmarnock and Rothesay flood prevention schemes. This is ontop of the ongoing commitment of £1.9 million, for the completion of riverKelvin and Largs flood prevention schemes and the river Clydecatchment study.

Distribution of theremaining resources is linked to local authorities submitting requests forfunding for schemes that have been prepared and have completed the necessarystatutory processes.

In addition, the 2002spending review increased the total provision for other flood risk managementinitiatives up to £10 million. To date, this provision has been used:- tocontinue funding for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency's floodlineflood warning service; to fund the provision of digital ground level data toimprove flood risk estimation; and to fund other flood risk-related measures insupport of the Executive’s flooding framework.

Also, more generally, withinthe Executive's annual provisions to support local authorities' revenueexpenditure, over £3 million is included to fund their duty to maintainwatercourses, where this will reduce the likelihood of flooding of non-agriculturalareas.

The level of grant availablefor short rotation coppice under the Scottish forestry grants scheme is reducedfrom £600 to £400 per hectare in respect of land set aside under a separatescheme, the arable area payment scheme (AAPS).

This is because under theAAPS, establishment grants may be paid for the production of short rotationcoppice. The current levels are £205.80 per hectare for less favoured areas and£223.97 for non less favoured areas.

In Scotland, 216 ruddy ducks were culled in Fife between April 1999 and May 2002. The cull formed part of the UK Ruddy Duck Control Trial, established to determine the feasibility of reducing the UK ruddy duck population, to research the most appropriate methods of control and to determine likely costs.This three-year trial was undertaken on a UK basis and costs in relation to work carried out in Scotland are not held separately. The approximate total cost of research and control work throughout the UK during this period was £900,000.No ruddy ducks have been culled in Scotland since May 2002.

The Scottish Forestry Grants Scheme customers representatives group is scheduled to meet on 28 August. This group includes representatives from the Scottish Crofting Foundation, the Scottish Landowners Federation, the Institute of Chartered Foresters, the Forestry and Timber Association, Scottish Environment Link, Scottish Natural Heritage, Highland Council, the National farmers Union of Scotland, the Scottish Agricultural Colleges, the Deer Commission for Scotland, along with the Scottish Executive's Environment and Rural Affairs Department and Forestry Commission Scotland. The level of interest shown by companies willing to develop willow for co-firing, since the original consultation, will be discussed at that meeting.