Chamber and committees

The Scottish Executive has regularcontact with the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and theWelsh Assembly Government, on a range of issues relating to GM crops including fieldtrials, seed listing and other matters.

This is primarily a matter forthe Deer Commission for Scotland (DCS).  However, I am aware that the commission is addressingthe issue of the conservation, control and sustainable management of deer in Scotland througha range of initiatives. These are based on identifying and dealing with the impactsof deer rather than overall numbers. The initiatives include DCS working with ScottishNatural Heritage, Forestry Commission Scotland and the Scottish Executive Environmentand Rural Affairs Department to address priority areas where grazing, in particularby wild deer, may be causing damage or where there are risks to public safety onroads; developing through a deer sector Steering Group a suite of Best PracticeGuides for all aspects of deer management, and developing clear policy guidanceon the use of deer fencing.

The responsibility for managingdeer populations presently lies squarely with owners and occupiers of land. TheDeer Commission for Scotland’s primary role is to advise on and facilitate that task,but it will use its full range of powers and duties when necessary.

Departmental records relating to individual ports are only available from 1985 onward. The number of fishing vessels based at the ports of Whalsay and Skerries that caught any amount of whitefish during each year since 1985 is shown in the following table.

Active Fishing Vessels that Caught Whitefish and were Based at the Ports of Whalsay And Skerries, 1985 to 2003.

Year	Number of vessels
	Skerries	Whalsay
1985	2	10
1986	3	12
1987	2	13
1988	3	10
1989	4	12
1990	2	10
1991	2	10
1992	3	10
1993*	4	13
1994	5	11
1995	5	10
1996	5	11
1997	4	9
1998	4	14
1999	3	14
2000	3	11
2001	4	8
2002	4	8
2003	3	9

Note:

*Prior to 1993 a fishing vessel licence was not required for vessels with an overall length of 10 metres or under. Consequently, these smaller vessels are excluded from the data between 1985 and 1992 inclusive.

The Executive’s policies on superquarriesare set out in National Planning Policy Guideline 4: Land for MineralWorking. These policies will be considered as part of the current review ofNPPG 4.

The new Relocation AdvisoryCentre will seek to ensure that potential economic migrants are made aware of the opportunities available throughout Scotland.

On the basis of the information available, which is gathered by the Scottish Executive on an informal basis, the number of wind farm proposals that have been refused in each local authority area is:

Local Authority Area	Refused
Aberdeenshire	2
Argyll and Bute	3
Dumfries and Galloway	1
East Ayrshire/South Lanarkshire	1
Highland	4
Moray	1
North Ayrshire	2
Perth and Kinross	1
Scottish Borders	1

The school curriculum in Scotland is non-statutory. It is therefore a matter for education authorities and secondary schools themselves to decide on the course options they provide. All publicly funded secondary schools in Scotland areapproved by the Scottish Qualifications Authority to offer NationalQualifications courses in modern studies. A document has been lodged with the Parliament’s reference centre (Bib. number. 31702) showing the percentage ofpublicly funded secondary schools, by education authority, who presented atleast one pupil for modern studies at the various National Qualification levels between 1999 and 2003.

Information regarding the numbers of persons employed in the sea fisheries catching sector are compiled annually by the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency. Each person employed is classified as regularly employed if employment in the catching sector is their main or only source of income. All other persons employed in the catching sector are classified as being irregularly employed.

Table 1 shows employment in the catching sector over the period 1979-2002 (inclusive) although regional employment information is only available from the year 1984 onward. The table also presents catching sector employment as a percentage of the working age population. The statistics are based upon the mid-year population estimates produced by the General Register Office for Scotland.

Table 1: Number of Persons Employed in the Catching Sector Since 1979 in Scotland and the Highlands and Islands.

Year	Scotland				Highlands and Islands
	Regularly employed	Irregularly employed	Total	Percentage of the working age population	Regularly employed	Irregularly employed	Total	Percentage of the working age population
1979	7,613	1,211	8,824	0.3%
1980	7,561	1,138	8,699	0.3%
1981	7,376	1,085	8,461	0.3%
1982	7,247	937	8,184	0.3%
1983	7,173	902	8,075	0.3%
1984	7,198	902	8,100	0.3%	3,174	446	3,620	1.4%
1985	7,170	932	8,102	0.3%	3,221	423	3,644	1.4%
1986	7,244	992	8,236	0.3%	3,225	454	3,679	1.4%
1987	7,522	970	8,492	0.3%	3,411	465	3,876	1.4%
1988	7,672	1,039	8,711	0.3%	3,693	517	4,210	1.5%
1989	7,862	920	8,782	0.3%	3,933	460	4,393	1.6%
1990	7,550	890	8,440	0.3%	3,764	474	4,238	1.6%
1991	7,300	880	8,180	0.3%	3,872	558	4,430	1.6%
1992	7,180	960	8,140	0.3%	3,471	596	4,067	1.5%
1993	8,060	1,360	9,420	0.3%	3,549	961	4,510	1.6%
1994	7,160	1,450	8,610	0.3%	3,390	980	4,370	1.6%
1995	6,889	1,506	8,395	0.3%	3,219	857	4,076	1.5%
1996	6,689	1,395	8,084	0.3%	3,144	807	3,951	1.4%
1997	6,729	1,465	8,194	0.3%	3,097	926	4,023	1.4%
1998	6,395	1,376	7,771	0.2%	2,976	816	3,792	1.4%
1999	6,042	1,288	7,330	0.2%	2,755	805	3,560	1.3%
2000	5,594	1,308	6,902	0.2%	2,635	811	3,446	1.3%
2001	5,353	1,284	6,637	0.2%	2,563	779	3,342	1.2%
2002	4,369	1,338	5,707	0.2%	2,138	779	2,917	1.1%

Sources: Number of personsemployed in the catching sector: Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency.

Percentage of the working age population: based on GROS revised mid-year population estimates.

Note: Regional Employment data not available prior to 1984.

Estimates of related employment in industries that supply the sea fisheries catching sector are published annually by the Scottish Executive: these estimates relate to national employment only and are not available for all years. Figures from the last three editions of the Input-Output Tables and Multipliers for Scotland (1998,1999 & 2000) suggest that for every 100 full-time equivalentemployees in the catching sector, approximately 60 further full-time equivalentjobs are supported in industries supplying goods and services to the catchingsector.

Table 2 shows the numbers of persons employed in the fish processing industry in Scotland from 1994 to 2003. Regional employment figures that separately identify the fish processing industry are not available.

Table 2: Persons Employed in the Scottish Fish Processing Industry 1994-2003

Year**	Persons employed in fish processing	Persons employed as a percentage of the working age population
1994	6,700	0.2%
1995	12,600	0.4%
1996	10,900	0.3%
1997	10,300	0.3%
1998	9,900	0.3%
1999	15,800	0.5%
2000	14,700	0.5%
2001	11,100	0.4%
2002	8,700	0.3%
2003	7,200	*

Sources:Persons employed in the fish processing sector: Labour Force Survey, Office for National Statistics. Percentage of the working age population: based on GROS revised mid-year population estimates.

Notes:

*   2003 population estimate not yet available.

**  employment figures prior to 1994 are coded to an older industrial classification scheme.

No distinction is made in the above table between the processing of domestically landed fish, imported fish and farmed fish. Consequently, the degree to which employment in fish processing could be regarded as dependent upon the Scottish fish catching sector is unknown.

One of the commitments inthe partnership agreement is to fully evaluate the proposals by the Highlands andIslands Strategic Transport Partnership (HITRANS) for an air network in the Highlands andIslands using Public Service Obligations (PSOs). HITRANS represents a number oflocal councils, including Shetland, all of whom are supportive of the PSOproposals.

The Convention of the Highlands andIslands provides a forum in which organisations responsible for the delivery ofservices have the opportunity to discuss and debate the development of the Highlands andIslands. MSPs have this opportunity in the Scottish Parliament but are welcometo attend the convention as observers. The Executive will ask conventionmembers to consider how convention papers can be made more widely availableincluding to MSPs.