Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-16134.

I appreciate fully the importance of breeding sheep sales to the Scottish sheep sector. It is too early to say whether or not it will be possible to hold conventional sales this year but the position is being kept under review.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S10-3249 on 5 April 2001.

Local authorities should collect this information which is not held centrally. In his recently published annual report, based on a round of visits to each local authority, the Chief Inspector of Social Work Services made reference to the fact that social work and social care can be very stressful occupations and that the levels of sickness amongst staff are frequently the highest in the local authority. The Association of Directors of Social Work has produced a management resource pack designed to support frontline staff which, amongst other things, tackles the issue of absences. As a consequence of monitoring and following up, absences have been reduced in some authorities (for example, East Renfrewshire reported reduced levels from 14% to 6%). The Chief Inspector's annual report underlines the importance for local authorities of good employment practices as a means of improving attendance levels.Information on the related issue of recruitment and retention of staff will be collected centrally for the first time this year by the SEHD Social Work Statistics Division. This will be published towards the end of 2001. The next Chief Inspector's annual report also intends to return to the issue.

SEPA advised my officials on the suitability of sites for burning FMD cull carcasses, including cattle of all ages, in relation to the protection of the environmental aspects for which they are responsible. In particular, SEPA's assessments were based on drinking water and groundwater considerations in the locality of potential sites. My officials are in consultation with SEPA over the disposal of ash from pyres which would derive from animals over five years old.

Approximately 74,000 carcasses of cattle slaughtered in Scotland as a result of FMD have been burnt. Cattle were not aged individually so the information requested is not available. However, except in some early cases on farms only store or fattening cattle which are always less than five years old were buried. All the rest - which will have included some cattle under five years - were burnt, in line with SEAC advice. Information on BSE in relation to total cattle population in the year 2000 for areas of Scotland affected by FMD is shown in the table:

Region	BSE Cases	Cattle Population
Dumfries and Galloway	10	445,019
Borders	3	154,968
Highland	4	150,433

In view of the ongoing decline in BSE cases over a number of years now, and the above information, few, if any, cattle over five years old which were burnt could have been expected to be incubating BSE.

This information is not currently available. From July we will be extending the current surveillance system to include all fallen stock and casualty animals over 30 months, and cattle born between August 1996 and July 1997 slaughtered under the Over Thirty Month Scheme. This may enable the Executive to produce the estimate you have asked for.So far this year there have been only two confirmed BSE cases found in Scotland. During the year 2000, 38 cases were identified.

Traffic studies in Ayr are a matter for South Ayrshire Council as Roads Authority and promoters of the Compulsory Purchase Order. In November 2000, they advised the Scottish Executive that the "link road" was identified as an integral part of the Ayr Town Centre Traffic Plan in 1989 and that the potential traffic flows in the area have not changed since.

Traffic studies in Ayr are a matter for South Ayrshire Council as Roads Authority and promoters of the Compulsory Purchase Order. I understand, however, that the most recent traffic studies were carried out in 1997. South Ayrshire Council confirmed in November 2000 that those studies remain current.

Compulsory Purchase Procedure is statutorily prescribed. The main legislation is the Acquisition of Land (Authorisation Procedure) (Scotland) Act 1947 and the Compulsory Purchase of Land (Scotland) Regulations 1976. The 1976 Regulations prescribe that notice shall be served on all owners, occupiers and lessees of the land to be acquired. Further, the proposed order is required to be advertised on consecutive weeks in a newspaper circulating in the area of the land to be acquired.Although there is no prescribed consultation procedure, there is a statutory period for the submission of objections to the Scottish Ministers as confirming authority. Any objections are considered in the overall context of the compulsory purchase order. Objections were received to this compulsory purchase order and these are presently being considered by the Scottish Ministers.In addition, last month, further final representations were sought and received from objectors and current owners, lessees and occupiers of the land comprised in the compulsory purchase order. These are also currently being considered by the Scottish Executive.