Seòmar agus comataidhean

Details of the agreements, understandings and declarations that the Executive has entered into with overseas national bodies and national and regional devolved assemblies are noted in the following table. In addition, the Executive has entered into a large number of agreements and understandings with UK Government Departments and other UK bodies.

Agreement	Other Signatories	Status
Protocol of Co-operation with Catalonia, May 2002	The Government of Catalonia	Commitment to co-operate in a number of policy areas. No penalty provisions.
Common Declaration on EU Governance, May 2002	The constitutional regions of Aquitaine, Emilia-Romagna, Flanders, Hessen, Marche, Skane, Tuscany, Wales and Wallonia.	Political declaration containing no obligations or penalty provisions.
Flanders Declaration, May 2001	Bavaria, Catalonia, North Rhine-Westphalia, Salzburg, Wallonia and Flanders	Political declaration containing no obligations or penalty provisions.
Liege Resolution, November 2001	50 regions with legislative power	Political declaration containing no obligations or penalty provisions.
Memorandum of Understanding with the Roads and Traffic Authority of New South Wales, Australia	New South Wales, Australia	Commitment to undertake joint developments to transport management systems. There are no penalty provisions.

Results from an activity analysis carried out by the Scottish Police Service in spring 2001 were used by a working group (involving representatives from the Executive, COSLA and the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland) which has been reviewing the distribution of police GAE between forces. An account of the working group's recommendations, including the use of relevant information from the activity analysis, is due to be published later this year.

The Executive has not to date undertaken or commissioned specific research in this area.

The Executive does not at present offer grants or training to groups or organisations to participate actively in the European legislative process.

Ministerial and official bilaterals are taking place with the Danish Presidency, the European Commission, and various member states as we move towards this year's decisions on reform of the Common Fisheries Policy, the cod and hake recovery plan, and next year's quotas. I am involved in this series of meetings, as are my officials. Our clear aim is to establish common positions and negotiating stances in support of our own aims and objectives.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-30540 today. 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.

A draft Regulatory Impact Assessment has been prepared. It will be published when the SI is laid before parliament, in accordance with normal practice.

When we were discussing multi-annual management plans at the September Council, we said that effort control should be one of the instruments available to fisheries managers under a reformed Common Fisheries Policy. When we were discussing the European Commission's draft Cod and Hake Recovery Plan at the October Council, we said that effort control may need to be used alongside other measures necessary to secure the recovery of the cod stocks. The recent scientific advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) is clear on the need for urgent and effective measures to ensure sustainable Scottish fisheries. Closure of the mixed demersal fisheries would be disastrous. So we need to identify and promote credible, defensible and effective alternatives. Discussions are under way with the industry to that end. We cannot rule out effort controls as one ingredient in any solution.

No. The Executive does not support arrangements which discriminate between producers on the basis of scale of subsidy payments or scale of operation more generally.

Twenty-six responses were received to the consultation on technical measures for scallops. All responses except those marked as confidential were made available in the Scottish Executive Library in early October 2002. Most of the respondents broadly supported the Executive's proposals, although opinions obviously varied on the many points of detail included in the consultation paper.