Chamber and committees

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows:

SPS anticipate that £8-12 million of the capital building programme in 2001-02 will be incurred in the next financial year due to the profile of construction expenditure.

Slopping out is a priority issue being addressed by the Estates Review, which will contain options for ending this unacceptable practice.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:

The SPS is currently evaluating the need for such a facility.

Currently there are no plans to introduce night and weekend courts in Scotland. However, the Scottish Executive will note with interest any lessons to be learned from the pilot projects in England.

The phrase "crofting communities" is a generic term, describing communities involved in crofting and located on or associated with crofting land. Like other communities, the areas and numbers of people included may be as wide as one decides e.g. one could talk about the crofting community of the Highlands and Islands, or of Skye, or Balmacara. The draft Land Reform Bill provides a means of defining a crofting community for the purposes of the Bill. It is not known how many communities in crofting areas could meet that definition or what the average size of such a community might be.

Scottish Natural Heritage and Local Authorities have powers under Section 49A of the Countryside (Scotland) Act 1967 to enter into management agreements to preserve or enhance the natural beauty of the countryside or to promote the enjoyment of the countryside by the public. These powers already apply in respect of salmon spawning grounds. The provision relating to access agreements in Section 13 of the 1967 Act could also apply in enabling access to areas used by salmon for spawning. The need for access agreements will disappear with the introduction of a right of responsible access and, therefore, our intention is to repeal that Section in the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill.

We propose to place a duty on local authorities to establish core paths following consultation. The cost of upkeep of core paths will depend on many factors including the extent of the network; the ratio of new to existing paths; the overall level of use; and the relative use by different categories of user. This uncertainty means that it is difficult to estimate at this stage, the likely annual cost of upkeep, but we have asked Scottish Natural Heritage to address this issue and to advise us in due course.

No exact figures are recorded, but we believe there are around 12,000 tenants and owner-occupiers of crofts, who together with families amount to around 30,000 people resident on crofts.

The draft Land Reform Bill makes no distinction between a bridleway and a footpath. However, under section 20 and 21 of the draft Bill, local authorities would have powers to delineate paths for particular purposes. For example, paths could be delineated for use by pedestrians, cyclists, horse riders or any combination of these users. These powers would also allow core paths to be delineated for different use.

With regard to the cost of establishing core paths I refer the member to the answer given to question S1O - 3689.We anticipate that the implementation of a right of responsible access will require the employment of additional access officers and rangers, but this will vary from local authority to local authority. Scottish Natural Heritage is currently working on estimates of the additional staff required to implement a right of responsible access. The work of these staff will not be limited to core paths.