Chamber and committees

No European funding receivedby Scottish Enterprise has been used at any time to meet deficits withinScottish Enterprise and no such money will be used in future to meet suchdeficits. ERDF is paid to Scottish Enterprise in respect of project expenditurethat has already been defrayed. No payments are made in advance of projectexpenditure except in one instance – the Scottish Co-Investment Fund, where theentire ERDF contribution was paid into the fund in advance. Scottish Enterprisetherefore claims ERDF awards only where project expenditure is defrayed, thatis, paid into other organisations bank accounts. Scottish Co-Investment Fundresources are not available for general Scottish Enterprise use.

With European Social Fund(ESF) resources, a 30% advance is paid on project approval. A set of checks is in place to give assurance that thesesresources are used for the purpose claimed, and Scottish Enterprise can onlyclaim further instalments of each ESF award when they have demonstrated thatthe advance has been properly defrayed.

The Executive is aware of theproposed grouping of Marine Harvest and Fjord with Pan Fish, which is a matter forthe relevant competition authorities with whom we are in touch.

It is not possibleto make a definitive estimate because output and market share can change for a varietyof reasons that may be unrelated to the trade dispute. However, the European Commission(CION) investigation concluded that although the Community industry increased itssales volume by 7% between 2001 and the investigation period, it was unable to benefitfully from the 15% increase in the overall growth of the market. Consequently, itsmarket share decreased by 7% whilst that of Norwegian imports rose by 17%.

Between 1999 and 2004, the Scottishaquaculture industry, measured by production of Atlantic Salmon (tonnes), grew by24%. This is compared to; (a) global average growth rate of 53%; (b) Norwegian growthof 31%, and (c) Chilean growth of 239%; over the same period.

The growth rates (a) to (c) arecalculated using estimated market supply in 2004.

In 2005, the UK exported£160,429,000 worth of salmon and salmon products and imported £150,730,000 worth.This means that the UK was a net exporter by approximately £10 million.

The European Commission anti-dumpinginvestigation estimated that production by the communityindustry, as defined in the basic Regulation, totalled 22,000 tonnes during theinvestigation period. This means that, in 2004, about 87% of salmon production inthe EU was undertaken by companies that fell outwith this definition.

This information is not heldcentrally. However, all businesses operating in the UK are subjectto competition rules and may be considered by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) orthe European Commission (EC) competition authorities. Even if consideration of proposedcompany mergers falls to the EC, the OFT would still have to consider whether criteriafor referral back to the UK competition authorities are met.

This information is not heldcentrally.

This information is not heldcentrally.

The Executive is aware that PanFish has plans to rationalise operations in Scotland.

Ministers have invited the companyto meet and discuss their future plans for Scottish operations and how the publicsector (including Highlands and Islands Enterprise) might help to ensure continuedsuccess. The meeting is scheduled to take place in May 2006.