Chamber and committees

The contract documentation relating to the Skye Bridge project includes, as part of the main Concession Agreement between the Scottish ministers and Skye Bridge Limited, a confidentiality clause which requires both parties to the agreement to hold in confidence all documents and other information supplied by and on behalf of the other party.

The Scottish Executive meets airlines on a regular basis to discuss a range of aviation matters. The issue of air services between Inverness and Gatwick is amongst those we have discussed with British Airways who recently acquired the British Regional Airlines Group. Regional air services are also among the issues we regularly discuss with the relevant UK and EC authorities.

The Scottish Executive funds the air services between Glasgow and Barra, Glasgow and Campbeltown and Glasgow and Tiree. In addition, our subsidy to Highlands and Islands Airports Limited, which was some £15.1 million in 2000-01 or £55.77 per arriving passenger at HIAL's airports, results in lower costs to airlines than if the full economic costs of providing airport infrastructure services were applied.

The Scottish Executive routinely places information relevant to applications for GM releases on the public register. Site-specific risk assessments for the crop being grown this winter at Munlochy are on the register and individual assessments of various aspects of the release by the Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment, the Health and Safety Executive, Scottish Natural Heritage, the Food Standards Agency and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency have also been made public.

The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the United Kingdom Government on a wide range of issues, including the environmental implications of the disposal of material from nuclear-powered submarines and, as the Memorandum of Understanding between the Scottish Executive and United Kingdom Government recognises, it is not always appropriate to disclose the outcome of these discussions.

This is a major new initiative which will require to be carefully developed in partnership with all interested parties and in conjunction with the European Commission. As the Strategy document states, our aim is to develop Land Management Contracts over the next two to three years.

We have been working closely with DEFRA to develop measures to prevent this parasite entering the UK or Scotland, and on action which could be taken if it did. We aim to ensure consistency of approach, where appropriate, and prevent infection being transmitted in either direction over the border.

Scotland, and the UK, is free of Gyrodactylus Salaris (GS), and always has been, as a result of our strict health requirements, the work of the Fish Health Inspectorate and the natural barrier formed by the sea.

We have agreed safeguard measures with the European Commission, prohibiting the importation of all live salmonids except from areas also recognised as free from GS.

Although our scientific assessment is that the chances of the parasite being introduced are low, we are working with the wild fish and fish farming industries on additional measures to prevent the parasite entering the country and on action which could be taken if it did, and aim to issue a contingency plan later this year.

The Association of District Salmon Fishery Boards has recently asked its members to review their own policies on GS.

In general, the new planning legislation on telecommunications development makes no distinction between particular types of building with regard to permitted development rights for apparatus on buildings.There are designated areas, such as conservation areas and national scenic areas, within which permitted development rights for telecommunications equipment, with some minor exceptions, do not apply.The forthcoming National Planning Policy Guideline on Radio Telecommunications discusses issues relating to public concern and the siting and design of telecommunications equipment.

The National Planning Policy Guideline (NPPG), which will accompany the new planning legislation, will set out the precautionary approach developed by the UK Government and the Executive regarding health concerns associated with radiofrequency radiation (a form of electromagnetic radiation) from mobile phone base stations. It also sets out the Executive's policy on how this issue should be addressed where planning applications for telecommunications apparatus are submitted to planning authorities. Copies of the NPPG will be placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre when it has been published.