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Consultation was undertaken on the basis of proposals that there would be, initially, a national shellfish licensing scheme run by the Fisheries Departments and that, subject to the necessary legal powers being secured, this could be supplemented by local management measures.The consultation paper suggests that local management might be through the Sea Fisheries Committees for England and Wales, or other bodies. Policing arrangements would depend on the nature of, and statutory basis for, local conditions related to shellfish licensing. In Scotland, where Sea Fisheries Committees do not operate, these might follow the model for Regulating Orders, in relation to which existing statute places responsibility for enforcement with the local body to which regulating powers are granted. Any further legislative proposals by the Fisheries Departments would however be subject to consultation with industry and other interests in the normal way.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-15859.

I refer the Member to the answer given to question S1W-15859.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-15859.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-15859.

The review is being led by officials within my Fisheries Group, but it is necessarily a cross-cutting exercise involving a number of other interests both within and outwith the Executive. As the first stage in this process, my officials wrote to those with an interest, inviting views by the end of April on how the existing arrangements might be improved. Formal consultation on a range of proposals will be undertaken over the summer. I expect to receive a final report towards the end of the year.

An onshore generating station of 50 megawatts or less will require the consent of the planning authority within whose boundaries the proposed development falls under section 28 of the 1997 Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act. The fee depends on the site area of the development, but the maximum would be £10,500. Planning legislation requires applications to be determined within two months (four where an environmental impact assessment is required), unless the developer agrees in writing to an extension of this period. The time taken can vary considerably, however, depending on the issues involved in a particular case. If the proposed station exceeds 50 megawatts in size, consent must be obtained from Scottish Ministers under section 36 of the 1989 Electricity Act. This consent can also include deemed planning permission under section 57 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997. An application for consent under the 1989 Act can attract a fee of between £5,000 and £20,000, depending on the output of the proposed scheme. There is no maximum time taken to issue such consents, although, as a guide, the relevant planning authority is allowed four months in which to submit its views as part of the consultation process.

Applications for consent for any new electricity generation plants over 50MW in capacity are considered by Scottish Ministers under the Electricity Act 1989, rather than under Town and Country Planning legislation. Any application for a new nuclear power station would be considered in this way, and therefore the series of National Planning Policy Guidelines does not include any advice on the development or location of such power stations.Our broad energy policy is to ensure secure, diverse, sustainable supplies of energy at competitive prices. As with other forms of generation, it would be for nuclear generators to bring forward proposals for new nuclear plant if they regarded the technology to be competitive with other forms of electricity generation.

The Scottish Renewables Obligation will remain in place until 2015, while the new Renewables Obligation (Scotland) will remain in place until March 2026. The latter obligation on all electricity suppliers will be for a specified proportion of their total electricity supply, so the amount of renewable energy needed to meet it will grow if the electricity market as a whole increases.

At present, around 11% of Scottish electricity demand is met from Scotland's established hydro schemes. We expect that projects awarded contracts under the previous Scottish Renewables Obligation, once more are built over the next two years, will raise the portion of Scottish electricity supply accounted for by renewable energy to around 13% by 2003.We intend, under the new Renewables Obligation (Scotland), that this figure should increase by a further 5%, to 18% by 2010. Decisions on the yearly profile of the Renewables Obligation (Scotland) target will be taken in due course.