Chamber and committees

A new ISO (International Organisation for Standardisation) standard on Acoustics – unattended monitoring of aircraft sound in the vicinity of airports is currently under development. This will allow a more accurate determination of noise levels. The Scottish Executive has no plans to make representations on the new standard. It is a technical matter and any Scottish comments are being co-ordinated by the Civil Aviation Authority’s Environmental Research and Consultancy Department for submission through the British Standards Institute.

The International Civil Aviation Organisation standards and procedures for the noise certification of aircraft are subject to review from time to time and, in this context also, technical advice on UK representations will be a task primarily for the Civil Aviation Authority.

Any decision to install a Noise and Track Keeping system at Aberdeen airport is a matter for the owner of the airport, BAA Scottish Airports, in consultation with local representatives and airport users. There is no present intention to designate Aberdeen Airport for the purposes of Section 78 of the Civil Aviation Act 1982 which would be necessary to empower the Executive to require the installation of such a system.

BAA Scottish Airports works closely with the National Air Traffic Services (NATS) to monitor noise and track keeping and, as part of its application to remove operating restrictions at Aberdeen airport, BAA is committed to a night period noise management plan.

The assurances given to census respondents on the 1971 and 1981 census schedules as to the confidentiality of the individual information they provided rested on section 8(2)(a) and (b) of the Census Act 1920. This provided that any person employed in taking a census who “without lawful authority publishes or communicates to any person otherwise than in the ordinary course of such employment any information acquired by him in the course of his employment” or “has possession of any information which to his knowledge has been disclosed in contravention of this act, publishes or communicates that information to any other person” would be guilty of a misdemeanour.

The assurances about the confidentiality of personal information rested on Section 8 of the Census Act 1920 as amended by the Census Confidentiality Act 1991. The 100 year duration of that confidentiality rested on administrative decisions, underpinned by ministerial undertakings to Parliament. There was no specific statutory authority for the policy of opening 1991 Scottish census returns to the public 100 years after the census to which they relate, nor indeed for opening them to public access at any date. The current statutory authority for the 100 year exemption from access for census returns relating to individuals lies in sections 38(1)(c) and 58(2)(b) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

The assurances about the confidentiality of personal information rested on Section 8 of the Census Act 1920 as amended by the Census Confidentiality Act 1991. The 100 year duration of that confidentiality rested on administrative decisions, underpinned by ministerial undertakings to Parliament. There was no specific statutory authority for the policy of opening 2001 Scottish census returns to the public 100 years after the census to which they relate, or indeed for opening them to public access at any date. The current statutory authority for the 100 year exemption from access for census returns relating to individuals lies in sections 38(1)(c) and 58(2)(b) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

The statement made by the Secretary of State to Parliament on 23 May 1974 rested on administrative decisions, underpinned by the undertakings given by the Registrar General to respondents to successive censuses. There was no specific statutory authority for the policy of opening Scottish decennial census returns to the public 100 years after the census to which they relate, nor indeed for opening Scottish census returns to the public at any date. The current statutory authority for the 100 year exemption from access for census returns relating to individuals lies in sections 38(1)(c) and 58(2)(b) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

The Executive is presently consulting on proposals to implement the EC Environmental Noise Directive through regulations to be laid before the Scottish Parliament later this year. Implementation of the directive in practice will include the noise mapping of all major airports, including Aberdeen, by 30 June 2007 and, if appropriate, follow-up action plans by June 2008.

As at 4 March 2005 the Skipton Fund reported:

	Stage 1 Payment	Stage 2 Payment
Completed applications received1	3,389	284
Total payments made	2,924	248
Payments to Scottish claimants	415	44

Note: 1. This is a UK figure and is not broken down into administrations.

I would refer you to the answer to S2W-15142 on 21 March 2005. All written answers can be accessed on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

The composition of the appeals panel and the appeals process are still under consideration.

I hope to be in a position to advise soon when the panel is expected to be operational.