Chamber and committees

£1.1 million has now been allocated of the £1.5 million for the implementation of the credit union action plan Unlocking the Potential over the financial years 2001-02 and 2004-05.

The aim of the action plan is to remove barriers to credit union growth and ensure credit unions have access to support and development services. To date, the Executive's funding is providing support through compliance training, health checks and business planning. Funding has also been provided for capacity building that will help credit unions to extend their membership and the services they offer. We are currently monitoring the outcomes of the Executive's investment.

If objections are not withdrawn, Schedule 1 of the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 sets out the circumstances which cause a Public Local Inquiry to be held and those where, if Scottish ministers are satisfied, they may decide the holding of an inquiry is not necessary. There is no specified timetable in either case.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-31891 today. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-31891 today. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-31891 today. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.

The North Sea sandeel fishery is spread across the North Sea with the highest volume of landings reported from the area between 54 and 59 degrees latitude excluding the Wee Bankie area which has been closed to sandeel fishing since 2000 as a result of UK intervention. Few of the vessels involved in the sandeel fishery are Scottish, and the Scottish Executive does not hold data on the activity of foreign vessels that have not landed into Scotland.Marine environments are complex systems of multiple interactive influences including food chains, predation and human activities including fishing. The precise effects of any single influence are therefore not known although it is recognised that there is some whitefish by-catch. Monitoring of this fishery is conducted through the normal logbook requirements; a scientific sampling plan applies for the small-scale scientific fishery in the Wee Bankie box.Measures to reduce effort in all fisheries that result in increased mortality rates of cod are under serious consideration. These include the sandeel fishery. It should be noted that the most effective means of reducing whitefish by-catch in this fishery appears to be by reduction of fishing effort and not by the introduction of additional technical conservation measures. The UK has previously expressed concerns about the effects of industrial fishing and has signalled to the Commission and to member states its determination to see a reduction in the sandeel TAC for 2003 to ensure that allowable catches of whitefish stocks will be prioritised for human consumption.

Throughout the Angus area the Rapid Response Unit deployed to patients with chest pains will be either the Cardiac Response Unit (CRU) or an accident and emergency unit (AEU), both of which have the same thrombolytic capability. While the AEU is available on a 24-hour basis throughout the area, the CRU is only operational in an area that may broadly be described as to the north of Forfar and during peak times.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-31891 today. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.

The information requested is not held centrally. I refer the member to page 100 of the recent Advisory Committee on Fishery Management report which can be accessed on the ICES website http://www.ices.dk/.