Chamber and committees

The report of the Committee of Inquiry on Crofting was published on 12 May 2008. The Scottish Government will respond to the committee''s recommendations in due course. Copies of the report can be accessed through the Committee of Inquiry on Crofting website “ www.croftinginquiry.org.

The Committee of Inquiry on Crofting has made recommendations on crofting regulation and enforcement. Should the Government accept the recommendation to introduce what is referred to as a residency burden to croft house sites, it may also accept the recommendation to introduce the burden with effect from 12 May 2008.

If the government were to accept these recommendations, it could be expected to invite Parliament to apply any restrictions to croft house sites and crofts for which the application for consent to assign a croft or for which notification of the change of ownership of the land was received by the Crofters Commission after 12 May 2008. Such restrictions would also apply to croft house sites for which notice of applications to decroft was received by the Crofters Commission after that date. Furthermore, any houses built on land that was under crofting tenure on 12 May 2008 and for which no application to decroft land had been received would be subject to an enhanced burden that would tie the new owner not only to occupancy but also to working the land.

To date, 144 Special Protection Area''s (SPAs) have been classified in Scotland under the EC Birds Directive, 49 of which relate to seabird interests.

We recognise that Scotland''s seabird populations are of European and Global renown.

I am announcing today that I have asked SNH to lead a public consultation on proposals to extend 31 of our SPAs for seabirds into the marine environment.

This will provide significant additional protection to Scotland''s coastal and marine biodiversity and also contribute to important global conservation commitments.

I would encourage all stakeholders with an interest in how we manage Scotland''s seas to participate in the consultation, and particularly to comment on the scientific case for the extensions in order that I can take account of these comments.

Although I do not envisage any impact on existing economic activity, I am also very interested in any information on the potential socio-economic impacts of the proposed extensions so that we can ensure the sound management of the sites in a way that takes account of such issues.

NHS boards have been given a formula capital allocation of £324 million for 2008-09, and notified of indicative allocations of £329 million and £334 million for 2009-10 and 2010-11.

Details of NHS boards formula capital allocations for 2008-09 and indicative formula allocations for 2009-10 and 2010-11, together with Special Board Minor Works allocations for the three year period are as follows:

NHS Boards	Actual 2008-09	Indicative 2009-10	Indicative 2010-11
	£ million	£ million	£ million
Ayrshire and Arran	21.451	21.783	22.114
Borders	6.034	6.128	6.221
Dumfries and Galloway	9.023	9.161	9.301
Fife	18.180	18.461	18.741
Forth Valley	14.534	14.758	14.982
Grampian	29.330	29.782	30.235
Greater Glasgow	97.417	98.920	100.423
Highland	18.596	18.883	19.170
Lanarkshire	29.495	29.950	30.405
Lothian	51.481	52.276	53.070
Orkney	0.893	0.907	0.921
Shetland	1.014	1.029	1.045
Tayside	24.650	25.030	25.411
Western Isles	1.902	1.932	1.961
Totals	324.000	329.000	334.000

 

NHS Special Boards	Actual 2008-09	Indicative 2009-10	Indicative 2010-11
	£ million	£ million	£ million
National Services Scotland	5.750	6.000	6.250
Scottish Ambulance Service	15.180	13.200	12.350
NHS24	1.608	1.608	1.608
Golden Jubilee National Hospital	9.678	6.625	4.100
State Hospital	20.263	26.552	24.886
Quality Improvement Scotland	1.790	1.690	0.000
NHS Health Scotland	0.000	0.000	0.000
NHS Education	0.000	0.000	0.000
Mental Welfare	0.000	0.000	0.000
Totals	54.269	55.675	49.194

The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) does not provide courses in ceramics at Standard Grade, Higher or Advanced Higher level although candidates have the option of studying ceramics within Art and Design courses at all levels.

The total number of exam presentations in Art and Design at standard grade and intermediate level increased from 20,000 to nearly 25,000 between 1999 and 2007. Presentations at Higher Art and Design fell slightly from 7,200 to 6,800 over the same period.

Total entry figures for Art and Design courses from 1999 to 2007 are as follow:

Art and Design Level	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Standard Grade	20,039	20,539	20,899	21,267	21,776	20,503	19,395	18,456	17,174
Intermediate 1		82	281	351	518	836	1,221	1,638	2,263
Intermediate 2		586	1,733	1,967	2,480	3,348	3,823	4,370	5,335
Higher	7,210	7,255	6,690	7,106	6,765	6,844	6,571	6,551	6,845
Advanced Higher			313	1,069	1,266	1,374	1,366	1,404	1,352
Total	27,249	28,462	29,916	31,760	32,805	32,905	32,376	32,419	32,969

 

The SQA also offers a number of stand alone ceramics units such as Ceramics: Introduction to Hand-Building and Ceramics: Introduction to the Wheel. Presentations for these units are mainly at Intermediate level and varied between around 400 and 700 individual entries during the years 2001 to 2007.

The following table provides the number of graduates from Scottish higher education institutions that completed their studies with a degree qualification where the major subject of study or the title of the course was ceramics.

Number of Graduates from Scottish Universities with a degree majoring in ceramics, 1999 to 2007

Academic Year	Edinburgh College of Art	Glasgow School of Art	The University of Dundee	Total
1998-99	0	15	15	25
1999-2000	0	15	15	25
2000-01	0	15	10	20
2001-02	0	0	10	10
2002-03	0	0	10	10
2003-04	0	10	0	15
2004-05	10	10	0	20
2005-06	0	10	0	10
2006-07	0	5	0	5

Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).

Notes:

In these table 0, 1, 2 are rounded to 0. All other numbers are rounded up or down to the nearest 5.

Numbers may not sum to totals exactly due to rounding.

The Duncan of Jordanstone Art School at the University of Dundee ceased to admit undergraduate students to ceramics courses in 1999.

Edinburgh College of Art ceased to admit undergraduate students to ceramics courses in 2002.

Gray''s School of Art at The Robert Gordon University continues to offer tuition in ceramics in its BA (Hons) Three Dimensional Design (Ceramics, Glass, Jewellery) course.

The information requested is not held centrally.

The information requested is not held centrally.

To be nominated for World Heritage Site status a site must be on the UK''s Tentative List. The current List was published in 1999 and it is due to be reviewed as part of a wider review of World Heritage in the UK. The Department of Culture, Media and Sport and the Devolved Administrations will shortly be consulting on the issues raised and on the need for a new Tentative List and the process and criteria for inclusion on it.

Under the Operational Guidelines for the implementation of the World Heritage Convention issued by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee a World Heritage Site must be of outstanding universal value. This is assessed against 10 criteria:

(i) represent a masterpiece of human creative genius;

(ii) exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town planning or landscape design;

(iii) bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared;

(iv) be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history;

(v) be an outstanding example of traditional human settlement, land-use, or sea-use which is representative of a culture (or cultures), or human interaction with the environment especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change;

(vi) be directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance. (The Committee considers that this criterion should preferably be used in conjunction with other criteria);

(vii) contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance;

(viii) be outstanding examples representing major stages of earth''s history, including the record of life, significant on-going geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features;

(ix) be outstanding examples representing significant on-going ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of plants and animals, and

(x) contain the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation.

All sites must meet at least one of these criteria. Cultural Sites must also show authenticity and all sites must demonstrate integrity. The authenticity of a site should be assessed against the Nara document adopted by the World Heritage Committee in 1994. The Operational Guidelines state that Integrity is a measure of the wholeness and intactness of the natural and/or cultural heritage and its attributes. A nominated property is assessed on the extent to which it:

(a) includes all elements necessary to express its outstanding universal value;

(b) is of adequate size to ensure the complete representation of the features and processes which convey the property''s significance, and

(c) suffers from adverse effects of development and/or neglect.

To be nominated for World Heritage Site status a site must first be on the UK''s Tentative List. Scottish ministers are responsible for nominating Scottish sites for inclusion on the Tentative List.

The Department for Culture Media and Sport and the devolved Administrations are preparing to consult on World Heritage in the UK and the need for a new Tentative List. Until the results of the consultation have been considered and all sites seeking inclusion on any new list have had the opportunity to state their case it is not appropriate for ministers to support an individual bid for inclusion.