Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Executive has made no representations to the UK Government or the Office of Fair Trading regarding the supply of prescription-only medicines. The control of medicines is a matter reserved to the Westminster Parliament and any representations will be taken into account by them whilst developing the UK position.

Scottish ministers are responsible for devolved ports policy in Scotland. Policy advice is provided mainly by the Scottish Executive Development Department (SEDD) Ports and Harbours Branch. This falls largely to three staff in that branch amongst their other duties. The development of policy requires close liaison within SEDD Transport Group on related issues, including grant assistance to piers and harbours serving lifeline ferry routes in the Highlands and Islands, and with the Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department interest in fishery harbours.Ports policy is set out in Modern Ports: A UK Policy (November 2000, Parliament's Reference Centre Bib. number 9874). The paper sets out the broad policy aims on both devolved and reserved matters for UK ports. In addition, trust ports are implementing the guidance set out in Modernising Trust Ports: A Guide to Good Governance (January 2000, Parliament's Reference Centre Bib. number 18579). This provides a benchmark for best practice in the management, accountability and operation of trust ports, including the appointment of board members.

The Executive has two places on the management committee which considers proposals for funding from the Crown Estate's aquaculture research and development budget. This committee last met on 28 January. Research and development was also discussed at a meeting with the Crown Estate on 23 January about the development of a strategic framework for aquaculture. No meetings have been held on the second matter.

A Scottish Air Transport Consultation Document will be produced in April. This is part of an on-going review of aviation/airports policy leading to the development of an aviation policy for the next 30 years. The provision of flights to and from Scotland is being addressed as part of that consultation process.

The current review is a negotiation between the Crown Estate, as landlord, and the farmed salmon industry as their tenants. It would not be appropriate for any third party to be involved.

A decision will be made after full and careful consideration of the case.

On 15 January the Executive announced an exemption scheme for certain water and sewerage charge payers. Those eligible for the exemption are organisations that have an annual income of less than £10,000 and that occupy premises that receive charitable relief at present. In the first instance, the exemption will last for four years from 1 April 2002 to 31 March 2006.

The Agricultural Business Development Scheme (ABDS) statutory instrument did not come into force until February 2001 therefore it was not possible to issue grant awards before that date. Four Project Assessment Committee meetings were held in 2001 to assess 479 applications, of which 338 of those were approved. The total amount of grant allocated to ABDS applicants in 2001 was £4,057,437 and to date £502,402 has been claimed and issued.The ABDS is funded jointly by the Scottish Executive and by the EU as part of the Highlands and Islands Special Transitional Programme. £3.99 million is available for allocation to ABDS applicants in year 2002. The breakdown of applications by Area Office and category of application is as follows:(a) Applications by Area Office

Area Office	No. of applications	No. approved	Grant allocated (£)
Ayr	51	43	479,816
Elgin	70	53	559,789
Inverness	84	63	714,650
Kirkwall	47	39	702,065
Lairg	13	6	59,237
Lerwick	8	5	57,635
Oban	127	79	859,416
Portree	15	10	134,864
Thurso	56	36	448,963
Stornoway	8	4	41,002
Total	479	338	4,057,437

(b) Applications by Category

	No. of applications	No. approved	Grant allocated (£)
Investment in Holdings	352	271	2,845,271
Agricultural Diversification	2	1	9,436
Non-Agricultural Diversification	125	66	1,202,730
Total	479	338	4,057,437

So far this year, no ABDS awards have been made. The next ABDS Project Assessment Committee is scheduled to meet in Inverness in early March 2002 and applicants will be notified soon afterwards if they have been successful.

A risk analysis which assessed the reduction in risk of new outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease by the imposition of a 20-day standstill for cattle, sheep and goats was prepared by the Department of Risk Assessment at the Veterinary Laboratories Agency. This risk analysis was issued on 28 November 2001 and copies have been placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 18976).The assessment concluded that a 20-day standstill effectively applied has the potential to reduce, probably by somewhere close to 100%, the probability of spread of infection by movement of livestock from any premises where infection is present in the livestock. However, the presence of non-blood tested sheep is likely to reduce the probable effectiveness of a 20-day standstill by a considerable amount.Following discussions with our main stakeholders, my officials are now consulting wider interests on proposals which will:retain the principle of the 20-day standstill during 2002, subject to review;allow, from mid-February, a number of limited exemptions from the standstill (for breeding bulls and rams, foster calves and lambs etc);permit from 18 March for cattle and 18 May for sheep an option to apply the 20-day standstill only to animals brought onto the farm (or to animals to be moved off) and not the rest of the animals on the holding on condition that they are kept separate and that biosecurity measures are observed.

No such monitoring is currently undertaken. However, one of the principal objectives of our policy to promote renewable energy is to help Scottish companies to benefit from the increasing opportunities arising from the exploitation of Scotland's huge potential in this field. We will continue to work closely with both Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise on this, with the aim of increasing the many hundreds of jobs in Scotland already dependent on the design, installation and maintenance of renewable energy schemes.