Chamber and committees

Officials were in contact with other Member States in the lead up to the vote taken at the Standing Committee of Food Chain and Animal Health on 14 July. Direct interaction by myself and officials have been successful in obtaining concessions on the Regulations at this time. Following the UK''s agreement not to pursue any further concessions, further meeting have not been secured. Since then I have had no meetings with EU member state representatives.

As part of implementing the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Health Check, the Scottish Government was required to submit changes to the Scotland Rural Development Programme (SRDP) to the European Commission by 15 July 2009 to show how it was meeting the new challenges set by the European Commission. The Scottish Government has submitted the changes to the SRDP required following consultation with stakeholders on the SRDP''s Programme Monitoring Committee. The European Commission is currently considering those proposals and we expect to have approval from Brussels by the end of 2009. In addition, the Scottish Government is required to report annually to the European Commission on progress towards meeting the commission''s new challenges and is in the processes of setting up systems in order to do so.

The uniform monitoring of prices across Europe could be a useful tool to help analyse how food affordability differs across countries and how these trends evolve through time. Any monitoring of prices, price transmission and contractual arrangements should, however, be considered against the cost of collecting and processing such data. Careful consideration would need to be given to the implementation arrangements in order to avoid unnecessary burdens on industry.

Thermal generation guidance for Scotland will be based on the revised section 36 guidance for the development of thermal power stations which was published in late 2008 for consultation. In addition to this consultation process, we have also had on-going engagement with Scottish based stakeholders on the development of carbon capture and storage through a series of seminars and meetings. The UK consultation invited respondents with a particular interest in Scottish Government policy to copy their responses to Scottish ministers. We have also been working closely with DECC on the current consultation and held a workshop where Scottish Government and others discussed the consultation with DECC officials. Scottish ministers are currently considering the consultation responses and their decisions will be further informed by responses to the UK consultation.

The Scottish Government aims to ensure that the regulatory framework in broad terms is similar across the UK as a whole, with the overall objective of encouraging CCS deployment and the objective of decarbonisation of the electricity sector by 2030. We will await the completion of the UK consultation process before issuing our final thermal generation guidance including what the expected position is on demonstration capacity.

The government is in favour of farmers organising themselves into co-operatives and other collaborative structures in order to strengthen their commercial position. Financial support for such collaboration can be offered in a number of ways, using both national and EU funding.

The Scottish Government have received a number of representations on an emissions performance standard in response to our consultation on thermal guidance. The development of an emissions performance standard is also considered in the UK consultation on clean coal and we are currently working with the UK Government closely on this issue. We will consider our position once the consultation process is fully complete.

Withdrawals and buy-ins has received only limited use in Scotland. Should the proposed amendment be adopted, the Scottish Government anticipate that it would not have a significant impact in Scotland.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-26957 on 18 September 2009 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.

EU export subsidies are subject to restrictions, as agreed in the Uruguay Round of international trade negotiations. Further modifications may be agreed in the context of the current WTO Doha Round. In the meantime the government supports the European Commission''s approach of applying export subsidies on a case-by-case basis and in compliance with WTO rules.