Chamber and committees

None, as the change in ownership of the land relates only to the landowner's interest. The individual crofters will continue to be croft tenants and thus their eligibility for crofting grants will be unaffected.

I refer the member to the answers given to questions S1W-21848 and S1W-21851.

We see no need to amend the Occupiers' Liability (Scotland) Act 1960 which essentially enshrined in legislation the relevant common law principles relating to liability. Under the 1960 Act, the occupier of land has a duty to take such care, as in all the circumstances of the case is reasonable, to see that any person entering on the land will not suffer injury or damage by reason of any dangers due to the state of the premises or to anything done or omitted to be done on them.

Part 1 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill provides for a right of responsible access to land for recreation and passage. Section 5(2) of the bill effectively provides that Part 1 of the bill, or its operation, will not affect the duty of care owed by an occupier to any person present on the land. This means, for example, that the fact that someone was exercising access rights when injured has no bearing on the extent of any duty of care owed by the occupier of land to that person in terms of the 1960 Act.

We are discussing with the dental profession, increased continuing professional development allowances and a remote allowance for dentists in such areas. We are also at present considering other measures to improve recruitment and retention of dental practitioners. The first priority will be to retain dental practitioners in Scotland and especially to attract practitioners to practices outwith the central belt. More specific measures are being considered for remote areas.

A review of medical workforce planning is currently under way. This review is looking at the many issues surrounding the supply of trained doctors for Scotland, and is specifically looking at provision of services in rural and remote areas. The advisory group for the review is expected to produce an interim report for the Minister for Health and Community Care by the end of February.The Executive also supports the use of salaried general medical practitioners as a way of improving access to healthcare in rural areas.

Although the euro is not legal tender in the UK, some retailers have indicated that they are prepared to accept it as a method of payment. This reflects the commercial choices of businesses. VisitScotland are distributing material, on request, regarding the euro. In conjunction with the Treasury, Scotland Europa have implemented a detailed programme to provide advice and raise awareness of the need by all businesses - including in the tourist industry - to make appropriate preparations for the introduction of the currency. This includes the Trading in Euro symbol which indicates that an organisation is willing and able to deal with the euro currency. The Executive has undertaken two surveys of businesses in Scotland, assessing usage and expected usage of the euro. The first survey took place in the summer of 2000 and was repeated in 2001. The surveys did not include specific results from the tourism sector.

Assessment of economic impacts of UK taxation measures is the responsibility of Her Majesty's Treasury. No separate assessment has been undertaken by the Scottish Executive of the impact in Shetland.

In Rivers, Lochs, Coasts: The Future for Scotland's Waters (Parliament's Reference Centre Bib. number 14576), our consultation paper on the proposed Water Environment and Water Services Bill, which will give effect to the Directive in Scots Law, we said that we believed that the key to tackling diffuse pollution was to ensure the implementation of good practice across the board. We envisaged that this might be done by means of statutory codes of good practice, backed up by powers for a regulator to enforce specific pollution control measures where necessary. We also said that non-regulatory approaches such as voluntary and educational initiatives would have an important role to play.The issue of timing will be discussed in our second consultation paper on our legislative intentions for the bill. We will publish that paper shortly.

The Executive has two places on the management committee which considers proposals for funding from the Crown Estate's aquaculture research and development budget. This committee last met on 28 January. Research and development was also discussed at a meeting with the Crown Estate on 23 January about the development of a strategic framework for aquaculture. No meetings have been held on the second matter.

The current review is a negotiation between the Crown Estate, as landlord, and the farmed salmon industry as their tenants. It would not be appropriate for any third party to be involved.