Seòmar agus comataidhean

Our planning policy guidanceis given in National Planning Policy Guideline 6: Renewable EnergyDevelopments. Forestry Commission Scotland serves as the Executive’s forestrydepartment. The corporate plan for the Forestry Commission in Scotlandrecognises that “Every effort is being made to increase the value and income from leasesof many kinds, and from developments such as windfarms, mineral sites andtelecommunication masts, for which the national forests can often provide asuitable location.” In this way the national forest lands make a considerablecontribution to the Executive’s targets for increasing the proportion of powergenerated from renewable sources.

All proposals are developedwith full public consultation, and detailed plans for careful forestrestructuring. The usual planning consents and environmental impact assessmentsare required and environmental, economic and social issues are taken fully intoaccount.

The Executive advises bodiescarrying out relocation reviews that low pay should be one of severalsocio-economic factors taken into account when carrying out the qualitativeassessment of prospective locations.

The Executive advises bodiescarrying out relocation reviews that several socio-economic factors should be takeninto consideration when carrying out the qualitative assessment of prospectivelocations. The factors include income and employment deprivation, healthdeprivation and disability, education, skills and training deprivation, andgeographical access to services. We are currently considering the consistencyof socio-economic statistics to be used by bodies in relocation reviews.

The following table shows thenumber of staff (headcount) and the number of full-time equivalent staff inpost in the Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department as at thedate given.

Number of Staff in the Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department

	Headcount		Full-time Equivalent
Year	Permanent	Casual	Permanent	Casual
1 April 2002	1,101	102	1,074.1	99
1 April 2003	1,116	66	1,086.1	65
31 December 2003	1,113	65	1,082.1	64

It is too early to estimateto what extent staff costs within the Environment and Rural Affairs Departmentwill change as a consequence of CAP reform because we have not yet decided howthe reforms will apply in Scotland. The consultation exercise on CAP reform finished on6 January and decisions will be made shortly.

A reduction in the number ofdirect support schemes should lead to reductions in staffing and staff costs. Butthis will depend on exactly which options are chosen. In the short term thereare likely to be additional costs associated with developing the new system atthe same time as continuing to make payments under the old system.

The information requested on expenditure by the Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department (SEERAD) is set out in the following tables:

Table 1: SEERAD Staff Costs Spend

	2002-03	2003-04 (Spend to 30 November)
	£(000)	£(000)
SEERAD staff costs spend (1)	£28,770	£20,509

 

Table 2: SEERAD Staff Costs Spend and Programme Budget

	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03
	£(000)	£(000)	£(000)	£(000)
SEERAD staff costs spend (1)	£22,622	£24,442	£26,808	£28,770
SEERAD programme budget (2)&(3)	£783,000	£834,000	£1,141,000	£1,167,000
Staff costs as a % of programme budget	2.9	2.9	2.3	2.5

Notes:

1.The figures for the staffcost spend in 2001-02 and 2002-03 exclude expenditure which was reimbursed fromDEFRA to meet the Scottish Executive costs of the foot and mouth outbreak.

2.The 1999-2000 and 2000-01programme budget figures were published in Serving Scotland’s Needs, The Government’s  Expenditure Plans 1999-2000 to 2001-02 and the 2001-02 and 2002-03 programme budget figureswere published in the 2003-04 Annual Expenditure Report.

3.Following the introductionof Resource Accounting and Budgeting the programme budget figures for 2001-02and 2002-03 include non-cash resource adjustments to reflect capital chargesand are not therefore directly comparable with the programme budget figures for1999-2000 and 2000-01 which are reported on a cash basis.

Public investment in theInstitute for System Level Integration is a matter for the main fundingpartners – Scottish Enterprise, University of Glasgow, University of Strathclyde, Heriot-Watt University and Edinburgh University.

As part of project Alba, theInstitute for System Level Integration has been supported in line with thecommitment in A Smart, Successful Scotland to move to a technologicallyinnovative, knowledge-based economy.

Funding issues in relationto the institute itself are an operational matter for the main funding partners- Scottish Enterprise, University of Glasgow, University of Strathclyde,Heriot-Watt University and Edinburgh University. However, in 2001 the Executivecontributed a one-off grant of £40,000 to assist the early stages of the MSc inSystem Level Integration.

Specific informationrelating to student numbers at the Institute for System Level Integration is anoperational matter for the Institute.

I have asked Claire Clancy,the Chief Executive of Companies House, to respond. Her response is as follows:

The information requested isnot available. While the number of companies incorporating each year in Scotland(i.e. new public limited companies) is known, the total number of publiclimited companies in Scotland is not. Information on the total number of PLCs isknown for Great Britain but there are no separate figures for Scotland.