Seòmar agus comataidhean

I last met officials, officers and members of the Scottish Crofters Union on 1 October 1999 when I visited Lewis. We discussed a wide range of matters including the role and structure of the SCU, the value and nature of crofting, crofting regulation and support and the current difficulties for sheep producers.

National Planning Policy Guideline 4, (Land for Mineral Working) requires Highland, Western Isles and Shetland Islands Councils to consider identifying suitable opportunities for coastal quarries without significant detrimental environmental or socio-economic effects, and to include preferred locations for these in development plans.

A Direction is being issued to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency to designate an additional 11 Scottish waters under the Shellfish Waters Directive (79/923/EEC). The designations take account of the views expressed in the consultation exercise.

Scotland's shellfish farming industry is an excellent example of sustainable development. It supports the rural economy by providing much-needed jobs in some of the most economically fragile areas of the country. Water quality is vital to this success story because it is a key marketing factor when the industry promotes its product world-wide. Designating the additional waters will safeguard quality so that they can support shellfish such as mussels, oysters and scallops. This will be good for the environment generally as well as for the communities who rely on shellfish farming.

The waters to be designated are listed in the table below. A notice announcing the Designations will appear in the Edinburgh Gazette. A copy of the Direction to SEPA designating the new waters will be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre. Maps showing the boundaries of the new designations will be sent to the Information Centre in due course.

Classified Waters	Description
Bay of Firth, Orkney Mainland	An area inshore of a line drawn between the points HY404142 (Ferry Point) and HY390155.
Valia Sound, Shetland	An area inshore of a line drawn between the points HU236470 and HU246470 and between HU225472 and HU223474.
Olna Firth, Shetland	An area inshore of a line drawn between the points HU370640 and HU370651.
Loch Eriboll, North West	An area inshore of a line drawn between the points NC490650 and NC455650.
Loch Laxford, North West	An area inshore of a line drawn between the points NC172510 and NC189510.
Loch Kishorn, North West	An area inshore of a line drawn between the points NG813376 and NG809379 and between NG809379 and NG829392 and between NG829392 and NG821400.
Loch Snizort, Skye	An area inshore of a line drawn between the points NG233672 (Waternish Point) and NG359700.
Isle of Ulva/Mull (Loch Tuath)	An area bounded by lines drawn between the points NM365422 (Rubha na Sroine) and NM370450 and between the points NM450388 and NM480388 and between NM480388 and NM480394, extending to MLWS.
Seil Sound, Argyll	An area inshore of a line drawn between the points NM765147 (Rubba na Moine) NM779147.
Loch Creran, Argyll	An area bounded by lines drawn between the points NM900438 and NM900433 and between the points NM978445 and NM978444, extending to MLWS.
Loch Crinan, Argyll	An area inshore of a line drawn between the points NR790945 and NR783965 (Scodaig).

Measures are already in place which allow local authorities in rural areas to have a specified area designated as a rural area and allow the landlord a "first option" to purchase a RTB property before it can be sold on to a third party. This measure applies also to houses for which a registered housing association was the landlord at 7 January 1987, as it does for council houses, although only a council can seek to have an area designated.

The Scottish Executive has been in close contact with Scottish fishing representatives throughout the entire TAC process. I was grateful for the opportunity to meet with them both immediately before the December Council, and in Scotland House in Brussels during a break in Council proceedings. They provided a valuable contribution which I am sure helped us achieve a positive outcome to the negotiations.

The Scottish Executive has no plans to introduce such a scheme. The very tight EU pigs regime and State Aid constraints which apply to this sector severely limit the scope for providing any direct aid unless, for example, associated with an exceptional occurrence.I believe the debt relief measures which the Republic of Ireland proposes to introduce for some of its pig farmers is based on the very special circumstances of the fire at the Ballymoney pig processing plant.

This information is not held centrally. However, the likelihood is most of the Scottish Health Boards, NHS Trusts and hospitals will obtain their meat from only Scottish sources. Officials from my Department wrote to all Scottish local authorities in November last year highlighting some of the benefits of home-produced pork, lamb and beef.

The Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee (SEAC) reviewed the ban on the use of porcine MBM as recently as November 1999. The Committee concluded that a relaxation of the feed ban in the UK to allow the inclusion of porcine MBM in poultry feed could not be supported on scientific grounds, reasoning that the comprehensive feed ban in place in the UK had been a critical factor in breaking the cycle of infection in the BSE epidemic. The Scottish Executive has accepted this advice.

The interests of stakeholders will be an important criterion to be taken into account. The other criteria will be how far the proposals help deliver government policy, how far they maximise accountability, and how far they maximise efficiency, effectiveness and value for money.

We take very seriously the difficulties currently facing the fabrication yards in the Highlands. The Deputy Minister for Enterprise in the Highlands and Islands and I visited the Ardersier yard only last week to meet the management and unions. While there is uncertainty over the immediate future of the yards, I am encouraged that they have not been closed and that the owners are committed to their retention on a care and maintenance basis in order that the yards are able to compete for orders when market confidence returns. The enterprise agencies are working closely with the company, and stand ready to help it in any way they can to develop new products and services and compete in new markets.At last week's Oil & Gas Industry Task Force, my DTI colleague the Minister for Energy and Competitiveness in Europe, Mrs Liddell, and I impressed on the industry the need for a response to the problems currently facing platform fabricators. As a result, a "Fabricators Forum" has been established and will be meeting before the end of the month.