Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government does not purchase milk. Milk is procured as part of the Scottish Government’s overall catering contract with Sodexo who advise an average price paid of 69 pence per litre (ppl) across all pack sizes. The price varies according to how milk is purchased in various pack sizes including 200ml, 250ml, 500ml, 1L, 2L and 3 gallon pergals and according to distribution requirements and geography. Public sector bodies pay between 40 ppl and £1.21 ppl. Industry analysts suggest an average cost of production of between 26 and 28 ppl.

The first meeting of the Stakeholder Advisory Group on the Crown Estate, chaired by myself, was held on Wednesday 16 September 2015.

The group provides a forum for a range of stakeholders to outline their views on the development of a new framework for management of Crown Estate assets in Scotland. The current membership of the group is as follows:

Association of Scottish Shellfish Growers

British Marine Federation Scotland

Comhairle nan Eilean Siar

Community Land Scotland

COSLA

Crown Estate Commissioners (by personal invitation)

Highlands and Islands Enterprise

NFU Scotland

Oil and Gas UK

Orkney Islands Council

Royal Town Planning Institute

Royal Yachting Association Scotland

Scottish Enterprise

Scottish Land and Estates

Scottish Local Government Partnership

Scottish Ports Committee

Scottish Renewables

Scottish Salmon Producers’ Organisation

Scottish Tenant Farmers Association

Shellfish Association of Great Britain

Shetland Islands Council

Subsea Group UK

UK Major Ports Group Limited

West Highland Anchorages and Moorings Association

West Highland and Tobermory Harbour Association

There is currently no agency responsible for labelling meat as non-stun.

The labelling of meat for human consumption is governed by European Commission Regulation 1169/2011 on the provision of food information to customers. Meat producers must provide information to customers which conforms with that Regulation. At present, there is no requirement for member states to require the inclusion of information on non-stunning of animals, and any such labelling would be a commercial matter for food business operators, retailers and their assurance schemes.

Following an EU consultation exercise published on 28 May 2015, the European Parliament and Council of ministers will further consider the labelling of meat slaughtered without stunning as part of the discussion on the EU Strategy for the Protection and Welfare of Animals 2012-2015.

The Scottish Government is currently working with stakeholders to address the implications and practicalities of designating porcine epidemic diarrhoea as a notifiable animal disease.

Veterinary practices in the Highlands and Islands, as elsewhere in Scotland, are private businesses. As such, their recruitment policies will be determined by them in terms of the current and potential clients that they attract.

The Scottish Government incentivises the provision of veterinary services in the rural and remote rural areas of the Highlands and Islands through the Highlands and Islands Veterinary Services Scheme. That scheme ensures the provision of an adequate veterinary service to prevent and eradicate animal diseases for all animals kept for agricultural purposes and belonging to crofters and others of like economic status, where no other provisions are available on the market. However, the Chief Veterinary Officer for Scotland recently visited veterinary practices in the scheme and assisted with the recruitment of a veterinarian surgeon on Tiree.

As reported to the Scottish Parliament on 16 September 2015, in response to S4W-27165 from Tavish Scott MSP, the annual budget for the Highlands and Islands Veterinary Services scheme is £760,000. There are no plans to reduce this.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

The scheme is open to all eligible farmers with sheep, whether crofters or not and whether they have common grazing shares or not. If crofters apply and they have shares in common grazings, we will use this information to assess eligibility.

The Scottish Government has no locus to discuss the number of vets in practices in the Highlands and Islands with the veterinary schools. That is a matter for the veterinary practices, as private businesses, to discuss with potential employees.

The aim of the scheme is to support active farmers working some of our most challenging land. It must not be a source of support to large inactive landowners, which is why eligibility rests on home-bred ewe hoggs. As Mr Scott will know from his background in farming, these are the animals that the eligible businesses will retain to maintain and enhance their flocks so the active businesses will have nothing to fear from the retention period. A retention period of six months is necessary to prevent the artificial creation of eligibility by those who can be described as slipper farmers as opposed to active farmers.

I announced details of the Scottish Upland Sheep Support Scheme when I delivered details of my decisions on Common Agricultural Policy reform to the Scottish Parliament in June 2014. I subsequently wrote to all Scotland’s farmers in July 2014 with basic details of the arrangements and full details of the scheme have been available on the Rural Payments and Services website since 27 October 2014. In addition, my officials are in the process of writing to 8,000 farmers likely to be eligible under the scheme, drawing their attention to this important source of potential support.

This information is available on the Scottish Government website at the following address: www.gov.scot/Topics/Government/Finance/18232/12308.