Chamber and committees

The Environmental Protection Act 1990 (the act) places a duty on various bodies to clear litter from their land. For many beaches the duty body is the local authority. However, as independent organisations how they fulfil that duty and with what resources is for each local authority to determine, provided they meet the standards in the Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse (COPLAR).

COPLAR provides practical guidance on the discharge of duties imposed on Scottish local authorities and other duty bodies by the act to keep specified land clear of litter and refuse.

COPLAR was published by Scottish ministers in December 2006 following a revision of the litter and fly tipping provisions of the act. COPLAR helps to explain who has a duty to clean public places, what their responsibility is, how individuals can tell if a place is clean, and what to do if you don''t think public places are of an acceptable standard in terms of litter and fly tipping.

Major amendments to the code included a greater focus on beach cleansing standards and guidance on issuing fixed penalty notices. Further information, including an electronic copy of COPLAR is available from http://www.littercode.co.uk/.

This website is operated by the independent environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful.

However that the duty to clean beaches extends only to above the high water mark and litter from ships and marine installations is the responsibility of the UK Government.

Scottish Government provides funding to the independent environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful (KSB).

KSB carries out surveys of all award winning beaches each summer for cleanliness in line with the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and the Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse (COPLAR).

There are four standards of beach cleanliness. These are: cleanliness grade A (no litter or refuse), cleanliness grade B (predominantly free of litter), cleanliness grade C (consistent distribution of litter and refuse) and cleanliness grade D (heavily littered with significant accumulations). Beaches should achieve at least a grade B at all times. When they drop below this standard they must be returned to at least a grade B within a set timescale. Further information about the cleanliness standards and the timescales is available from the COPLAR website operated by KSB www.littercode.org.

Many bodies have concerns about the consequences of depletion of our valuable biodiversity and natural resources. There is general agreement that, while significant improvements have been achieved, EU member states will not achieve the ambitious target adopted by the European Union to halt the loss of biodiversity by 2010. The Scottish Government is however committed to delivering policies within the context of the National Performance Framework which will lead to continuing improvements in the state of Scotland''s biodiversity; non-governmental organisations and private sector representatives are partners with the public sector in taking forward actions under the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy.

The Scottish Government is also continuing to work with the UK authorities in contributing to international debate on measures to address global biodiversity loss in the lead up to the 2010 Nagoya Conference of Parties on the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.

Regular assessments of the progress made by EU member states towards biodiversity targets are made by the European Commission. These are available at: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/biodiversity/comm2006/index_en.htm.

The Joint Nature Conservation Committee is currently analysing data collected across the UK in the recent reporting round for 2008. This will form the basis for reporting against 2010 targets.

Full information is available at http://www.ukbap-reporting.org.uk/.

Actions from the draft Scottish Biodiversity Strategy implementation plans, which have been the subject of public consultation by Scottish Natural Heritage, are being incorporated into delivery plans for the five ecosystem groups - upland, woodland, marine and coastal, freshwater and wetland, and lowland and farming. Further information is available at:

http://www.biodiversityscotland.gov.uk/.

The Scottish Government continues to work at ministerial and official levels with the European Commission, the UK Government and other member states to achieve the best possible solution for Scottish farmers on the EU proposals for electronic identification of sheep.

The Scottish Government raised electronic identification with Secretary of State Hilary Benn and other devolved administrations ministers at a meeting on 2 June and a common strategy was agreed for engagement across Europe. The Scottish Government has already achieved concessions on the implementation of electronic identification of sheep and further proposals are currently under consideration. Whether there will be a need to meet with the European Commissioner for Health will be considered in the light of further developments across member states and at Commission level.

The joint review of the local government finance distribution methodology is now well underway. The review group has been asked to make recommendations by the end of October 2009. Any agreed conclusions are likely to be announced shortly after that in order to inform the allocation of funding to local government from 2011-12.

The Scottish Government continues to work at ministerial and official levels with the European Commission, the UK Government and other member states to achieve the best possible solution for Scottish farmers on the EU proposals for electronic identification of sheep.

Richard Lochhead raised electronic identification with Secretary of State Hilary Benn and other devolved administrations ministers when they met on 2 June and a common strategy was agreed for engagement across Europe. The Scottish Government has already achieved concessions on the implementation of electronic identification of sheep and further proposals are currently under consideration. Whether there will be the need to have a further meeting with the European Commissioner for Health will be considered in the light of further developments across member states and at Commission level.

From the 1 October the Scottish Land Court will take over the responsibility for administering a new streamlined EU agricultural subsidy appeals procedure. Under this new arrangement the government and the appellant will now be on an equal footing in all appeal cases and the process will be independent and quicker. I announced this change, which addressed the main recommendations contained in the Report A Review of the European Union Agricultural Subsidy Appeals Procedure in Scotland, in my speech to the National Farmers'' Union (NFU) Scotland''s AGM in February. This fundamental change to the appeals procedure has been the main focus of our efforts.

Work is on-going on how we take forward the other recommendations contained in the report which covered areas like creating greater dialogue between government and farmers and improving our application forms and guidance.

On the latter, a great deal is already done along the lines suggested in the report and we will continue to build on current practises. A recommendation was also made that we encourage greater use of electronic submission of claims. This has been an action for us for some years. In 2008, 28% of all single application forms were submitted electronically which has risen to just under 32% in 2009. We will continue to develop and promote this means of delivery.

I will make a further announcement on the details of the new arrangements in advance of the handover of responsibility to the Scottish Land Court.