Seòmar agus comataidhean

Whilst the Fisheries (Electricity)Committee do not advise Scottish ministers to approve or reject proposed hydro-electricschemes, they do provide recommendations on how damage to fish and fisheries mightbe prevented or minimised. I have arranged for copies of the guidelines that containthe criteria to be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib.number 39648).

The Fisheries (Electricity) Committeehave been asked to provide recommendations on proposed hydro-electric developmentsin each of the last five years as follows;

2001	1
2002	4
2003	5
2004	2
2005	4

 

To date, the Scottish ministershave approved nine and rejected one of these schemes.

The membership of the Fisheries(Electricity) Committee is as follows:

MrJames Cockburn (Chairman)

DrSusan Walker

DrD Trevor Crisp

MrJohn Webb

MrGordon Jubb

Mr Nick Mardall.

The Fisheries (Electricity) Committeeissues guidelines, containing the criteria that they apply to applications, annuallyto all developers of proposed hydro-electric schemes.

I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is asfollows:

A tendering process iscurrently underway to appoint a managing agent to administer the central heatingand warm deal programmes on behalf of the Scottish Executive. To ensure animpartial process is maintained it would be inappropriate to comment publiclyon quality performance at this time. However, Communities Scotland continues toaddress customer service issues directly with Eaga.

As a result of experience gainedfrom issues identified during the first phase of the programme, obligations on thenew management agent in the new contract have been tightened to ensure enhancedlevels of customer satisfaction.

I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is asfollows:

Eaga Partnership, which isthe managing agent contracted to deliver the Central Heating Programme on behalfof the Scottish Executive, is required to provide details of customersatisfaction in monthly reports submitted to Communities Scotland. In addition,Communities Scotland commissions independent inspections of installations.These include monitoring of customer satisfaction.

I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-25202 on 10 May 2006. All answers towritten parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the searchfacility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Community projects in Scotland arerightly the responsibility of the Scottish Executive. The Foreign and CommonwealthOffice (FCO) gifted memorabilia to Perth and Kinross Council but the main legacy of the G8 wasthe exposure that the area received on television and newspapers around the worldand the longer term economic benefit that we believe will result from that in theway of tourism and other economic activity in the council area. As such it wouldbe wholly inappropriate to expect the FCO to match the funding committed by theExecutive.

The First Minister has committedup to a maximum of £500,000 towards the cost of the upgrading and refurbishmentof Aytoun Hall, subject to the council or the local community being able to raisethe remaining funding. The actual method of payment will be agreed once thecouncil advise on the funding proposals for the refurbishment

The First Minister announcedin July 2006 that a commitment of up to a maximum of £500,000 will be used for thespecific purpose of upgrading and refurbishment of Aytoun Hall. This is subjectto Perth and Kinross Council and/or the local community being able to raise any remainingfunding required.