Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-15859.

I refer the Member to the answer given to question S1W-15859.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-15859.

No final decisions have yet been taken, following the consultation exercise by the Fisheries Departments in the UK, on shellfish licensing.If it is decided to introduce a scheme operated by the Fisheries Departments, enforcement of the scheme arrangements would fall to the departments and would generally be undertaken by the relevant Sea Fisheries Inspectorates. In Scotland, that would be the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency. Responsibility for enforcing any local scheme arrangements which were also introduced would rest with the relevant local interests.

Resumption of trading at auction marts is being kept under review in the light of the improving disease situation. However, I see no immediate prospect of their resumption.

The review is being led by officials within my Fisheries Group, but it is necessarily a cross-cutting exercise involving a number of other interests both within and outwith the Executive. As the first stage in this process, my officials wrote to those with an interest, inviting views by the end of April on how the existing arrangements might be improved. Formal consultation on a range of proposals will be undertaken over the summer. I expect to receive a final report towards the end of the year.

An onshore generating station of 50 megawatts or less will require the consent of the planning authority within whose boundaries the proposed development falls under section 28 of the 1997 Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act. The fee depends on the site area of the development, but the maximum would be £10,500. Planning legislation requires applications to be determined within two months (four where an environmental impact assessment is required), unless the developer agrees in writing to an extension of this period. The time taken can vary considerably, however, depending on the issues involved in a particular case. If the proposed station exceeds 50 megawatts in size, consent must be obtained from Scottish Ministers under section 36 of the 1989 Electricity Act. This consent can also include deemed planning permission under section 57 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997. An application for consent under the 1989 Act can attract a fee of between £5,000 and £20,000, depending on the output of the proposed scheme. There is no maximum time taken to issue such consents, although, as a guide, the relevant planning authority is allowed four months in which to submit its views as part of the consultation process.

The target set for the Scottish Renewables Obligation (SRO) in 1994 was to support the development of 150 megawatts of new renewable electricity generation capacity. The latest projections from the energy regulator (Ofgem Scotland), based on feedback from SRO developers, indicate that this target should be achieved by 2003.The new Renewables Obligation (Scotland), or ROS, will place an obligation on all electricity suppliers to have a rising proportion of their electricity accounted for by renewable sources. We intend to use the ROS to raise this proportion from around 13% in 2003 to 18% by 2010, a similar increase to that planned for the UK as a whole. Previous studies have indicated that there is enough potential renewable energy in Scotland to meet economically the 2010 target, even allowing for growth in Scottish demand.

At present, around 11% of Scottish electricity demand is met from Scotland's established hydro schemes. We expect that projects awarded contracts under the previous Scottish Renewables Obligation, once more are built over the next two years, will raise the portion of Scottish electricity supply accounted for by renewable energy to around 13% by 2003.We intend, under the new Renewables Obligation (Scotland), that this figure should increase by a further 5%, to 18% by 2010. Decisions on the yearly profile of the Renewables Obligation (Scotland) target will be taken in due course.

The Scottish Renewables Obligation will remain in place until 2015, while the new Renewables Obligation (Scotland) will remain in place until March 2026. The latter obligation on all electricity suppliers will be for a specified proportion of their total electricity supply, so the amount of renewable energy needed to meet it will grow if the electricity market as a whole increases.