Chamber and committees

The SMC has appraised Soliris (eculizumab) for use in NHSScotland to treat paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria (PNH) but, as the holder of the marketing authorisation did not supply any economic analysis in their submission, the SMC was unable to recommend it for use in NHSScotland. Where a drug has not been recommended by the SMC, NHS boards have arrangements in place to facilitate clinically-led requests for medicines on a case-by-case basis for individual patients which, if supported, would be funded by the NHS board.

Following recent discussions with COSLA on the distribution of the former ring-fenced Supporting People funding, I announced, as part of the debate on the 2011-12 Scottish Budget on 9 February 2011, that I intend to allocate an additional £5 million to help smooth the impact of the redistribution of this funding within the 2011-12 local government finance settlement. Argyll and Bute Council will receive an extra £1.3 million of the £5 million as they lost the most proportionately from the revised distribution.

Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) is currently not planning any further studies, but will respond to any serious issues which arise in future.

The Scottish Government and SNH annually advise on predator and livestock incidents, primarily in relation to lambs, and issue licences where appropriate e.g. raven incidents.

A new management scheme is being developed by SNH taking advice from the Sea Eagle Management Review Group. Membership of the group, chaired by SNH, includes representatives from the Scottish Government, the Forestry Commission Scotland, the Scottish Rural Properties and Business Association, the Scottish Gamekeepers Association, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the National Farmers Union Scotland, the Scottish Crofting Federation, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, and the Scottish Wildlife Trust. The management scheme, which is planned to be launched this spring, will be available across the range of sea eagles and include measures targeted towards protection of livestock.

A number of other deterrents like flying kites, scarecrows, flickering tapes etc can be used but all of these need backed up by a regular presence of people and physical scaring. In areas where these methods aren''t working or where they are impractical, there is recourse to using legal methods to minimise serious damage for those species of predator which can be legally controlled.

The legislation that protects all wild birds, including sea eagles and ravens, as well as badgers already contains provisions to allow licences to be issued to control these species for the purpose of preventing serious damage to livestock.

General licence No.2/2010, issued by the Scottish Government, authorises any person to kill or take certain species of wild birds in accordance with specific conditions for the purpose of the prevention of serious damage to livestock.

For those species not covered by General licence No.2/2010, individual licences may be sought from the Scottish Government to kill or take any wild bird species, or badgers, for the same purpose. In considering any such licence application the Scottish Government would have to be satisfied that a licence was necessary to prevent serious damage and that there was no satisfactory alternative. Consideration would also be given to the impact of the licence on the conservation status of the species for which control is sought.

Foxes may be controlled under the existing legislation without the need for a licence providing that permission has been granted from the landowner and subject to meeting the relevant animal welfare requirements and firearms provisions.

The 1997 policy document has now been superseded by the Scottish Government''s strategy for wild deer: Scotland''s Wild Deer: A National Approach. Development of the strategy was led by the then Deer Commission for Scotland and aided by a steering group (Deer Commission for Scotland, Forestry Commission Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage and the Rural Directorate of the Scottish Government) and an advisory group (representatives from organisations with an interest in deer management). It was also informed by a public consultation, a strategic environmental assessment and a socio-economic assessment. It was published in 2008.

There are differences in territory selection between golden eagles and sea eagles in Scotland. Sea eagles generally nest at lower levels than golden eagles and prefer to nest in trees where they are available and close to the coast or lochs. Sea eagles also eat a broader diet with a higher proportion of sea birds and water birds as well as fish, whereas golden eagles eat a higher proportion of terrestrial species such as rabbits and hares.

In the areas of western Scotland where both species occur the sea eagle population continues to increase whilst there have been some local increases in golden eagle numbers over the same time period. This means that neither food supplies, available nest sites or competition between the species is significantly impacting on either population, therefore there is no reason for the Scottish Government to withdraw its support for the reintroduction of sea eagles to Scotland in line with its biodiversity targets.

In the longer term, the Strategic Transport Projects Review has recommended upgrading the A96 to dual carriageway between Inverness and Nairn as well as other enhancements, such as a bypass at Nairn and a new Inveramsay Bridge.

Early design work has commenced to identify preferred solutions for these schemes.