Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-28107. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa .

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-28107. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.

This is a matter for Scottish Water. I have asked the Chief Executive of Scottish Water to respond. The Chief Executive's response is as follows:Scottish Water does not maintain comparative information on staffing of the former authorities and Scottish Water in the form and to the level of detail asked. At 1 April 2002, when Scottish Water took over from the former authorities, 2,222 staff were transferred in from the West of Scotland Water Authority, 1,558 from the east, and 1,632 from the north. Since then Scottish Water has been gradually integrating its workforce into its own management structure. At 31 August the equivalent numbers serving in the areas covered by the former authorities were 2,090 in the west, 1,551 in the east, and 1,556 in the north.

The Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland has made clear that baton guns are to be deployed in Scotland in situations where police officers are faced with life threatening incidents as a less lethal alternative to conventional firearms. I have been assured that there are no plans for the police to use baton guns in Scotland when dealing with public order disturbances or political demonstrations, and I have made clear that Scottish ministers would need to be consulted were that position ever to change.

The action plan for the fish processing sector was prepared in co-operation with the fish processing industry and is currently being implemented. Expenditure on the plan is entirely driven by the level of up-take by the industry. So far, £350,000 has been spent. In light of the poor up-take, I have asked the industry to consider whether the action plan might usefully be extended and to submit proposals to me.

The number of crofts added to the Register of Crofts in each of the last 10 complete calendar years is indicated in the following table:

Year	Number of New Crofts Recorded
1992	18
1993	25
1994	18
1995	18
1996	21
1997	28
1998	29
1999	13
2000	32
2001	22

Most of these crofts were created from existing crofts by subdivision or through reorganisation. Only three cases (one in 1996 and two in 2000) involved land that was not previously recorded on the Register of Crofts.In seeking the information required to answer this question it has been established that since 1955 a total of 203 holdings of land on crofting common grazings that are linked to non-croft holdings have been deemed to be crofts for the purpose of crofting legislation. The figures in the preceding table do not include details of any such holdings established during the period 1990 to 2001. Data relating to these holdings is held by the Crofters Commission but mostly not on the Register of Crofts. If you wish further information about these holdings the Chief Executive of the Crofters Commission will be happy to provide full details.

The payment of all action plan grants is administered by Scottish Enterprise Grampian for accounting reasons. Payments are approved by the Action Plan Working Group who assess bids against the objectives set out in the plan. The Action Plan Working Group includes representatives from Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, the Scottish Executive, Aberdeen City Council, Aberdeenshire Council, Seafish, Seafood Scotland, and the Scottish Fish Merchant's Federation.

Based on the action plan that was originally submitted, the £1 million (the grant) covered approximately 60% of the total cost of implementation. The percentages varied from project to project. Some projects were fully supported while others only needed around 30% support. The grant required for each project was determined in the first instance by the group that prepared the action plan (based on the other sources of funding that they were able to identify). The plan was then submitted to ministers who in turn took a view as to whether or not the percentage grant that was required was reasonable. In general terms, ministers wanted to be satisfied that there was sufficient third party support in terms of meeting the cost of what was being proposed.

The most recent figures (for 2002 to end July) are given in the following table. £60,000 was spent implementing the action plan in 2001.

Recipient	Project	Value (£000)
SE Grampian	E Trading	23
	Joint Ventures	37
	Developing Managers	30
	Financial Reviews	13
Seafood Scotland	Processors Quality Award	18
	Pelagic Quality Project	16
	Advance Information	15
	Links to Retailers	20
	Product Development	32
	Marketing	8
Seafish	Workforce Skills	13
	Benchmarking	13
SFMF*	Rates Review	10
	Climate Change	3
	Action Plan Co-ordinator	36
ACC**	Buying Co-operative	3

Notes:*SFMF = Scottish Fish Merchant's Federation.** ACC = Aberdeen City Council.The plan is currently at the implementation stage and will run through to March 2003. All grants were processed by Scottish Enterprise Grampian.

The Register of Crofts is an administrative record and does not include plans. There is currently no public right of access to information contained in the Register of Crofts. By virtue of section 41(3) of the Crofters (Scotland) Act 1993 the Crofters Commission is required to provide, on request, an extract of any entry on the Register of Crofts to any person who, in the opinion of the Crofters Commission has good reason for desiring an extract of that entry. Chapter 9 of the white paper entitled Crofting Reform Proposals for Legislation seeks views on a proposal to allow full public access to the Register of Crofts.