Seòmar agus comataidhean

Both I and the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing have met with representatives of COSLA on a number of occasions to discuss matters relevant to poverty and social justice, including housing, health inequalities and the new Fairer Scotland Fund.

Moreover, Scottish Government officials meet regularly with COSLA representatives to discuss the Government''s approach to tackling poverty, deprivation and inequality. COSLA are full partners in the development of our new Anti-Poverty Framework due for publication later this year, and our officials discussed that with the COSLA anti-poverty officers group on 21 May.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has published indicative maps showing land at risk of flooding, where the risk is judged to be 0.5% or greater probability of being flooded in any given year at http://www.sepa.org.uk/flooding/mapping/index.htm.

Under proposals in the forthcoming Flooding bill, SEPA will map areas at significant risk of flooding taking into account all sources of flooding such as fluvial, coastal, pluvial and sewer flooding.

The Scottish Government does not maintain a specific budget to support research aimed at preventing flood risk. Expenditure is made from a £1.6 million per annum resource that provides research and evidence in support of flooding policy, including the flooding bill and transposition of the EC directive on the assessment and management of flood risks.

Planning for emergencies, including recovery from such incidents, is primarily a matter for local responders, as defined under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004, to whom the Scottish Government will provide appropriate support. Scottish Resilience has sponsored a current project to develop guidance for those charged with the care of people affected by emergencies. The guidance will propose management arrangements for co-ordinating multi-agency response to the personal needs of victims of all individuals affected by emergencies. Funding will be made available for the implementation of the guidance.

The responsibility for insuring homes against flood damage rests with the owners and tenants. The Scottish Government can in certain circumstances also offer financial support under the Bellwin Scheme to a council or councils incurring eligible costs in dealing with a large scale emergency. This includes those incurred in safeguarding life and property, and preventing suffering or severe inconvenience in a local authority''s area or among its inhabitants. Requests for further financial assistance for public bodies faced with a material unexpected financial burden in dealing with such an incident would be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Coast protection schemes have been carried out at the following sites in the last five years:

Site	Starting Year of Scheme	Finishing Year of Scheme	Cost £
Carnoustie	2003	2004	1,047,028.00
Wick	2004	2005	2,931,951.83
Stonehaven Bay	2006	2006	322,759.46
Aberdeen Bay	2006	2006	2,257,525.53

 

The Scottish Government has had no discussions with the North Sea Commission on this matter.

The Scottish Government has published its research reports on Climate Change: Flooding Occurrences Review (2002), available at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/156664/0042098.pdf.

Climate Change: Review of Levels of Protection Offered by Flood Prevention Schemes UKCIP02 update (2003) at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2004/02/18789/32059.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency indicative flood maps show land which is at high risk of coastal flooding (where risk is equal to or greater than 0.5% annual probability) or might become so with climate change. These maps are available at:

http://www.sepa.org.uk/flooding/mapping/index.htm.

The Scottish Government is providing £200,000 to Western Isles Council for research in the hydrodynamics of the South Ford area in South Uist, and in addition is supporting Angus Council with £70,000 to consider intervention strategies seeking to slow the rate of erosion at Montrose Beach. This research will help in the understanding of coastal processes and assist in developing longer term and strategic approaches to coastal flooding and erosion in Scotland.