Chamber and committees

The Scottish Executive is aware of a newspaper report on this subject but understands that no interim results from the farm scale evaluation programme yet exist for any of the crops which are being assessed. The data from the three years of field trials will be collated upon completion of the programme and the results will be peer reviewed and published thereafter. The Scottish Executive will then consider how to respond to the results.

The Scottish Executive is working closely with colleagues in the Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) to draft a UK Small Cetacean Bycatch Response Strategy which aims to work towards meeting the target for unacceptable cetacean bycatch, set by the Agreement for the Conservation of Small Cetaceans in the Baltic and North Seas, of no more than 1.7% across all UK fisheries in 2003.The Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU) have been contracted by DEFRA to investigate cetacean bycatch in UK pelagic trawl and gillnet fisheries. In collaboration with the Scottish Pelagic Fishermen's Association, SMRU have placed observers on board UK pelagic vessels. Since 1999 SMRU have observed a total of 59 pelagic haul trawls during 83 days at sea in the waters around Scotland but have recorded no cetacean bycatch to date.

No specific assessment has been carried out for this purpose. The Executive has set out an exemption scheme, to target small and locally funded organisations, which will provide that charitable organisations currently receiving relief from water charges with an income of less than £50,000 per annum will receive 100% relief from water charges. There will also be a transitional hardship fund whose purpose will be to assist those with incomes above the threshold, but who suffered significantly as a result of having their relief withdrawn. It will have a budget of £1 million over the next two years. Consequently, we have no reason to believe any job losses will arise from the phased withdrawal of water charges relief from those charities and voluntary organisations presently in receipt of that relief.

No specific assessment has been carried out for this purpose. The Executive has set out an exemption scheme, to target small and locally funded organisations, which will provide that charitable organisations currently receiving relief from water charges with an income of less than £50,000 per annum will receive 100% relief from water charges. There will also be a transitional hardship fund whose purpose will be to assist those with incomes above the threshold, but who suffered significantly as a result of having their relief withdrawn. It will have a budget of £1 million over the next two years. Consequently, we have no reason to believe that phased withdrawal of water charges relief from those voluntary arts organisations currently in receipt of such relief will impact adversely on achieving the objectives of the National Cultural Strategy.

No specific assessment has been carried out for this purpose. The Executive has set out an exemption scheme, to target small and locally funded organisations, which will provide that charitable organisations currently receiving relief from water charges with an income of less than £50,000 per annum will receive 100% relief from water charges. There will also be a transitional hardship fund whose purpose will be to assist those with incomes above the threshold, but who suffered significantly as a result of having their relief withdrawn. It will have a budget of £1 million over the next two years. We have no reason to believe, therefore, that there will be any adverse effect on the stated Executive policy priorities, consequent upon the phased withdrawal of water charge relief for those voluntary and charitable organisations presently in receipt of such relief.

The Executive has not made any such representations.

We do not hold this information in the Scottish Executive. Consenting discharges is a matter for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency. However, the need to use such treatments within their consented limits will vary from year to year in response to sea lice abundance.

Following a site visit, the Scottish Executive can confirm that a plant within the GM oil-seed rape crop growing at Tullich field has flowered, as has an oilseed rape plant among the non-GM control crop. On the GM side of the field, this represents one plant amidst an estimated 6.7 million GM oil-seed rape plants and does not enable definitive conclusions to be drawn. Although it is premature for rape plants to flower at this time of year, this phenomenon has been experienced in many plants this winter following a period of uncharacteristically mild weather. The GM Inspectorate monitor all of the release sites in Scotland to ensure that the terms of each consent are complied with and that any developments which may pose a threat to the environment are identified.

The scientists overseeing these trials across the UK will note any major differences between crops over the entire cropping cycle and will consider these as part of their final analysis.

The farmscale evaluation programme does not compare the GM crop with a non-GM variety. It is designed to compare the effect on biodiversity of the agricultural practices required to grow herbicide-tolerant GM crops with conventional agricultural practices. The conventional variety used on each trial site is selected by the farmer to represent what would traditionally be grown in a particular area but the variety itself is not pertinent to the methodology of the trial. Different growers participating in the evaluations around the UK will select appropriate varieties for their area and any varietal differences are nullified by the number of sites involved. The conventional oilseed rape which has been planted at Munlochy is a variety with the trade name Royal. Like the GM variety, it is a fully restored hybrid.