Chamber and committees

The Common Fisheries Policy (EU Regulation 1380/2013), published on 11 December 2013, describes the landing obligation and how it will be implemented through regionalisation. The Scottish Government is working with Member States in regional groups to develop discard plans, which will detail the scope of the landing obligation and any derogations or exemptions from it. The discard plans for the pelagic landing obligation are expected to be agreed by the end of June 2014 and will then be submitted to the European Commission to be implemented by the Commission as a delegated act, and therefore open for comments by the European Parliament. It is expected that this delegated act will be published by the end of 2014. Discard plans for the demersal landing obligation are expected to be submitted to the Commission in the summer of 2015 and again in 2018, ahead of the final phase of implementation.

The regional groups are currently consulting on the implementation of the pelagic discard ban with the relevant Advisory Councils (comprising representatives from the fishing industry and from non-governmental organisations), as stipulated in Article 18(2) of the Common Fisheries Policy. In addition, Marine Scotland is engaging with Scottish stakeholders on the development of the discard plans through the Scottish Discards Steering Group.

The Rural Payments and Inspections Directorate’s professional and technical staff carry out all IACS inspections. In order to minimise the impact on farmers, the Rural Payment and Inspections Directorate’s policy is to undertake ‘whole farm’ reviews rather than to undertake separate types of inspections for any particular land use. Inspectors in the Rural Payments and Inspections Division, therefore, could be said to be ‘multi-functional’ i.e. they carry out inspections on farms, for various schemes implemented by the Rural Payment and Inspections Directorate, meeting the minimum inspection levels laid down by EU regulations. The regulations for the Common Agricultural Policy schemes are very detailed and specific. The on-the-spot controls, however, do include the verification of land claimed by farmers (and delineated on maps supplied by them) as to the eligibility for the support schemes applied for.

The Veterinary Risk Assessment which is being carried out by our Centre of Expertise on Animal Disease Outbreaks into the non-EID tagging of home bred replacement animals is in the final stages of being completed. A meeting will be held with the representatives of the National Sheep Association Scotland and National Farmers Union Scotland in early June 2014 to discuss the findings. Once finalised and agreed it will be published on the Scottish Government website.

The Scottish Government recognises that GP dispensing practices play an essential role in the dispensing and supply of medicines to patients in remote and rural areas who do not have access to a community pharmacy.

Following our review and consultation earlier this year on the control of entry arrangements and dispensing GP practices, we have laid amended regulations before Parliament, coming into force by the summer recess (2014). These amendments will introduce a revised regulatory framework which we believe will best meet the needs of local communities throughout Scotland. The amended regulations will introduce additional tests to be considered by NHS boards when applications to open a pharmacy are made in areas where patients have their prescribed medicines supplied by a GP dispensing practice.

From 1 April 2004, the Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Act 2004 placed a duty on the 14 territorial NHS boards to provide ‘primary medical services’ for everyone living in the NHS board area. These are the services GP practices provide to patients registered with them.

During the out-of-hours periods NHS boards generally provide these services for their populations at out-of-hours centres (often co-located with accident and emergency departments) or, where the patient is so unwell that they cannot travel or there are other factors which may prevent them from travelling, by arranging for a home visit by a doctor or other member of the clinical team. These services are GP led and delivered directly by NHS boards who are expected to determine the appropriate configuration and staffing mix (which will typically include nurse practitioners and other healthcare professionals working in support of GPs) to meet the needs of their patients.

These services play a vital role in caring for communities, and we understand the challenges these services can face, particularly in relation to the availability of GPs. That’s why our £50 million unscheduled care action plan includes out-of-hours primary medical care alongside every element of unscheduled care in Scotland. As part of this, we expect all NHS boards to work with their local medical committees and other partners to ensure they are delivering GP out-of-hours services that are safe, effective, sustainable and meet the needs of their local communities.

If, due to exceptional circumstances, any NHS board found they had no GPs available during an out-of-hours period, it would be expected that service continuity plans would be implemented so that patient care would continue to be provided by an appropriate alternative clinician.

These negotiations will be about continuation of membership, not new entry.

Notwithstanding this, we will give fisheries the priority they rightfully deserve as a key component of Scotland’s economic, social and cultural identity. This administration will never use our fisheries as a bargaining chip to be traded away in negotiations. Our fishermen have had enough of that under numerous Westminster Governments down the decades. This Government will always champion the interests of Scotland’s fishing industry, in stark contrast to previous UK administrations who are on record as describing Scotland’s fishing industry as ‘expendable’.

We expect member states to welcome Scotland’s continuing EU membership, and under the existing rules of the Common Fisheries Policy we would expect no change to the access opportunities our vessels currently enjoy to the waters of EU member states or other coastal states, and vice versa

With regard to quota allocation within an independent Scotland, there is no difference between the current situation and that pertaining under independence, given that these aspects of fisheries management are already devolved and subject to whichever decisions current or future Scottish administrations may wish to make in this area.

We expect the allocation of quota from the EU to Member States, which is on the basis of relative stability in line with EU arrangements, to remain the same and we will negotiate our share with the UK within this overall allocation. In these talks Scotland would be negotiating from a position of strength given the importance and value of our waters and the level of our fishing activity, ensuring Scotland’s interests lay at the heart of any agreement on the division of shares.

Virtually all of the seabed out to 12 nautical miles and Sovereign rights of the UK in the seabed and its resources (excluding hydrocarbons) beyond 12 nautical miles form part of the Crown Estate which is currently administered by the Crown Estate Commissioners. Scottish Ministers have a long standing policy of seeking control of the Crown Estate in Scotland. In our view the timescales for introducing new arrangements can be rapid, through for example the removal of the reservations in the Scotland Act 1998 relating to the management of the Crown Estate, but the timing for this amendment of the Scotland Act would be subject to negotiation with the UK Government.

On independence the Crown Estate will still be Crown property. How that property is managed will change. We are committed to the introduction of a leasing system for offshore renewables following independence to replace the functions of the Crown Estate Commissioners for Scotland’s waters. Our current framework for considering licence applications for offshore renewables developments involves consultation and consideration of a range of issues including the potential impacts on other users of the sea and it would be a major improvement if Scottish Ministers had the responsibility for leasing decisions for renewables and other uses of the seabed currently administered by the Crown Estate Commissioners

Scottish Government Rural Payments and Inspections Directorate have carried out two sheep and goat identification and traceability inspections during the traditional Scottish lambing season, one in the Ayr and one in the Perth area office commands.

The inspections were carried out at the request of European Commission audit officials.

There are no further inspections planned during the 2014 traditional Scottish lambing season.