Seòmar agus comataidhean

The recycling of waste by rendering represents a business opportunity for the private sector with environmental and disease containment benefits. A number of companies are known to have an interest in this and have plans at various stages of development.

Scottish Ministers have decided to grant consent for Scottish and Southern Energy's application. This decision was taken after careful consideration of all the representations and comments received in connection with the application. The scheme is expected to safeguard local jobs and bring benefit to the area's economy both during construction and through the need for additional services. A copy of the Department's decision letter and consent, including the grant of rights for water abstraction, will be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.

The Council's proposals to provide weather-related financial assistance to farmers are being assessed under new EU guidelines for state aids in the agricultural sector, which were published in the Official Journal at the end of January, but which apply retrospectively from 1 January 2000.The Council provided, on 21 February, additional information on estimated losses of fodder production to support their case. A state aids notification will be submitted to the European Commission for scrutiny in the near future.

Bids for grant from the Domestic Abuse Service Development Fund will be considered in accordance with the Application Guidance issued on 1 December 1999. The aim of the fund is to improve local circumstances and we expect to receive bids from local authorities covering both urban and rural areas.

The Board do not intend to publish a formal report of the results of the pilot. However, I would be happy to inform the Member of the conclusions from the pilot, when these are available. I will also ensure that information is made available to all MSPs.

The pilot has not been extended as the results are still being analysed by Scottish Legal Aid Board.

Of the 80 applicants referred to in my previous answer, 12 women and 8 men subsequently accepted legal aid, reducing the number of refusals after offer to 60.

Complete information regarding these 60 cases is not available. However, the table below details the subject matter of the interdicts where legal aid was refused, in the 32 cases for which information is available:

	Female		Male
Subject	Pursuer	Defender	Pursuer	Defender
Non-molestation	18		1	2
Non-molestation & power of arrest	2
Non-molestation & removal of a child	2
Non-molestation & entering the home	1
Removal of a child	1
Verbal abuse	1
Breach of interdict; assault	1
Breach of interdict; non-molestation	1
Legal aid granted in respect of other matters; refused on merits vis a vis interdict action	1
Wrongly recorded ( Divorce action)	1
TOTAL	29		1	2

An applicant is given 28 days within which to accept an offer of legal aid with a contribution. There is however no requirement on applicants to tell the Scottish Legal Aid Board of their decision to refuse an offer of legal aid or provide reasons for such refusal.In 5 of the 32 cases recorded above, the applicant's solicitor informed the Board that the applicant could not afford the contribution assessed. 4 of these 5 applicants were female. The Board received no communication in the remaining 27 cases.

A consultation paper has been issued by my Department today. The paper invites the views of interested parties on the extent of problems experienced in Scotland from leylandii and other high hedges and on the adequacy of existing remedies. The consultation paper can be found on the Scottish Executive web site. Views have been requested by 31 March 2000.

The Scottish Executive is strongly committed to supporting crofting, and to modernising crofting legislation and administration. The Crofters Commission will play a key role in this.The recent review of the Crofters Commission has concluded that the functions of the Crofters Commission - namely, regulatory, advisory and development functions - all still require to be undertaken. The review has also concluded that there is no scope to abolish, privatise, contract out or market test all or any of the Crofters Commission's functions. The review has made two separate (but combinable) recommendations for change to the Crofters Commission:

• Transferring the Commission's development functions to Highlands and Islands Enterprise;
• Converting the Commission either into an Agency or into a modern NDPB.

I have decided that I want to consult widely on these recommendations before reaching final decisions on how best to move forward. A consultation paper is therefore issuing today to all interested parties (including MSPs), and copies of that consultation paper, plus the full report, are being placed in the Executive and Parliament Libraries.

I refer the Member to my answer to S1W-2916.