Chamber and committees

All of the toll income, including the compensation paid by the Scottish Executive, counts towards the amount that the concessionaire is entitled to collect in return for providing the bridge. The amount is £23.64 million in 1991 prices discounted at 6 per cent per annum. Progress towards this is subject to a commercial confidentiality clause in the Concession Agreement. The details of any debts incurred by Skye Bridge Limited can be obtained from the company's annual directors report and financial statements which are publicly available at Companies House.

A list of EU approved laboratories is contained in Commission Decision 1999/312/EC. A copy is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre(SPICe), Bib number 5378.

Shellfish farmers and processors can arrange for samples to be analysed at an independent laboratory qualified to undertake algal toxins analysis. However, only samples analysed by the Marine Laboratory on behalf of the Food Standards Agency can be used to fulfil the statutory requirements for monitoring and enforcement purposes. In closed areas, the taking of restricted shellfish is prohibited, unless a specific dispensation under the Food and Environment Protection Act is granted.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency has yet to undertake such monitoring. The process of issuing discharge consents for Calicide began only in January this year. I understand that the fish farming industry has so far purchased only a very small quantity of Calicide, so little, if any, has to date been used. The agency carries out monitoring at selected fish farms. Monitoring for Calicide will be included in that programme. In addition, the agency sets consents requiring self-monitoring for Calicide at selected fish farms, particularly at the larger rearing units, where the quantities of the compound discharged are likely to be significant.

The Scottish Executive gathers information on weight and value of fish landed. Information on buyers and method of purchase is not recorded centrally.

The Scottish Executive is fully committed, through the powers exercised by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, and through improved husbandry and other practices recommended in the report of the Government/industry working group on ISA, to the control of sea lice in an environmentally friendly way.The use of wrasse is one possibility and is being practised in some areas but has limitations. Wrasse can transmit disease and parasites and are susceptible to some diseases which affect salmon. Their use is only seasonal and stocks of wild wrasse are limited.

Including the extra £1 million in 2000-01 which I announced on 29 May, £7 million of the provision available for Freight Facilities Grants in 2000-01 and 2001-02 remains unallocated.

Rural Scotland; A New Approach, which was published earlier this week, sets out the Scottish Executive's commitment to supporting rural economic development, building on rural Scotland's strengths, as well as tackling the problems and barriers which can hinder economic development in rural areas. The Scottish Executive, together with a wide range of public and private sector organisations and agencies, is committed to supporting a number of different initiatives aimed at promoting economic development in rural areas. The variety of these different initiatives reflects the diverse characteristics of rural areas and the diversity of the rural economy.

We have no plans to remove ceilings on agri-environment scheme payments. Payment ceilings are intended to ensure an equitable spread of finite resources, and are kept under regular review.Increases for some Environmentally Sensitive Areas are planned for later this year, and the ceiling planned for the new Rural Stewardship Scheme will be set at a higher level than currently operating in the Countryside Premium Scheme.

Local government funding in Scotland is planned to increase by more than the rate of inflation this year, next year, and the year after. The total budget available for the Scottish Executive's programmes is determined in accordance with funding rules published by HM Treasury in March 1999. The future funding of local government in Scotland will be considered by the Executive in the course of the spending review which is currently in progress.