Chamber and committees

We consider analytical facilities to be an important component in the monitoring of the safety and standards of the public''s food, water and other consumer products. Public analysts are a statutory requirement under the Local Government etc (Scotland) Act 1994 and adequate provision of these services enables local authorities to protect public health and to carry out their statutory responsibilities across a wide range of activities.

There is also recognition by the European Union of the role of such facilities. As central competent authority for food safety and standards, the Food Standards Agency has a UK-wide responsibility under European legislation (Regulation 882/2004 on Official Food and Feed controls) to ensure that there is adequate laboratory capacity for the testing of food; a sufficient number of suitably qualified and experienced staff; and appropriate facilities and equipment to undertake official controls.

The Scottish Government is providing local government in Scotland with record levels of funding. The vast majority of funding, including funding for a public analyst service, is provided by means of a block grant. It is the responsibility of each local authority to allocate the total financial resources available to it on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled its statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities including the Scottish Government''s key strategic objectives and manifesto commitments.

The latest settlement gave local authorities 5% additional funding for environmental health.

The Scottish Government has had no discussions on this matter with Aberdeen City Council. However, the Food Standards Agency Scotland has been kept informed of proposals relating to the future of Aberdeen City Council''s Public Analyst Laboratory, given the agency''s interest in ensuring the provision of adequate analytical services for food testing across Scotland. The Aberdeen laboratory will be considered in wider discussions on how the agency ensures these services are maintained across Scotland.

It is the statutory responsibility of local authorities to appoint public analysts for the purposes of ensuring food safety, and to take any necessary action in pursuit of that duty.

In addition, as part of the Food Standard Agency Scotland''s overview of local authority food enforcement and their audit of these services, the agency ensure that each local authority has appointed a laboratory that operates, and is assessed and accredited in accordance with, the European standards specified in Regulation (EC) No 882/2004, and which meets the requirements of the Food Safety Act 1990.

The Scottish Government has had no discussions with the UK Government or Food Standards Agency on this subject.

However, the Food Standards Agency Scotland has been contributing to on-going discussions with the Association of Public Analysts and other relevant stakeholders on the development of a long term strategy to ensure there is adequate provision of the necessary analytical services for the monitoring of food safety and standards across the UK.

The Statement of Intent is the first of a two stage application process to the Rural Development Contracts - Rural Priorities. The statement of intent allows applicants to register their interest in Rural Priorities and give an outline of their ideas under the scheme. Case officers use the statement of intent to give feedback on the suitability of these ideas based on the regional priorities, and detail any financial constraint or negative impacts evident.

On that basis, the statement of intent is working effectively. The statement of intent allows an applicant, before committing significant expenditure or personal time, to make an informed choice before progressing to the second stage of the application process, full proposal.

The effectiveness of the statement of intent will be one of the areas considered in the upcoming review of the Scottish Rural Development Programme.

The Scotland Rural Development Programme (SRDP) 2007-2013 has eight delivery mechanisms. These are:

Crofting Counties Agricultural Grant Scheme

Food Processing, Marketing and Co-operation Grant Scheme

Forestry Commission Challenge Funds

The LEADER initiative

Less Favoured Area Support Scheme

Rural Development Contracts “ Land Manager Options

Rural Development Contracts “ Rural Priorities

Skills Development Scheme.

The only competitive element administered by SGRPID Area Offices is Rural Development Contract “ Rural Priorities (RDC-RP). I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-18805 on 15 January 2009 which details the monthly submission statistics for applications to Rural Priorities and the number of applications received per RPAC region. The written answer also explains the scheme is administered using 11 RPAC regions therefore the statistics available are based on these RPAC regions.

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.

Rural Priorities can only be applied for on-line and one of the main advantages of this is that it helps guide people to the information that is relevant to their particular situation, thereby making it more straightforward to complete. The Scottish Government recognise that this may present some difficulties for some applicants, and for this reason is continuing to work actively to provide assistance for potential applicants. A series of workshops and surgeries have been held by SEARS staff and organisations such as NFUS to provide an introduction to Rural Priorities and further workshops may be undertaken if local demand is sufficient.

Further assistance available includes:

Identifying liaison officers in every region to develop local solutions to internet access;

Working with BT to extend broadband coverage across rural Scotland;

Providing IT helpdesk to assist with login problems;

Providing applicants with information about alternative local internet access points;

Providing training material to NFUS for use in one to one surgeries across the country, and

Part-funding for applicants who choose to use agents services.

We take concerns very seriously and these will be taken account in my recently announced review of the Rural Priorities mechanism.

Since the opening of the Scottish Rural Development Programme (SRDP) “ Regional Priorities (RP) in April 2008, we have received 4,447 statement of intent submissions by 31 December 2008. The monthly submission profile is detailed in the following table.

Month	SoI Submissions
April	255
May	364
June	613
July	754
August	609
September	613
October	632
November	368
December	239
Total	4,447

 

When a SoI is assessed, a RED or AMBER rating is given based on Case Officer assessment. Rural Priorities is administered in a regional basis via Regional Project Assessment Committees (RPAC). The statistics currently available to The Scottish Government are based on this regional structure. The breakdown per RPAC region of SoI submission and assessment given is detailed in the following table.

RPAC Region	SoI Received	SoI Amber	SoI Red	SoI at Assessment
Argyll	447	295	119	33
Ayrshire	251	143	53	55
Borders	428	316	99	13
Clyde Valley	168	98	35	35
Dumfries and Galloway	443	276	130	37
Forth	328	219	77	32
Grampian	1052	706	257	89
Highland	607	419	138	50
Northern Isles	268	172	59	37
Out Hebrides	95	57	21	17
Tayside	360	223	96	41

 

Work on data sets to monitor future energy use, to complement existing information, continues to develop. Since the Scottish Government''s response to the strategy consultation was published in June 2008, a number of new reports have been issued. These include Volume 5 of the Scottish Energy Study, published in November 2008, which includes projections of energy demand, supply and carbon emissions up to the period 2020. This includes data from 2002 as a baseline and complements earlier volumes of the study to allow assessment of changes in the level of energy and carbon usage to be monitored.

A report was also published in November which assessed a range of possible policy options which could be considered in order to meet the ambitious target of an 80% reduction in carbon emissions by 2050.

We are continuing to consider what further data is required as part of the process of monitoring future change. For example, we will monitor the change in emissions from Scottish Government policies.