Chamber and committees

This is an operational matterfor the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA). I have asked Dr CampbellGemmell, Chief Executive of SEPA, to respond to the question direct.

This is an operational matterfor the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA). I have asked Dr CampbellGemmell, Chief Executive of SEPA, to respond to the question direct.

The Flooding Issues AdvisoryCommittee (FIAC) provides a forum for a wide-range of stakeholders to share experiencesand expertise on flood related issues. The work of FIAC, its Sub-Committees andfull membership can be found at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Environment/Water/Flooding/16919/FIAC.In addition, Scottish PlanningPolicy (SPP) 7 states that each local authority should convene a Flood Liaison andAdvice Group (FLAG) or combine with other local authorities to do so, possibly ona catchment basis. The purpose of a FLAG is to act as a forum for the key publicand private interests to share knowledge and offer advice on flooding issues. Moreinformation on FLAGs, and organisations normally represented, can be found in PlanningAdvice Note (PAN) 69 at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2004/08/19805/41600.

The Societyof Chief Officers of Transportationin Scotland (SCOTS) Group on Flooding is another such forum whose remit is to share knowledge and experienceand to provide guidance to Scottish local authorities with regard to best practicein terms of issues related to flooding and water legislation. The Executive andmost Scottish local authorities are represented at this group.

Finally, the Conventionof Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) FloodingTask Group was established to consider the issues of flood prevention, flood incidentsand coast protection. The group liaised with other bodies such as the Scottish EnvironmentProtection Agency (SEPA), Scottish Water, the Association of British Insurers (ABI)and the Executive on flooding issues.

This is an operational matterfor the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA). I have asked Dr CampbellGemmell, Chief Executive of SEPA, to respond to the question direct.

Since 1 April 2004, grantto local authorities has been awarded at 80% of the estimated grant eligible expenditureto be incurred by local authorities on confirmed flood prevention schemes. Priorto 1 April 2004, the grant rate was 50%. Final invoices for each of theschemes funded since 2004 have yet to be submitted. Therefore, the estimated totalgrant eligible expenditure incurred on each scheme, the estimated grant eligibleexpenditure for consultancy services and estimated grant awarded since 1 April 2004 are tabulatedas follows for each authority.

Authority	Scheme	Estimated Total Grant	Estimated Total Expenditure	Estimated Expenditure for Consultancy Services
Moray Council	Lhanbryde	1,917,318	2,396,648	323,782
City of Edinburgh Council	Braid Burn	4,647,550	5,809,438	1,727,739
Perth and Kinross	Weem	525,797	657,247	55,373
	Earnbank	260,159	325,199.	37,354
	Milnathort	548,991	686,239	60,563
City of Glasgow	White Cart	3,305,750	4,132,188	1,894,451

 

VisitScotland is representedon, and contributes funding to, the Angling Development Tourism Group, which hasbeen instrumental in the development of the FishScotland website. VisitScotlandalso has a section on its own website dedicated to sea angling, along with two pagesabout the sport in its Fishing in Scotland brochure. In addition, VisitScotland contributes somefunding to the Country Sports Tourism Group, which is looking at a number of projectsto further develop angling of all kinds in Scotland.

The Scottish Executive is currentlyconsidering research and development (R&D) issues for the renewable energy sectorthrough the Forum for Renewable Energy Development in Scotland. A taskgroup with representatives from the Executive, industry and academia has been establishedto scope the existing R&D capability in Scotland along with the future R&Drequirements of the renewables industry in Scotland.

We have already contributed over£3 million to establish world leading research and testing facilities at the EuropeanMarine Energy Centre, allowing performance research to be undertaken by marine technologydevelopers.

ITI Energy has also committedup to £1.5 million to create an innovative low-cost hydrogen handling material thathas the potential to store and release hydrogen at room temperature. This cleanenergy project is a collaboration between a French company who have relocated toScotland, and several Scottish universities.

Since April 2003, the Executive’sSMART, SPUR and SCORE research and development support schemes have funded 11 projectsoffering almost £640,000 to businesses to help them develop renewable and cleanenergy technologies.

The Commission has recently publisheda Communication on Improving Consultationon EU Fisheries Management. The documentcan be found here:http://ec.europa.eu/comm/fisheries/doc_et_publ/factsheets/legal_texts/docscom/en/com_06_246_en.pdf.

Whilst the Commission does notrecommend a change in the timing of the fishing year itself, it proposes a numberof measures designed to achieve greater stakeholder engagement and earlier and fullerdiscussions of proposals.

This information is not heldcentrally.

International quota swaps area regular and important feature of the UK’s quota management arrangements. To date this year, some36 international swaps have been concluded, securing almost 13,000 tonnes of additionalquota, including around 4,400 tonnes of North Sea haddock. The Executive will continueto pursue further opportunities as the year progresses where they are in the bestinterests of the Scottish industry.