Chamber and committees

Fife Council has invited tenders to design and build Markinch interchange, with a closing date of 9 December 2005. The council intends that construction will begin in April 2006, with the project completed by summer 2007.

A report into options for a cross Forth passenger ferry service was completed in October 2004. I understand that the Forth Estuary Transport Authority, City of Edinburgh Council, Fife Council and Forth Ports Authority are commissioning more detailed work on the options identified in that report, with the study due to complete by summer 2006.

The Executive is in regular contact with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister on a wide range of issues, including the proposed negotiating lines for EC and international instruments.

The four over-arching multilateral concordats on: the Co-ordination of European Union Policy Issues, Financial Assistance to Industry, International Relations and Statistics, are supplementary agreements to the Memorandum of Understanding, between UK Government, the Scottish Executive, the Cabinet of the National Assembly for Wales and the Northern Ireland Executive Committee.

The Memorandum of Understanding and supplementary agreements were produced as one document. All versions of the Memorandum of Understanding have been publicly available since the first publication, in 1999. The current version is lodged in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 18798).

The Scottish Executive is in frequent contact with the office of the Deputy Prime Minister on a wide range of issues of the kind referred to in paragraph 14 of the Concordat.

Any changes to policy will only be announced after the responses to the consultation have been received and fully considered by the Executive. At present it is not possible to predict the length of that consideration process.

The literature review has been completed and consideration is now being given to the form the consultation should take. We are now working to a launch date in early 2006. As previously stated, the process will be fully inclusive and allow all interested parties to make their views known. The consultation period will last for at least three months with the results being published in accordance with the Scottish Executive Good Practice Guidance.

I refer to the answer to questionsS1W-28375 on 10 September 2002 and S2W-5062 answered on 19 January 2004. Where discussions result in agreement that thereshould be a further devolution of powers, legislative proposals will continueto be put to the Parliament in the context either of Orders in Council madeunder the Scotland Act 1998 or motions proposed in accordance with the SewelConvention.

I am advised by the Food Standards Agency that no farms in Scotland are restricted in the growing or trading of crops. Monitoring in Scotland as a result of the Chernobyl incident is limited to sheep on a few remaining restricted farms.

I am advised by the Food Standards Agency that following the Chernobyl incident, agricultural produce, other foodstuffs and water supplies were monitored so that action could be taken as necessary. In Scotland, initial restrictions on sheep movements affecting 2900 farms were put into force on 24 June 1986 and subsequently lifted. Restrictions were re-introduced in 1987 on 73 farms in south-west and central Scotland when monitoring indicated raised levels of radioactive caesium. Subsequent annual monitoring, as detailed in the table below has reduced the number of remaining restricted farms in Scotland to 11.

Year	Number of Farms Released From Restrictions
1991	3 Farms
1993	6 Farms
1994	12 Farms and 1 Part Farm
1995	3 Farms
1996	5 Farms and 1 Part Farm
1997	9 Farms and 2 Part Farms
1998	5 Farms and 2 Part Farms
1999	2 Farms and 1 Part Farm
2001	1 Farm and 1 Part Farm
No derestrictions in 2002, as no survey in 2001 due to foot and mouth restrictions
2003	2 farms
2004	2 farms
2005	3 farms