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COSLA's evidence to our committee is that local authorities should not be exempt from the duty to provide the most rapid and highest-quality reinstatement of road works if they are involved in disruption.
The final point on which I think that we need to focus is the issue of structures and the question whether some of the structures that exist are in fact getting in the way of rapid and effective decision making. This is the question about transport, which I asked and which Peter Wood referred to earlier.
If, somewhere on the machines that we have on our desks—or on a piece of paper, for people like me—there were a list of contact points in quangos and other such bodies, people could contact appropriate people and get a reasonably rapid answer. That would help to reduce the number of PQs about quangos.
It is our firm belief that enhanced on-farm biosecurity is one area where positive, inexpensive action can be taken to accrue substantial benefits.Other measures that I have asked my officials to take forward to complement the biosecurity code include tightening controls on imports, although relatively few third-country meat imports come directly into Scotland. Stopping rapid market movement of livestock is another area where the Executive has been able to cut the risk of transmission of animal disease.
When I attended the committee as a non-participant observer, I had the sense that stage 2 was very rapid. There was no chance to debate and there was no genuine dialogue.
As members will appreciate, local authorities already have powers to fund things such as voluntary sector organisations or, indeed, rapid response teams, if they choose to set them up.
We need to do all we can to prevent them, but if they cannot be avoided, we need a consistent, rapid and united approach for dealing with companies and, more important, the individuals involved.