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Scottish Water isresponsible for the maintenance of the public drinking water mains network up tothe communication pipe which normally, but not always, terminates at the boundaryof a property. Homeowners are responsible for the upkeep of the private servicepipe which connects to the communication pipe to bring the supply into their homes.There are insurance schemes available which can offer protection against burstsor damage to private service pipes. Scottish Water has an arrangement with HomeserveLtd to offer such cover to their customers at their own discretion.

I share the disappointmentfelt by many that Seachd was not put forward by BAFTA as the UK entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars.Whilst the Scottish Government has no direct influence over the decision makingprocess, the First Minister has written to BAFTA UKon this issue expressing our disappointment. I understand that the film has receivedmany positive reviews and has been selected for the Rome and Vancouver Film Festivals, I wish it every success at these prestigiousevents and I hope audiences across Scotland, and more widely,continue to enjoy Seachd.

This information isnot held centrally. Local authorities are not required to record this informationand any data that they do hold is unlikely to be comparable.

I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:

The Programme ManagingAgent (Scottish Gas) has indicated that 4,429 households have been waiting morethan four months since the date of their application.

The Scottish Governmentrecognises the importance of Harris Tweed to the economy of the Western Isles. Highlandsand Islands Enterprise (HIE) and HIE Innse Gall, have worked with the Harris Tweedindustry over a considerable period of time to support its development, and willcontinue to do so.

HIE Innse Gall areworking with self-employed weavers in a number of ways, including weaver trainingand assistance with the capital costs of buildings and equipment. HIE and HIE InnseGall are currently working in partnership with Comhairle nan Eilean Siar on opportunitiesfor expanding the market and volume production of Harris Tweed.

The Scottish curriculumis not based in statute and it is for local authorities and schools to decide howbest to deliver the curriculum in their local area.

The Site ConditionMonitoring programme undertaken by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) assesses thecondition of all sites protected under European Directives and those notified underdomestic legislation. 53% of machair features were assessed as being in favourablecondition. Of the SSSIs where arable and associated fallows form a significant contributionto the designated machair (i.e. Uists and Berneray only), 20% were in FavourableCondition and 80% in Unfavourable Condition.

SNH reports that thereasons for this vary markedly between arable and non-arable sites. For arable machairsites, the most serious issues are thought to stem from a reduction in the numberand diversity of flowering plants in the arable crop coupled with greater cultivatedpatch size. The former is believed to be linked to the use of herbicides, but otherfactors such as plough depth, the move towards higher yielding grain varieties andthe use of inorganic fertiliser may also be having an impact.

The Scotland RuralDevelopment Programme (SRDP) (which we expect to secure European Union approvallater this year) contains specific prescriptions to support the beneficial managementof machair on designated sites and in the wider countryside. The SRDP also containsfurther options for managers of machair, including the Crofting Counties Agriculturalgrant Scheme, the Less Favoured Areas Support Scheme and support to produce SpecialistPlans which could be used to encourage beneficial management of the habitat.

Scottish Natural Heritage(in partnership with RSPB Scotland) is funding preliminary work to scope the potentialfor a bid under the recently launched EC LIFE+ funding mechanism for a project toassist in planning conservation and management of machair habitats. This work isat an early stage but the outputs will form the basis against which future fundingoptions may be considered.

Section 31(2) of the Crofting Reform etc Act 2007 amended part 3 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 to allow crofting community bodies the rightto acquire any interest in the land, thus preventing the use of interposedleases as a means of circumventing the Crofting Community Right to Buy. Thatsection came into force on 25 June 2007 and no further actionis therefore required.

The Pairc Trustmay now amend their application to buy crofting land on the Pairc Estate toinclude acquisition of the interposed lease over the estate, should they wishto do so.

This application hasnot yet been passed to the Directorate for Planning and Environmental Appeals tomake arrangements for a public local inquiry. It is not therefore possible, at thisstage, to estimate what the anticipated costs will be.

The Town and CountryPlanning (Scotland) Act 1997 provides that all planning applicationshave to be determined in accord with the development plan unless material considerationsindicate otherwise. It is for the planning authority or other decision maker todecide whether a community’s views are a material consideration and if so the weightto accord them in the determination. Scottish Planning Policy - (SPP)6 Renewable Energy says that planning authorities should include in their developmentplans positive policies which support smaller scale renewables such as communityprojects, to enable communities to develop such initiatives in an environmentallyacceptable manner.