Chamber and committees

Under the last round of the Scottish Renewables Obligation in 1997, special provision was made to encourage the development of small, community scale clusters of wind turbines. The Executive is committed to a significant increase in renewable energy and we wish to explore the possibilities for more community-based renewable energy developments in Scotland. The forthcoming consultation document on the new Renewables Obligation (Scotland) will seek views on our detailed proposals for promoting renewables, and on what levels of support are required to realise our objectives.

The employer-led National Training Organisations are responsible for providing information about current and future skills requirements based upon detailed knowledge of their sectors. NTOs operate on a UK-wide basis and audit the skills requirements of their sectors by a variety of means, such as:

conducting Skills Foresight surveys, and publishing the results;

gathering labour market intelligence, and

participating in skills benchmarking.Robust labour market information and intelligence systems are essential if sectoral skills shortages are to be forecast accurately and timeously. A new Scottish Labour Market Intelligence Unit is presently being established to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the information needed to inform decisions about steps needed to address current and future sectoral skills shortages.

Funding for research and development of renewable energy is a reserved matter. The funding allocated for such purposes, through the Department of Trade and Industry's New and Renewable Energy Programme, is available for projects throughout Great Britain.

Assistance is available from the Executive for certain fishery-related harbour development, for pier and harbour improvements in the Highlands and Islands and from the EC through European Funds (ERDF) in eligible areas. Freight Facility Grants (FFG) can also be available for inland waterway projects and such projects can include expenditure on ports and harbours. Ports and harbours infrastructure are likely to be eligible for grants under the proposed extension of the FFG scheme to short sea and coastal shipping. Otherwise, port and harbour authorities are responsible for making their own investment decisions and raising finance.

Estimated expenditure for the Executive's schemes in the current financial year (2000-01) is set out below. ERDF estimated expenditure figures for ports and harbours for the current financial year are not available.

Fishery Harbour Grants	£250,000
Highlands & Islands Piers & Harbours Grant Scheme	£5,600,000
Freight Facilities Grant Scheme (inland waterway projects)	£150,000

No indication is given in the report of the public local inquiry into the planning application as to the anticipated number of cruise ships.

The availability of sites for wave energy production is a matter for the developers concerned and the Crown Estate Commissioner. Funding for research and development of renewable energy is a reserved matter. The funding allocated for such purposes, through the Department of Trade and Industry's New and Renewable Energy Programme, is available for projects throughout Great Britain.

The Executive is aware of a recent court ruling in Germany in which the court decided that a ferry operator could remain the sole operator from a particular port owned by that operator. However, it is understood that the court has not yet given the reasons for its decision so it is not possible to comment further on this particular ruling. In the UK, the owners of all harbours and piers are legally obliged to allow any vessel to berth, providing due fees are paid (section 33 of the Harbours, Docks and Piers Clauses Act).

However, the subject matter of this ruling, i.e. the exclusive use of a port, is not directly relevant to the proposed tendering of CalMac ferry services. The requirement to tender arises as a result of EC rather than domestic law.

There are six Transport Divisions covering policy and operational issues and another Division offering economic and statistical advice. All are located within the Transport and Planning Group of the Scottish Executive Development Department.

I will write to Mr MacAskill with a summary of these Divisions' responsibilities and place a copy of the letter in SPICe.

The detailed timetable for the Bill is a matter for the Parliament. The Scottish Executive expects the Education (Graduate Endowment and Student Support) (Scotland) Bill, and the regulations to be made under it, to be in force for the start of the academic year 2001-02.

From the start of the academic year 2001-02, we intend to introduce a wide-ranging package of measures to assist students and their families, including bursaries for mature students and for young students entering higher education from low income backgrounds for the first time. The Education (Graduate Endowment and Student Support) (Scotland) Bill will enable us to proceed with this package, as the income from the graduate endowment will be applied exclusively to fund bursary and other student support.