Chamber and committees

The information requested is not held centrally. However, initial analysis of the results of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency survey of local authority waste arisings for 2000-01 indicates that approximately half of Scottish local authorities had formal arrangements with community or voluntary sector organisations to collect household waste for the purposes of recycling.The Executive has also provided support from the Sustainable Action Fund to the Recycling Advisory Group Scotland to set up a formal network for community organisations involved in waste recycling, reuse and reduction. One of the aims of the network is to determine the number of groups of this type and their level of activity in Scotland.

The Scottish Executive provides resources of this kind through core and grant funding from the Sustainable Action Fund. Grant of £149,094 has been offered in financial years 2001-02 and 2002-03 to community and voluntary projects involved with waste recycling and reuse. The Scottish Executive has also established a Strategic Waste Fund of £50.4 million for local authorities to implement area waste plans under the National Waste Strategy. Community and voluntary sector organisations are being encouraged to take an active role in working with local authorities to implementing these plans.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-24840.

The Assigned Budget will receive approximately £3 million per year from 2002-03, as part of the allocation by the Treasury of the proceeds of the aggregates levy. Ministers have decided to allocate this to the environment portfolio and decisions on how to distribute the monies will be made soon.

Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) has been developing proposals for a trial re-introduction of the European beaver to Scotland for seven years. In January 2002 an application was submitted to the Executive for a licence to release, following importation and quarantine, a number of beavers in Forest Enterprise land at Knapdale, Argyll.The SNH proposal raises many questions and it is premature to speculate on when a final decision on SNH's application might be taken. In giving careful consideration to the application, my ministerial colleagues and I will have regard to all relevant factors before any decisions are made. These include the guidelines on re-introductions produced by the IUCN (the World Conservation Union) and the views of ACRE (Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment). The possibility of the Executive conducting a further external consultation cannot be ruled out.

As I informed the Transport and Environment Committee on 28 January 2002, all COMAH safety reports are currently subject to access restrictions. National Security aspects of the COMAH regulations are reserved and it is for the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions to direct the competent authority as to the nature of access restrictions imposed on national security grounds.

The formula for calculating teachers' pensions has not changed recently. Teachers' pensions are calculated on the basis of length of service and salary in the period before retirement, usually the last year of service. Pensions awarded to teachers on their retirement will, therefore, always reflect movements in salary levels.

The Scottish Executive does not itself plant GM crops. It has however given approval for a maximum of 23 hectares, in total, of GM herbicide tolerant spring oilseed rape to be released at three sites this year as part of the Farm Scale Evaluation Programme. It is possible that the actual area planted will be less than this. No new applications have been received to release any other GM crops in 2002. Existing approvals permit no more than six hectares of GM winter oilseed rape and no more than 0.2 hectares of GM potatoes to be grown for research purposes on Scottish sites in 2002. It is not possible to know at this stage whether planting will proceed under these approvals, or whether any new applications will be received.Current approvals for the release of GM crops are listed on the Scottish Executive GM website and full details of all approvals are placed on a public register.

Current approvals for the release of GM crops are listed on the Scottish Executive GM website and full details of all approvals are placed on a public register held by the Executive. In 1999 the Scottish Executive gave approval for the release of a total of approximately seven hectares of GM herbicide tolerant oilseed rape, in a number of small-scale research plots. The greatest proportion of these were sown with GM winter oilseed rape, while the remainder were sown with the GM spring oilseed rape. No other varieties of GM crop were released in this year. The Farm Scale Evaluation (FSE) Programme had not been embarked upon at this time.2000 was the first year of the FSEs in Scotland; two hectares of GM spring oilseed rape and 25.5 hectares of GM winter oilseed rape were planted in the FSEs, at a total of five sites. In addition to this, a total of approximately two hectares of GM oilseed rape was planted in small-scale research plots. No other varieties of GM crop were released in 2000.Nine hectares of GM spring oilseed rape, and 29 hectares of GM winter oilseed rape were grown in the FSEs at a total of seven sites in 2001. A total of approximately 3.5 hectares of GM oilseed rape was planted in small-scale research plots. 0.07 hectares of GM potatoes were also grown in 2001 for research and development purposes. This is not part of the FSE programme.

The protection of the "Darwin Mounds" and any other areas of deep-sea coral that lie beyond the limit of Scottish territorial waters is a reserved matter. Protection of other areas of deep-sea coral within Scottish territorial waters is a devolved matter. These areas can be designated as Special Areas of Conservation under the EU Habitats Directive, but any decision would be made on the basis of available scientific evidence. The UK Government has announced that it is currently taking steps to implement the site identification and protection requirements of the EU Birds and Habitats Directives beyond territorial waters where it claims sovereign rights. This will involve steps to provide protection where appropriate to several species and habitats, including reefs. As part of this process the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) have been commissioned to identify and agree relevant habitats and species in the 12-200 mile marine zone; to develop selection criteria and refine habitat definitions, and to collate known data on those habitats and species. The JNCC are due to report in April 2002 and the UK plans to host a European conference to discuss the findings of the report during the summer of 2002. Subject to the conclusions of the JNCC report, the Darwin Mounds appear to be a strong candidate for site protection under the Habitats Directive as a Special Area of Conservation. The Scottish Executive is participating actively with the UK Government to implement the site identification and protection requirements of the EU Birds and Habitats Directives beyond territorial waters.