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I attended the Fisheries Council meeting on 16 December along with my UK Ministerial colleagues, Elliot Morley, MAFF, and Brid Rodgers, Northern Ireland Executive Committee.The main item for decision was the Total Allowable Catches (TACs) for European Union fish stocks. The Commission proposed substantial cuts to the TACs for several whitefish stocks, based on scientific advice.After difficult negotiations, I believe we have achieved a fair deal for Scotland. The Scottish industry is to be commended for its positive attitude towards conservation measures and its willingness to engage constructively in discussions with the Scottish Executive. This helped to provide us with a clear set of negotiating objectives which were broadly achieved.In the North Sea our top priority was to secure an increased allocation of haddock by the invocation of the Hague preference, a mechanism which provides the UK with extra quota from other Member States in circumstances where our initial allocation falls below prescribed thresholds. Use of this mechanism is unpopular with other Member States and we therefore use it with discretion. We pressed for and secured Hague preference on haddock, thus gaining an extra 7,000 tonnes of this stock; and we also secured gains in North Sea whiting and West of Scotland saithe and whiting.On the West Coast, we were concerned by the proposed cuts in the monkfish quota given the high value of this stock and we argued successfully for the cut to be restricted to 7%, whilst taking proper account of the scientific advice. We also fended off a proposed cut in the West of Scotland Nephrops TAC, a particularly important high value stock for fishermen in fragile rural communities on the West Coast.TACs for cod had to be substantially reduced, reflecting the very poor state of the stocks. The Scottish industry recognises the conservation case for those cuts.The package also contained a valuable extension, from end December to 15 February, to the flexibility period during which the pelagic fleet can fish in the North Sea against their Western mackerel quota.Overall these outcomes taken together with the recent successful negotiations with Norway on jointly managed North Sea stocks, will secure the economic prospects of the Scottish industry in the year ahead whilst ensuring sustainability of the stocks for the longer term.I am placing the detailed figures in the SPICe.The Council also discussed enforcement of fisheries in the North East Atlantic waters; future arrangements for regional discussions involving fishermen, scientists and managers; and technical conservation measures including general closures of the industrial sandeel fishery of the East Coast off Scotland in the interests of fishery and wider conservation objectives.

In 1998-99 the average housing association rent in Scotland was £37.40 per week. By comparison the average local authority rent in 1998-99 was £35.58 per week.

The Executive believes that the time is now right to consider carefully whether the current procedures enable Ministers to meet fully and effectively the objectives of transparency and equal opportunities in post-devolution Scotland, and if not, what changes should be made. We are therefore planning to publish a wide-ranging consultation paper early in the New Year. The consultation paper will both provide detailed information about how the current system works, and invite views on the current system and on possible options for change.The consultation paper will in particular seek views on the following:should the Parliament be involved in appointments made by the Executive and if so at what stage and in what way? We are examining the experience in legislatures in other countries to see what lessons can be learned;whether a separate Scottish Commissioner for Public Appointments should be established - if so, what powers, responsibilities and reporting arrangements might he/she have?the role and appointment of independent assessors - including consideration of whether the composition of appointments panels should vary according to the nature/type of appointments;whether the targets inherited from the Scottish Office for achieving greater representation in public appointments are relevant; andmore generally what more can be done to encourage women, disabled people and people from ethnic minorities to apply for public appointment?Any changes to the appointments system will affect large numbers of people across Scottish society. Arrangements will be put in hand therefore to ensure that the consultation exercise is widely publicised and that MSPs, public bodies and members of the public are able to make their views known before any final decisions on changes to the system are reached.

The Scottish Executive is today publishing Government Expenditure and Revenue in Scotland 1997-98.

All bids will be considered in accordance with the bidding guidance and grants will be made for those projects which best fulfil the aim of developing multi-agency working to improve local service provision.

Those Regulations govern the packaging recovery scheme, by which means the UK discharges compliance with the recycling and recovery provisions of Directive 94/62/EC on Packaging and Packaging Waste. They came into effect on 6 March 1997 and have since been reviewed twice, in July 1998 and August 1999. The reviews have given rise to two amending Regulations. The first of these came into effect on 4 June 1999. The other, The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) (Amendment) (No.2) Regulations 1999, have yet to be made. These amending Regulations, which extend to Great Britain, have been laid at Westminster by the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions. They are subject to affirmative resolution and, subject to the outcome of the debate on them, will come into effect on 1 January 2000.

Although the implementation of the Directive in Scotland is a devolved matter the packaging recovery scheme was designed to operate in a seamless way across Great Britain. The United Kingdom was served with a Reasoned Opinion by the European Commission in June 1998 about the non-implementation of certain aspects of the Packaging Directive. The UK accepted that it was in default and the consequent need to demonstrate full compliance as early as possible, together with an overriding operational need to meet the 1 January deadline, made it appropriate for the amending Regulations to be made, exceptionally, by the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions for the whole of Great Britain.The Scottish Executive considers that matters affecting Scotland should be legislated for by the Scottish Parliament unless there are very clear overriding reasons for not doing so. My Department is currently conducting a review of the way in which the Packaging Regulations operate in Scotland with a view to improving demonstrable compliance for the future.

Research into the effect of the Strathclyde Witness Protection Programme has been encouraging and we are currently considering whether to extend its funding further.

A paper entitled A New Single Social Tenancy for Scotland: Rights, Obligations and Opportunities is today being placed in the Scottish Parliament Document Supply Centre. This sets out our proposals for delivering the commitment we made in Making it work together to promote a common tenancy agreement for all tenants in social housing.

All bids for the funding from Scottish Homes will be considered in accordance with the bidding guidance and grants will be made for those projects which best fulfil the aim of improving local provision of refuge places and move on accommodation.

Draft statutory guidance on the new regime for clearing up contaminated land and bringing it into productive use is being published, for consultation today. The new contaminated land regime will form an important part of the armoury of powers available to local authorities and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency to protect and improve the condition of our environment. It will give them clear duties to find problem sites and bring about their remediation.We have inherited a great deal of land polluted by industry in times when the impact of our actions on the environment was given insufficient consideration. We now have to clean up the consequences. The approach set out in the new regime, and in particular in the draft guidance, provides the best way of doing this. It focuses on the priorities, and makes sure that the inevitable cost burdens fall as fairly as possible. We intend to implement the new regime with effect from April 2000.