Seòmar agus comataidhean

Inspections are completed in this way to enable the Scottish Government to fulfil their legal obligations under The Bee Diseases and Pests Control (Scotland) Order 2007 and the Bees Act 1980.

The Scottish Government is content with the sufficiency of the number of inspections of beehives in 2007 and 2008.

Scottish Government Bee Inspectors are obliged to carry out inspections only when they are informed of the presence or suspected presence of a notifiable disease or pest. Therefore, the number of completed inspections are in direct proportion to the number of notifications that have been received.

In relation to supporting beekeeping, the Scottish Government:

Provides a full time apiculture specialist at SAC (who provides comprehensive advisory, training and education programmes for beekeepers throughout Scotland.

Provides a free diagnostic service to beekeepers to identify and confirm the presence of varroa and notifiable bee pests and diseases through SASA.

Are finalising their Bee Health Strategy which will help to achieve a sustainable and healthy population of honey bees for pollination and honey production in Scotland via strengthened partnership working between the Scottish Government and stakeholders.

Are drawing together a control strategy for 2010 which will ensure bee farmers can continue to operate, whilst minimising the risk of further spread of the disease to other beekeepers.

Have confirmed that four full-time equivalent Bee Inspectors will be in post until spring 2011, when the position will be reviewed.

Have contributed £500,000 to a five year insect pollinator research initiative.

In relation to improving the environment for bees, such as planting bee friendly plants, bees will benefit from a wide range of habitat improvements, including measures supported under the Scottish Rural Development Programme (SRDP) for the creation and management of species rich grassland.

Also, the Great Yellow Bumblebee has been identified in SNH''s Species Action Framework as a species for conservation action.

Scottish Government officials are currently evaluating the lessons learned during the notifiable disease outbreaks experienced in 2009 and, as detailed in the answer to question S3W-28869, will publish the strategy when this process is completed.

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/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

Responsibility for maintaining Scotland''s public roads and footpaths, including the purchase and use of road salt, sits with local authorities and trunk road operators. The Scottish Government does not therefore hold significant reserves of salt or grit for allocation to councils and operators.

I also refer the member to the answer to question S3W-30519 on 18 January 2010 which is available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

All evidence submitted to the public local inquiry will be published on the Scottish Government''s website as soon as possible. This is a huge task, so the information will appear gradually over the coming weeks as it is added to the system.

The Scottish Government is doing everything possible to ensure that councils, trunk road operators and salt suppliers work together to ensure best use of available salt supplies in order minimise the risk to public safety. In the event of a local authority being at risk of running out of road salt, existing arrangements for supporting mutual aid between councils and trunk road operators would apply, in addition to ensuring that the relevant salt supplier was advised of the situation to inform its delivery schedules.

The Scottish Government has established a Scottish Salt Cell, to support and advise councils and operators in managing the current supply and demand for salt, and to explore options for securing alternative supplies.

In order to provide consistent advice to the UK''s main salt suppliers, which supply to councils and trunk road operators across the UK, a UK Salt Cell has been established. The UK Salt Cell brings together the Department for Transport (Chair), the Scottish Government, the Welsh Assembly Government, Transport Scotland, the Highways Agency, COSLA, the Local Government Association and other relevant agencies and departments. It meets twice-weekly to monitor the salt supply and delivery position across the UK, and to advise suppliers on the most effective distribution of available salt supplies. To support that process, Scottish Government officials are also in regular contact with Department for Transport and colleagues.

Although a thaw is now taking place in many parts of Scotland, there is currently no indication that the rate of thawing will result in severe flooding problems. Nevertheless, people should heed the advice on SEPA''s website and be prepared for flooding. SEPA''s flood warning staff continue to work closely with the Met Office and people should look out for any flood watches or warnings which may be issued on SEPA''s Floodline service. In response to the severe weather, the Scottish Government has convened its resilience room, and all strategic co-ordinating groups are providing updates on potential flooding problems.

The geographic areas covered by city regions in Scotland are not uniquely defined. For example, the former Cities Growth Fund (the funding for which is no longer earmarked and, since 1 April 2008, has been included within the General Capital Grant paid by the Scottish Government to local authorities in Scotland) allocated funding directly to the councils containing the six formally designated cities in Scotland (Aberdeen City Council for Aberdeen, Dundee City Council for Dundee, the City of Edinburgh Council for Edinburgh, Glasgow City Council for Glasgow, Highland Council for Inverness and Stirling Council for Stirling). These authorities, in consultation with others including local communities and neighbouring authorities, each then drew up a published city vision plan to allocate funding within what each determined was the appropriate city region for their area.