Chamber and committees

Landings of whitefish into the Clyde ports (defined as those creeks from Campbeltown to Stranraer but not including Crinan, Islay, Tayinloan and Tayvallich) have declined by 81%.

Year Landed	Total Tonnage
1987	7,992
1988	8,603
1989	7,593
1990	6,099
1991	6,600
1992	5,480
1993	5,614
1994	4,598
1995	4,219
1996	3,618
1997	2,184
1998	2,870
1999	3,175
2000	1,761
2001	1,496

The decline in whitefish landings to Clyde ports has been caused by the low levels of whitefish stocks. The Scottish Executive is already working constructively with the Commission and other members of the EU to develop recovery plans to raise whitefish stock levels.

Through the Scottish EnvironmentProtection Agency, the Executive limits discharge of toxic chemicals to themarine and freshwater environment where they can be taken up by fish andshellfish. Other regulatory measures taken to protect the consumer from theeffects of accumulated toxic chemicals, including those already present in theaquatic environment as a result of historic industrial use, are setting limitsfor certain contaminants in fish and shellfish and the testing of farmed fishfor residues of veterinary medicines. These are matters for the Food StandardsAgency and the Veterinary Medicines Directorate. In addition the industry istaking the following action:

sourcing the highest qualityraw materials – fish meal and fish oils used in aquaculture feedstuffs – fromareas least affected;

investing in additionalprocessing technology to reduce levels further, and

examining the potentialbenefits of incorporating different types of high quality plant-derived oil infeedstuffs.

A key principle of Project Scotland concernsthe need to complement rather than compete with existing volunteering organisations.The proposals are grounded in discussions with stakeholders in the private, voluntaryand public sectors, and these will continue as programme arrangements are finalisedover the coming months.

Inorder to ensure maximise the effectiveness and efficiency of the programme, theproposals also draw upon an assessment of a number of existing full-time volunteeringprogrammes both within the UK and overseas, and extensive market research with youngpeople.

Inaddition the Scottish Executive will protect its investment in Project Scotland throughthe development of robust monitoring and evaluation arrangements. These include:

theidentification of annually agreed targets as part of the Scottish Executive’s grant conditions;

anannual review meeting and report, and

an independent evaluation inyear three of Scottish Executive funding to examine the overall effectiveness of the programme,the extent to which it has met original objectives, and the effectiveness of organisationalarrangements.

The Scottish Executive is providing £1.9/£3.5/£3.5 million to Project Scotland overthe next three years. Project Scotland will shortly initiate discussions with potential partnerorganisations about the development of specific volunteering programmes.

The working groupfor Project Scotland (previously referred to as Scotscorps) developeddetailed proposals for a ground-breaking youth volunteering initiative involvingthe public, private and voluntary sectors. These proposals were subsequently endorsedby Ministers and Project Scotland was announced on 11 May 2004.

The direct and indirect costs associated with this development workamount to £71,000 in 2003‑04. This has covered:

Market research

Focus group meetings with young volunteers

Branding research

Engagement with potential partner agencies in the voluntary and privatesectors

Legal advice

Financial advice

Mapping of other initiatives aimed at young volunteers

Working group expenses

Report production costs

Staff costs associatedwith support work for the working group.

The Scottish Executive welcomesthe Sustainable Development Commission's report as a contribution to the debateon sustainable development. The report looks mainly at the activity of the UK Governmentand at progress against its indicators, but includes brief mention of the devolvedadministrations.

Inparticular we welcome the commission's recognition of the "serious attempts"by the Executive to put sustainable development at the centre of policy making;of the Executive's commitment to sustainable development and environmental justiceand of the mechanisms we have put in place to deliver on these. That commitmentis evident in the Partnership Agreement.

Werecognise that more needs to be done, by the Executive and others. That is why overthe coming year we will be working with the UK Government and the other devolvedadministrations to develop a new UK Sustainable Development Strategy. We will beworking together to determine how we can best achieve our common sustainable developmentobjectives. We shall work closely with stakeholders in Scotland to developthe best approach - developing a UK-wide approach where appropriate but retaininga distinctive Scottish approach where it is beneficial to do so.  Our consultation,Taking it On: developing UK sustainable development strategy together was launched on 21 April. The Sustainable DevelopmentCommission’s report was prepared as a contribution to the strategy review process,and the most appropriate response to it is the development of the new strategy itself.

Thenew Strategy will include sustainable development indicators. Again, we will lookto achieve common UK-wide indicators where sensible but supplement them with Scottishindicators where they are a better measure of our intentions.

This will build the comprehensivesustainable development strategy for Scotland that the Commission seeks, and we look for their involvementand support in doing so.

Half of the aggregates levy fundingin Scotland during 2002-03 and 2003-04 was allocated to the CommunityEnvironmental Renewal Scheme (CERS), supporting a range of environmental projects.

The scheme’s design reflectedScottish concerns and priorities. Communities affected by aggregates extractioncould put forward projects which addressed the environmental effects of past orpresent aggregates extraction, involved the local community and demonstrated socialand/or economic benefit to it. For 2003-04, four themes were additionally identifiedin the Scheme’s guidance to illustrate the types of project which might be supported(landscape and community recreation, habitat restoration and local biodiversity,restoration and protection of historic environment, and pollution mitigation).

The funding allocated to individualprojects reflected their merits judged against the scheme’s criteria. Geodiversitywas not an express theme for 2002-04 but a number of projects included substantialelements of geological interpretation, including those undertaken by the ScottishSlate Islands Heritage Trust, Solway Heritage, Highland Council and Castletown HeritageSociety, Hagdale Quarry, Bu Sands Archaeological Archive and Timespan Geology Garden. Moreinformation on these is available on the Internet at www.sustainable.scotland.gov.ukand www.forward-scotland.org.uk(for 2002-03 and 2003-04 projects respectively).

As I announced in the answerto question S2O-2195 on 29 April 2004, the Executive has decided to extend the Community EnvironmentalRenewal Scheme for a further three years. Geological work will be added as an explicittheme which projects might address. Applications for funding will be invited shortly.

The answer to S2O-2195 isavailable on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can befound at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/sch/search.

No. The Scottish Executive has no responsibility for the funding or status of professional representativebodies such as the Association of British Dispensing Opticians.

The Convener of the HolyroodProgress Group has now written to the member with the details requested, andplaced a copy of that letter in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.

Following the close of theconsultation Safer Sludge last year the Scottish Executive is still indiscussions with interested parties. We hope to lay Regulations in the Scottish Parliament later this year.