Seòmar agus comataidhean

The outcomes of location reviewssince 1999 are set out in a table on the Executive’s relocation website. The numbersof posts dispersed from Edinburgh, in terms of the civil service and public service,to each local authority to date are as follows: Glasgow has received 400; ScottishBorders has received 218; North Ayrshire has received 140; Aberdeen has received50; Falkirk has received 26; Dundee has received 30; West Lothian has received 104;West Dunbartonshire has received 12; East Ayrshire has received 12; Highland hasreceived 239; Argyll and Bute has received 12, and Dumfries and Galloway has received17 posts.

The next meeting of the CrossParty Group on Fair Trade will be in October or November 2006.

The criteria by which Scotlandwill measure itself against to achieve Fair Trade Nation status has alreadybeen agreed. Following our discussions with the Welsh Assembly Government, membersof the Cross Party Group on Fair Trade were given the opportunity to comment onthe criteria selected both at the meeting on 15 June 2006 and throughsubsequent email exchanges. The final criteria announced by the First Ministeron 3 July 2006 reflects the views of group members.

The Scottish Executive has committedfunding for a five year programme of work being undertaken by the Moredun ResearchInstitute to monitor the impact of squirrel pox virus. A separate research tenderis due to be published shortly to commission work on the transmission routes ofsquirrel pox virus. Evidence from the study would be used to inform red squirrelconservation policy development and implementation.

Recent reports of an increasein the incidence of squirrel pox virus in the South of Scotland have required anurgent response from SNH and FCS both of whom have supported additional measuresfor red squirrel conservation which are now underway. Options for a longer termstrategy have been evaluated by SNH and FCS at my request. SNH will take these intoaccount in developing its plans for prioritisation of different species managementprogrammes in their Species Framework and which I hope to discuss with them laterthis year.

At the last meeting of theCross Party Group on 15 June 2006, members discussed how its membership might change and how the group mightbring on board representation from the wider fair trade community. Since thatmeeting officials have been consulting with stakeholders on the best way to dothis, and this will be discussed at the next meeting of the Cross Party Group.

The information requested isnot held centrally. However, information on accepted offers and payments of RSAsince April 2002, including a description of the projects, can be found on the RSAScotland website at www.rsascotland.gov.uk.

Further information on RSA acceptedoffers, including details by sector, using Standard Industrial Classification (SIC)Codes, are published in Scottish Economic Statistics, a Scottish ExecutiveNational Statistics publication. Copies of these annual publications can be foundat:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/ses/ses-00m.asp.

There are no SIC codes specificallyfor new technology companies and call centres.

The following table providesdetails of the number of RSA offers accepted and the amount paid in each financialyear between 1999-2000 and 2005-06. It also shows the amount of grant recoveredand written-off in the same period.

Financial Year	Accepted Offers	Grant Paid	Grant Recoveries	Written-Off
1999-2000	253	£51,966,770	£9,167,752	£1,104,008
2000-01*	180	£72,191,855*	£2,673,119	£3,784,412
2001-02*	160	£44,419,350*	£20,354,106	£1,366,625
2002-03*	183	£44,480,856*	£5,859,787	£1,296,633
2003-04*	157	£44,233,335*	£12,514,738	£1,519,935
2004-05*	164	£43,944,800*	£1,763,332	£1,734,124
2005-06*	152	£43,818,969*	£586,685	£1,117,232
Total	1,249	£345,055,935	£52,919,339	£11,922,969

Note: *Spend fromfinancial year 2000-01 is given on an accruals basis

RSA is paid in instalments, sometimesover several years and only as specific job and capital expenditure targets aremet. Not all projects will proceed, and nor do all accepted offers result in fullpayment of RSA grant, as projects are sometimes scaled down or abandoned beforepayments are made. The amount of RSA paid, shown above, will therefore include paymentsin relation to offers that were accepted in previous financial years. Grant recoveriesare, for the most part, in relation to amounts paid out in earlier years.

We do not hold specific recordsof companies that have gone into administration, ceased trading or relocated outsideScotland after receiving RSA. However, grant recoveries and write-offs result fromnon compliance with the conditions in the RSA grant agreement. Some of the reasonsfor this will be because businesses have gone into administration or ceased operations.

Data about personal injury roadaccidents are collected by the police and reported to the Scottish Executive usingthe STATS 19 statistical report form. The following table gives the numbers of roadaccidents which were identified in these returns as occurring on the specified sectionsof the A811 in 2005, and the associated numbers of fatalities.

It should be noted that the followingstatistics are based upon the data which are held in the Scottish Executive’s road accidentstatistics database and which were collected by the police at the time of the accidentand subsequently reported to the Executive. They may differ from any figures whichthe local authorities would provide now, because they do not take account of anysubsequent changes or corrections that local authorities may have made to the statisticalinformation, for use at local level, about the location of each accident, basedupon their knowledge of the roads and areas concerned.

Injury Road Accidents Occurringon Sections of the A811, and the Associated Numbers of Fatalities, as Reported inthe STATS 19 Statistical Returns

Year	Injury Road Accidents		Fatalities
	Stirling to Kippen*	Kippen* to Ballat**	Stirling to Kippen*	Kippen* to Ballat**
2005	5	9	0	1

Notes:

* the junction of the A811 andthe B822, near Kippen.

** the junction of the A811 andthe A81, near Ballat.

The transport corridor betweenBirnam and Ballinluig in particular is very constrained. A road improvement in thisarea could affect the existing railway line, the River Tay and its tributaries.The River and its tributaries are protected by their European Directorate designationas a Special Area of Conservation - and the National Scenic Area.

Transport Scotland’s consultantswill assess the feasibility of engineering a dual carriageway in this corridor withacceptable impacts on these constraints and on the local residents. The consultantswill also report on the cost and economic benefits of such a proposal.

Transport Scotland hasthe operational responsibility for this area, and can be contacted for more informationif required.