Chamber and committees

The significance of paying 96.14% of Single Farm Payment expenditure is that we must reach that figure by 30 June 2009 in order to avoid late payment penalties being levied by the European Commission. I think Scottish farmers will find it more relevant to know, however, that my standing aim is that the Scottish Government should settle these claims from the earliest point possible and in full. You will be aware from my answer to S3W-17853 that payments are due to start appearing in farmers and crofters bank accounts from 1 December so my officials can only estimate at this point that we will reach the 96.14% target by 28 February 2009 or earlier, bearing in mind that payment is dependant on claims being eligible.

I can confirm that payments under the 2008 Single Farm Payment Scheme will start to arrive in bank accounts from 1 December. This means that we will have paid 13,800 producers a total of £223 million from the first date possible. With this good start to the settlement of this year''s claims, my officials estimate that by Christmas Day, we will have paid approximately 16,600 producers (84%) equating to around £334 million (75%). The Scottish Government does publish further details of its payment performance, as the payments, are made on our website and this can be found at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Agriculture/grants/LatestPayments/Introduction.

The Scottish Government is currently reviewing the efficiency and effectiveness of a number of areas of wildlife and natural environment legislation. We will consult in the New Year on options for reform of legislation including the provisions of the game laws in Scotland.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-17955 on 26 November 2008. 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/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-2872 on 23 August 2007. 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/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

The Scottish Government is taking careful account of representations from Ayrshire in preparing a Proposed National Planning Framework and the Strategic Transport Projects Review is considering the need for improved strategic road and rail links to enhance the connectivity from Ayrshire to Glasgow and the rest of Scotland as well as links to the South.

Homecoming Scotland''s principal aim is to attract additional visitors to Scotland in 2009. Doing so will yield benefits to many tourism related businesses in Ayrshire and across the rest of Scotland, including those providing accommodation, food, transport services and visitor attractions.

VisitScotland and EventScotland, who are delivering Homecoming, on behalf of the Scottish Government, are actively engaging many tourism businesses in Ayrshire and across Scotland to help ensure that business opportunities are taken advantage of and that maximum benefit is achieved from the initiative.

VisitScotland''s Business Tourism Unit have been engaging with business leaders with Scottish connections, and with the top inward investors in Scotland, to encourage them to bring their conferences and business events to Scotland in 2009.

Lyme disease is a notifiable disease, but clinical presentation of Lyme disease is highly variable and asymptomatic infections do occur, which can mean that a diagnosis based on clinical suspicion of the disease is often difficult and that some cases may go unreported. Recorded diagnoses of Lyme disease are therefore based on a combination of clinical findings and laboratory results. Laboratory results are only valid if they are performed in accredited laboratories such as the national Lyme Borrelioses Testing Service at Raigmore hospital. The sensitivity of these laboratory tests is very high if performed after a sufficient period of time to allow the patient to develop antibodies (usually six to eight weeks post tick bite).

The Lyme Borreliosis Unit at Southampton General Hospital undertake continuous research and assessment on testing kits.

Health Protection Scotland currently publishes guidance on tick-borne diseases, such as Lyme disease, on its website and distributes guidance to NHS boards for dissemination to clinicians involved in treating members of the public.

The Ministerial Group on Ticks and Lyme Disease has requested that awareness of Lyme disease should be raised amongst medical practitioners and guidance headed Tick Borne Disease in Scotland: Guidelines for Prevention and Management for Health Care Professionals is currently being produced. In addition a number of web-based organisations who provide educational materials to the medical profession are being encouraged to promote greater coverage of Lyme disease.

The Royal College of General Practitioners has also recently agreed to give greater coverage to the subject of Lyme disease in all educational activities.

The Scottish Government is funding the Centre of Excellence in Epidemiology, Population Health and Infectious Disease Control at the Macaulay Institute, to study tick ecology to identify places most at risk of ticks, the effect of climate change and land use on ticks:

http://www.macaulay.ac.uk/lyme/.

The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council are funding a joint Aberdeen University-Macaulay Institute project on the ecology of Lyme disease to estimate the prevalence of Borrelia in ticks and link these with variables such as hosts, climate and habitat etc. The use of data from research on prevalence of Lyme ticks will be used in guidelines for infectious disease practitioners in order to establish when to give early antibiotic prophylaxis following exposure.

A Rural Economy and Land Use Programme-funded project Assessing and communicating animal disease risks for countryside users led by Dr Chris Quine at Forest Research, Roslin, will explore the most effective means of communicating Lyme disease risks to the public:

http://www.relu.ac.uk/research/projects/Third%20Call/Quine.htm.

Health Protection Scotland carry out a process of active enhanced surveillance and epidemiological analysis of cases for Scotland and an equivalent function is also carried out in England and Wales.

The UK is also involved in a European Union-sponsored collaboration on concerted action on Lyme Borreliosis.

The UK also participates in an international collaboration with the US on research on Lyme disease via the Centre for Disease Control.

We are not aware of any therapeutic trials currently underway in the UK.

Most work on Lyme disease is carried out on an international basis with the US authorities reportedly spending $340 million on research into Lyme disease in recent years.

There is currently a study on randomised trials on the treatment of people with neuroborreliousis, including both North American and European disease strains, being carried out in Maryland, USA.