Seòmar agus comataidhean

The water authorities are conducting a consultation exercise on proposals to withdraw relief on water and sewerage charges from certain customers. The exercise follows my intervention last year to delay for one year the withdrawal of relief in a number of cases. As part of that intervention, I required any further proposals of this type to be the subject of consultation with all customers that might be affected. The current consultation exercise is in line with that requirement.

Under the Local Government etc (Scotland) Act 1994, the water authorities are required to endeavour not to show any undue preference or discrimination in respect of particular groups of customers. It is against this background that the authorities are conducting the present consultation exercise. The Executive believes that where reliefs are to be withdrawn, withdrawal should be phased to ease the immediate impact and those customers affected by withdrawal should be given sufficient warning so that they can make plans to meet increased bills.

The Executive is currently considering whether it can improve on the assistance provided to many low income households through the link between water and sewerage charges and council tax bands. I expect to publish a consultation paper on this shortly.

Under section 51 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980, education authorities have a duty to make such arrangements as they consider necessary for the provision of free transport, or for provision of other transport facilities as may be arranged, or for paying all or part of reasonable transport expenses for school pupils belonging to their area and attending designated schools. The details of any arrangements made are for each education authority to determine in the light of local circumstances. In general, they make such arrangements for pupils who live outwith the statutory walking distance, defined in section 42(4) of the 1980 Act as being two miles for any pupil under eight years of age and three miles for any other pupil.

Decisions on the size of quotas are based on scientific advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES). The ICES advice proposes sustainable levels of fishing for the forthcoming year and takes into account the estimated level of discarding from the previous year for key commercial species.

It is not possible to provide the level of detail requested from the information held centrally. The table below gives figures for the number of persons with a charge proved in sheriff and district courts in North East Scotland in 1997 and 1998, and the number of these where the main offence involved was aggravated by having been committed while the offender was on bail. Corresponding information for 1999 is not yet available.

Persons with a charge proved, North East Scotland¹, 1997-98

SEJD Crime Category2	All persons		Persons with a bail aggravation3
	1997	1998	1997	1998
Housebreaking	495	466	89	72
Robbery	28	36	5	4
Drug offences	833	817	21	46
Other offences	13,871	14,246	526	549
Total	15,227	15,565	641	671

Notes:

1. Aberdeen, Banff, Elgin, Peterhead and Stonehaven Sheriff Courts; Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire and Moray District Courts.

2. Main offence

3. The offence was aggravated by having been committed while the offender was the subject of a bail order.

The Executive is committed to reducing discards of all species. The new EC Technical Conservation Regulation, which came into force on 1 January this year, introduced new measures to reduce discarding. Furthermore, the Scottish Executive recently made regulations requiring the placement of square mesh panels in fishing nets as from 3 August and a reduction in net twine thickness applicable from March next year. These measures will reduce discards of juvenile haddock and whiting.

Levels of discards are estimated by fish species and sea area. These estimates are given in the Annual Report of the Advisory Committee on Fishery Management. The data below provides the estimated discard rates for the Scottish fleet for the main whitefish species by weight aggregated over the entire North Sea.

	1997	1998	1999
Cod	18.56%	22.98%	11.81%
Haddock	40.30%	37.58%	40.66%
Whiting	35.92%	35.03%	48.15%

My department has to rely on data provided by fishermen to supplement estimates provided by our scientists.

Following the widespread occurrence of Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning (ASP) in 1999 a new three-year research project, with an annual estimated cost of £27,498, was commenced in April 2000. The objectives of the project are to identify the algal species responsible for ASP and to assess their seasonal and geographical distribution.

In addition the Food Standards Agency is committed to spend nearly £1 million in the next three years on research into algal toxins, of which one third can be attributed to ASP.

During the 1990s, Fisheries Research Services participated in a number of collaborative projects to address the issue of whether the sandeel fishery had potential implications for wild salmonid stocks.

Direct impacts were investigated by placing observers on sandeel trawlers off the Scottish east coast. No by-catch of salmon smolts was encountered. Potential indirect effects include the suggestion that the sandeel fishery might remove an important source of food for salmonids. An assessment of this possibility concluded that sandeels were just one of many prey species taken by salmonids, and that a properly managed sandeel fishery was unlikely to threaten the availability of this particular food source.

The value of scallop and queen scallop landings into Scotland by UK vessels in the last three years was £17.81 million in 1997, £17.98 million in 1998 and £16.48 million in 1999. The Scottish Executive does not hold figures for the sell-on value to the scallop industry after landing.