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There are currently no plansto revoke any protection order. However, the operation of protection orders is underconstant review, and any protection order may be revoked or varied where appropriate.

The Scottish Government has undertakena consultation on a draft framework for freshwater fisheries developed in associationwith stakeholders. It proposes a national policy that seeks to protect biodiversityand our environment as well as enhancing the economic benefit for our rural economythat results from angling. The consultation period closed on 4 January 2008 andthe responses are being analysed. Thereafter the Freshwater Fisheries Steering Groupwhose members represent the main interests within the sector will prepare a finalversion that government can consider.

The Scottish ministers may onlymake a protection order upon application to them, and each application must be consideredon its merits. Currently, no applications are under consideration.

There has been one protectionorder made under the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act2003, namely, by the Assynt-Coigach Area Protection Variation Order 2006 (SI 2006/488).This applies to the catchment area of all rivers entering the sea on the west coastof Scotland between, in the north, a point south of the Unapool Burn and, in thesouth, a point south of the River Runnie, and all rivers which enter the sea onthe east coast of Scotland between, in the north, a point north of River Oykel and,in the south, a point south of the River Oykel, as described in The Assynt – CoigachArea Protection Order 2004 (SSI 2004/260) varied by the Assynt-Coigach Area ProtectionVariation Order 2006 (SI 2006/488).

Yes. On average households inScotland across all income deciles and council tax bands will be better off witha council tax freeze.

The ScottishGovernment recognises that in recent years there has been an undersupply ofhousing across Scotland, in many rural areas as well as pressuredurban settlements, and is committed to increasing housing supply significantly.Our consultation FirmFoundations: The Future of Housing in Scotland can be accessed online at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2007/10/30153156/0or in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 43970). Itinvites comments on a proposed aim of increasing house building to 35,000 newhomes each year by the middle of the next decade across rural and urban areas.We are alsotaking action now to try to overcome the obstacles, such as land supply andplanning issues, which stand in the way of new development in rural areas,through the work of the Housing Supply Task Force. The task force hasidentified rural housing supply as an early priority and met to discuss ruralhousing supply on 27 November. Further information about the task force can befound online at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Housing/Housing/housing-supply-task-force.

The Scottish Governmenthas shown its on-going commitment to the work to tackle violence against women,including domestic abuse through the allocation of more than £40 million over thenext three years to this agenda. For example, both the Violence Against Women Fundand the Children’s Services Women’s Aid Fund will continue, as well as continuedfunding for Scottish Women’s Aid. We are also providing local government in Scotland with record levels of funding over the period covered by the spending review2008-11.

It is the responsibilityof each local authority to allocate the total financial resources available to iton the basis of local needs and priorities taking into account its statutory obligationsand the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities including the ScottishGovernment’s key strategic objectives and national outcomes.

As part of awide-ranging strategy to combat domestic abuse, the Scottish Government ispromoting effective handling of criminal cases, through the development ofoptions for a Domestic Abuse Court in Glasgow and the production of a toolkit to encourageinnovation across courts in Scotland. This is underpinned by a protocol on thehandling of domestic criminal incidents, agreed between the police and theCrown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.

However,sentencing of those found guilty is solely a matter for judges.

Yes. The campaignwill run again this year from 26 December 2007 until the endof January 2008.

It is incorrectto say that funding for affordable housing is no longer ring-fenced. Table21.03 of the Scottish Budget document published on 14 November 2007 shows the affordable housing budget for the years2008-11. In addition, there is a further £119.1 million a year for affordablehousing which is ring-fenced in the local government budget.

In total, thespending plans for affordable housing over the period 2008-11 are 19% higherthan the spending plans for the period 2005-08. With the additional fundingprovided as a result of the Spending Review, we expect to approve over theperiod 2008-11 more new affordable houses than will be approved over the period2005-08. Precisely how many more will depend on how the social housing sectorresponds to the proposals in our discussion document, Firm Foundations: thefuture of housing in Scotland, for achieving better value from availablepublic expenditure.