Chamber and committees

The total amount paid to applicants in Shetland under the 2000 HLCA Scheme was £1,978,305.

Livestock shipping in the Northern Isles is a commercial matter for ferry operators, subsidised by the Executive through the Tariff Rebate Subsidy (TRS) scheme. The new operator, NorthLink, plans to carry livestock in cassettes on their freight vessel. We are currently considering how the TRS scheme might apply to this new system. We are also considering possible contingency arrangements in case sufficient cassettes, for whatever reason, are not ready in time for this year's peak carrying season. Officials are seeking to keep the livestock industry informed of developments.

I have announced today that the Scottish Executive has decided to establish a Judicial Appointments Board.The board will be chaired by a senior non-legal figure, and will have other lay members, who will be appointed following Nolan public appointment procedures. It will also contain representatives of the judiciary and legal professions, so that lay and legal members will be equally balanced.The board will be set up on an administrative basis, but when parliamentary time allows it will be put on a firm statutory footing. Its role will be to advise the First Minister on names of new appointees to the office of Judge of the Court of Session, Sheriff Principal and Sheriff (both permanent and part-time Sheriffs). It will determine its own procedures, but these will be subject to guidance from the Scottish Ministers.All appointments will be advertised and appointments will be made solely on merit. The board's procedures will include a requirement that the legally qualified members are satisfied as to the legal capacity of those recommended. The board will make its recommendation to the First Minister, who will consult the Lord President of the Court of Session (as he is obliged to do by the Scotland Act 1998). The First Minister will expect to accept the advice of the board unless there is good reason to the contrary. The Lord Advocate will no longer routinely advise on appointments, but will advise the First Minister in any case of uncertainty about the board's recommendations.

This information is not held centrally.

This information is not held centrally.

The Scottish Executive provides funding to the Scottish Road Safety Campaign to enable it to develop road safety education initiatives. Following a review of the Scottish Cycle Training Scheme by the campaign, the written training materials were revised and a new training video made. The new training pack, which was launched in March, has been issued to all Road Safety Units in Scotland and its use promoted in schools throughout Scotland. The pack will assist in the delivery of high quality cycle training.

Additionally, a booklet Safer Cycling - A Guide for Parents, designed to inform parents on how to keep their children safe when cycling, was issued by the campaign in May.

The Scottish Road Safety Campaign will continue to develop and promote the scheme. In particular, a resource for Road Safety Officers to use when training volunteer trainers is currently being piloted.

We expect to publish by December a report entitled Green Commuter Plans - Do They Work? by Napier University Transport Research Institute. The report examines the effectiveness of travel plans at three key sites. The Executive will keep under review whether and when it would be most beneficial to undertake a further assessment of employers' travel practices.

The penalties arising from claims made under the Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS) are set down in the EC Regulations. As I indicated following my statement on 4 October, outlining the EU Subsidies Appeals Procedure, I have been pressing the issue of proportionality of penalties at UK level. Officials are currently in discussion with other EU Member States who share the UK's concerns. It is expected that these discussions will result in the French presidency preparing a paper on the simplification of the Common Agricultural Policy, to include our own and the presidency's ideas on proportionality of penalties for consideration by the European Commission.

I understand from the Department of Trade and Industry that there are no plans to undertake such a shipment from Dounreay to the United States.

Responsibility for the regulation of storage and handling of all nuclear fuel held at Dounreay rests with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). I understand that HSE's Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) is aware of plans to return the fuel in question to its owners in Germany. Safety documentation to allow the transfer of the fuel from a dedicated store into transport flasks is being prepared by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority and will be submitted to NII in due course.

The fuel transport flasks to be used for moving the fuel from Dounreay to Germany will require certification by the UK and German authorities. The Department of the Environment Transport and the Regions (DETR) is the authorising body in the UK for nuclear fuel transport.

Under the terms of the nuclear site licence issued by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) the licensee, British Nuclear Fuels plc, will be required to put in place a plan for decommissioning the Magnox nuclear power station at Hunterston. British Nuclear Fuels plc will also be required to make an assessment of the environmental effects of their proposed decommissioning plan, to consult the public, and to have consent from the HSE. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) and local authorities will be consulted by the HSE in that process.