Seòmar agus comataidhean

The arrangements for theLess Favoured Area Support Scheme (LFASS) for 2004 are still under discussionwith the European Commission. An announcement on these will be made as soon aspossible.

The arrangements for the2004 scheme have been discussed within the LFASS industry working group, whichincludes representatives of NFU Scotland, the Scottish Crofting Foundation andthe Scottish Landowners’ Federation.

I am advised by the FoodStandards Agency (FSA) that no such representations have been made to theEuropean Commission as the work on bacteriophages has yet to be completed.CEFAS has been commissioned by the EU Commission to carry out research tocontribute to the development of EU proposals on viruses in shellfish. TheCommission is working with all member states to develop this work with a viewto possible issue of formal proposals by the end of this year. The FSA willconsult all stakeholders and an impact assessment will be carried out when theproposals become available. The current information, proposals and subsequentwork will be made available to the Parliament.

We take seriously the needto take account of the interests of all stakeholders who have an involvement inforestry and forest products whether they are economic, environmental or socialwhen we develop and implement legislation and other policy instruments. In someinstances there is a need to strike balances and make choices, for example inthe case of nature conservation where there may be UK andEuropean considerations. In the case of independent certification this is notjust a matter for the Scottish Executive. The UK Woodland Assurance Scheme has been developedby a much wider grouping of forestry stakeholders and is independent ofgovernment. Within this broad group, economic interests have their opportunityto contribute to the process and make the case for economic viability based onsustainable principles.

Our policiesand priority actions to help the development of new products, markets and infrastructureand to enable the full potential of Scotland's timber resource to be realised are set out in the ScottishForestry Strategy. Key areas of support include Scottish Enterprise supportof the Scottish Forest Industries Cluster of nearly £1 million. Other key areasare support for the new Centre for Timber Engineering at Napier University and membership and support forthe Timber Transport Forum. Forestry Commission staff are working with many partnersto promote more uses for timber and Forest Enterprise offer considerable supportfor industry through long-term contracts. This work is an integral part of our operationsand cannot readily be costed separately.

Education authorities are requiredby the Standards in Scotland’s Schools etc Act 2000, to prepare and publish an annualstatement of education improvement objectives, which shall include an account of the ways in which they will provide Gaelic-medium education and the ways in whichthey will seek to develop their provision of such education. Authorities’ improvementobjectives also have to take account of the National Priorities in Education andthe performance measures published in respect of the priorities, including the numberand percentage of requests for Gaelic-medium education met by the authority. Severallocal authorities have been able to report meeting all, or the overwhelming majority,of parental requests for Gaelic-medium education. Many authorities have also usedthe improvement framework to embed their policies around Gaelic-medium educationfully into their wider strategy for school education.

I consider that there is scopefor some education authorities to improve further their planning ofGaelic-medium education and am therefore taking action in three areas:

1. education authorities willbe given a clear reminder of their duty to address Gaelic-medium education in theirannual statement of improvement objectives and progress reports, and of the Executive’sexpectation that they will do so;

2. education authorities willbe asked to establish thresholds against which they will assess parental demandfor Gaelic-medium education within their area, and

3. Bòrd na Gàidhlig and the ManagementReview Group of local authorities will be invited to establish a joint sub-groupto review the performance measurement against which Gaelic-medium education developmentis measured.

The content of the forthcomingdraft Gaelic Language Bill has yet to be agreed by Cabinet. However, I am mindedto invite Bòrd na Gàidhlig to offer advice to local authority education authoritieson the development of Gaelic-medium education policies and to give them a role inadvising the Executive on the sufficiency of such policies and plan to consult onthis issue as part of the consultation process around the Gaelic Language Bill.

I take the advancement ofGaelic-medium education very seriously. I will not hesitate to use my powers toissue statutory guidance under the terms of the Standards in Scotland’s Schoolsetc Act 2000 if the further development of education authority improvement plansin relation to Gaelic-medium education demonstrates that is needed.

This is an operational matterfor SNH.

The Executive has already committed£300,000 for radio equipment. We are in discussion with the Police Service and theMountain Rescue Committee of Scotland about possible options for future fundingsupport. Decisions on future funding will be announced once those discussions arecompleted.

The Scottish Aquaculture ResearchForum will discuss these issues at its next meeting.

The new UK General Medical Services contract was accepted in a ballot of allUK GPs, the results of which were announcedon 20 June 2003.

The new contract will take effectfrom 1 April 2004 subject, of course, to the Scottish Parliament approving the requiredchanges to primary legislation. Such changes are contained within the Primary MedicalServices (Scotland) Bill which was introduced on 23 June. In the meantime,work is currently under way on implementing the new contract and a national referencegroup and eight working groups have been set up to look at the key issues such asfinance and the quality and outcomes framework. Until this work has been completedit is too early to say what the annual administration costs will be. However, thenew contract does simplify some of the funding streams. The single Global Sum paymentreplaces 25 different fees and allowances, thereby greatly reducing the bureaucracyassociated with the administration of the system.

The annual cost to the NHS of the central administration of the current General Medical Services contract by theCommon Services Agency is £5.1 million. It is not possible to separate out the costof the payment element for the other central functions which include patient registrationand payment verification.

There will also be costs incurredat both health board level and GP practice level, but this information is not heldcentrally.