Seòmar agus comataidhean

The overall budget for agri-environment schemes is not allocated in advance to the individual schemes which are demand led.Details of the estimated amounts available for new and existing agri-environment schemes, including the Rural Stewardship Scheme, are available in Tables 8.1 and 8.3 of the Scottish Rural Development Plan, which can be found on the Scottish Executive Website at:http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/environment/srdpv3-g-16.asp.

The overall budget for agri-environment schemes is not allocated in advance to the individual schemes, which are demand led.Details of the estimated amounts available for new and existing agri-environment schemes, including the Organic Aid Scheme are available in Tables 8.1 and 8.3 of the Scottish Rural Development Plan, which can be found on the Scottish Executive Website at:http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/environment/srdpv3-g-16.asp.

The budget allocations for agri-environment schemes (including the Organic Aid Scheme) are programmed in the Scottish Rural Development Plan for the period 2003-06. It will be for Scottish ministers to decide on the allocation of resources in light of the priorities established by the partnership agreement.Support is also provided to the organic sector through SEERADs' Processing and Marketing Grant Schemes (PMG) and the Marketing Development Scheme (MDS) Since May 2001, almost £4 million has been awarded to support the processing and marketing of organic produce through these schemes.

The expenditure on support measures targeted at Scotland's less favoured areas in 1999-2000 was £59.3 million and in 2000-01 was £63.1 million. The Hill Livestock Compensatory Allowances scheme (HLCAs) accounted for the total expenditure in 1999-2000 whereas in 2000-01 the spend was split between that scheme (£10.5 million) and its successor, the Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (£52.6 million).

One hundred and forty one responses have been received in response to the consultation on the draft Nature Conservation (Scotland) Bill. Of this total (a) 128 are broadly supportive and (b) seven are opposed in principle.The remaining six respondents did not comment on the proposals in the Bill.

The Scottish Executive will introduce the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Bill to the Scottish Parliament later this year, as announced by the First Minister in his statement on 28 May.

The budget was £63 million in each of the financial years 2001-2002 and 2002-2003.

Information on numbers of live sheep and pigs certified for export from the UK is given in the following tables:

2000	Live Sheep
Country of destination	Breeding	Fattening	Slaughter
Belgium	178	593	0
Denmark	0	0	2,170
France	1,233	199,327	0
Germany	86	30,003	0
Greece	0	4,350	0
Republic of Ireland	255	3	120
Italy	0	51,912	0
Netherlands	39	304,809	0
Portugal	0	3,800	300
Spain	20	32,769	0
Switzerland	376	0	0
Tristan da Cunha	80	0	0
United Arab Emirates	15	0	0
Total	2,282	627,566	2,590

2001	Live Sheep
Country of destination	Breeding	Fattening	Slaughter
France	7	51,300	0
Republic of Ireland	0	825	120,208
Belgium	0	3,850	0
Germany	0	10,132	0
Italy	0	1,679	0
Netherlands	0	18,344	390
Spain	0	770	0
Total	7	86,900	120,598

2002	Live Sheep
Country of destination	Breeding	Fattening	Slaughter
Austria	22	0	0
Belgium	9	0	540
France	604	20,917	75,533
Germany	5	0	6,414
Italy	0	0	34,036
Netherlands	70	0	456
Republic of Ireland	78	0	0
Total	788	20,917	116,979

2000	Live Pigs
Country of destination	Breeding	Fattening	Slaughter
Austria	9	0	0
Belgium	13,454	0	0
Canada	42	0	0
Cyprus	336	0	0
Czech Republic	150	0	0
Denmark	121	0	0
France	2,458	0	0
Germany	40,158	0	0
Greece	716	0	0
Republic of Ireland	1,261	200	61,393
Italy	5,498	0	0
Japan	2,285	0	0
Latvia	1,736	0	0
Malaysia	731	0	0
Mexico	529	0	0
Netherlands	16,898	0	0
Poland	252	0	0
Portugal	404	0	0
Romania	418	0	0
Slovakia	41	0	0
South Korea	1,235	0	0
Spain	8,861	0	0
Thailand	1,200	0	0
United States of America	24	0	0
Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo	617	0	0
Total	99,434	200	61,393

2001	Live Pigs
Country of destination	Breeding	Fattening	Slaughter
Republic of Ireland	512	0	28,370
Belgium	1,629	0	0
Germany	7,357	0	0
Greece	9	0	0
Italy	410	0	0
Netherlands	2,254	0	0
Spain	542	0	0
Thailand	63	0	0
Total	12,776	0	28,370

2002	Live Pigs
Country of destination	Breeding	Fattening	Slaughter
Belgium	4,751	0	0
Denmark	47	0	0
France	47	0	0
Germany	4,314	0	0
Greece	171	0	0
Italy	1,490	0	0
Netherlands	9,429	0	0
Spain	1,834	0	0
Philippines	105	0	0
Poland	888	0	0
Total	23,076	0	0

The Scottish Executive has regular discussions with the UK Government on a number of issues, including issues relating to the Oslo and Paris Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Northeast Atlantic (OSPAR). The UK strategy for radioactive discharges 2001-02 was published by the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs and the devolved administrations in July 2002. That strategy describes how the UK will comply with its agreed commitments to the OSPAR strategy for radioactive substances.

The public consultation period ended on 6 June 2003 and the Scottish Executive received 837 objections to the proposal. They have been split into six location categories:

No Address	30
E-Mails	117
Highland Council Area	142
Rest of Scotland	241
Rest of UK	299
Overseas	8

Included in the total are the following Non Government Organisations:

Inchree Holiday Centre

Mountain Skills Limited

Bespoke Highland Tours

Ardoch Guides

Inverness Mountaineering Club

The Climbers' Club

British Mountaineering Council

The National Trust for Scotland

Wild Exposure Guided Walks and Team Development

Martin Moran Mountaineering

Sierra Club (Canada)

The John Muir Trust

Scottish Countryside Activities Council

The Ramblers' Association

The Scottish Wild Land Group

The Scottish National Anglers Association

Torridon and Kinlochewe Community Council

Wester Ross Fisheries Trust

The Highlands of Scotland Tourist Board