Chamber and committees

The Scottish Executive has regular discussions with the Department of Trade and Industry and the energy industry on a wide range of matters.

I refer the member to the answer I gave to question S1O-1876.

The treatment and disposal of controlled waste is regulated under the Waste Management Licensing Regulations 1994. These activities normally require a Waste Management Licence issued by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), the waste regulation authority which monitors to ensure that conditions set in the licence are followed.

In order to encourage the recycling and reuse of wastes, certain activities, such as the spreading on land of some wastes which provide agricultural or ecological benefit, may be exempted from the full waste management licensing regime. Examples of such wastes are waste foods, blood and gut contents from abattoirs, paper waste sludge.

Before such activity may be carried out it must be registered with SEPA, which enters details of the exemption on a public register. SEPA has powers to monitor and where necessary will inspect and monitor the activity to ensure that there is no harm to health or the environment.

A list of the organisations directly consulted on recommendations in the Strategic Review of Organic Waste Spread on Land was enclosed with the public consultation paper when it was issued. (A copy is available from the Parliament's Reference Centre.) Consultation began on 1 April 1999 when a Scottish Office News Release was issued to draw attention to the issue of the consultation paper. The last direct response to the consultation was received on 2 July 1999, although several representations relating to the review have been received by the Executive since then.

The funding committed is detailed in the table below:

	2000-01 (£ million)	2001-02 (£ million)	2002-03 (£ million)
(a) Freight Facilities Grant Scheme	3.960	1.458	1.433
(b) Track Access Grant Scheme	Nil	Nil	Nil
(c) Public Transport Fund	30.003	36.688	18.118
(d) Rail Passenger Partnership Funding	0.800	Nil	Nil
(e) Infrastructure Investment Fund	Nil	Nil	Nil
(f) Rural Community Transport Grant Scheme*	1.186	0.345	0.314

* The figure for 2000-01 includes funding carried forward from 1999-2000 to allow payment of invoices in relation to committed schemes which were not presented for payment at 31 March 2000.

The funds or grant schemes to support public transport and the amount of funding available in 2000-01 are set out in the table below. With regard to funding in 2001-02 and 2002-03 I refer Mr Crawford to my answer to question S1W-10953.

Further support for rail is provided through the Rail Passenger Partnership Fund and the Infrastructure Investment Fund which are administered by the Shadow Strategic Rail Authority.

Support for the provision of subsidised bus services is channelled through local authorities by means of revenue support grant (£28 million in 1998-99).

	2000-01 (£ million)
Public Transport Fund	30.000
Rural Transport Fund*	5.480
Bus Fuel Duty Rebate	47.840
Lifeline Air Services	1.003
Strathclyde Passenger Transport Rail Services	83.100

*The Rural Transport Fund covers grants to local authorities for rural public passenger transport services, the Rural Community Transport Grant Scheme and the Rural Petrol Stations Grant Scheme.

A total of £1.514 million is allocated to the Rural Community Transport Grant Scheme for 2000-01. This figure includes funding which was carried forward from 1999-2000 to allow payment of invoices in relation to committed projects which were not presented for payment by 31 March 2000.

A number of concerns have been expressed about the exemptions in the Waste Management Licensing Regulations 1994. In particular the sixth report by the House of Commons Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs Select Committee in June 1998 raised concerns about the controls on the spreading of industrial wastes on land. The Executive is working in parallel with the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions on a review of the exemptions with the aim of consulting on proposed amendments early next year.

All organisations and bodies considered to have an interest in the issue will be consulted and copies of the consultation document will be available to the public and in the Parliament's Reference Centre.

It is for local authorities and the Strathclyde Passenger Transport Authority to decide how much to allocate to particular services from their Rural Transport Fund Grant. The latest information received from authorities on the number of new and improved rural services (including services continued from 1998-99) which were supported in 1999-2000 in each local authority area is set out in the table below. It is entirely a matter for the authorities concerned to monitor each of the services which have been introduced since 1998-99 and make any changes they consider necessary.

Research has been commissioned to evaluate the Rural Transport Fund and this is due to report shortly.

Authority	No. of rural services supported by RTF Grant in 1999-2000
Aberdeenshire	29
Angus	15
Argyll & Bute (outwith SPT area)	27
Clackmannanshire	4
Dumfries & Galloway	41
East Ayrshire (outwith SPT area)	1
East Lothian	5
Eilean Siar	42
Falkirk	1
Fife	9
Highland	70
Midlothian	3
Moray	13
North Ayrshire (outwith SPT area)	1
Orkney Islands	11
Perth and Kinross	25
Scottish Borders	19
Shetland Islands	32
South Ayrshire (outwith SPT area)	4
South Lanarkshire (outwith SPT area)	2
Strathclyde Passenger Transport Authority*	34
Stirling	10
West Lothian	18

* The Strathclyde Passenger Transport Authority (SPTA) are responsible for securing public passenger transport within the PTA boundary. The grant paid in respect of councils within the boundary or that part of a council area within the boundary is passed on to SPTA.

The Executive is considering the responses to the consultation on the Scottish Climate Change Programme (SCCP), which ended on 2 June. I plan to publish the final SCCP in the near future. This will detail the action we will take in Scotland as a contribution to the UK Climate Change Programme, which is designed to meet the UK obligation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including carbon dioxide, by 12.5% by 2008-12.

The Executive, in conjunction with the UK Government, has a contract with the National Environmental Technology Centre to produce a disaggregated UK greenhouse gas inventory. This allowed us to report in the SCCP consultation the 1990 and 1995 emission figures for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. We will produce an annual disaggregated inventory with effect from 1998. The 1998 figures will be announced soon.