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Financial information relating to those costs is commercially confidential and cannot be released. In any event, the actual costs cannot be determined in the abstract and will depend on the particular facts and circumstances.

The cap was set following negotiation with BP. The Environmental Statement does include the cost of mitigation measures.

The Forth Replacement Crossing Team has been in lengthy and detailed engagement with BP and the worldwide insurance market seeking the best possible solution for the public interest. The meeting with the Finance Committee on 22 February 2011 was the first opportunity to speak meaningfully with the Parliament on the issue.

Transport Scotland will continue to operate in the event of any damage to the pipeline.

Press notices were placed in the Scotsman on 17 August 2010 and in the Dundee Courier and Edinburgh Gazette on 17 August 2010 and 24 August 2010 advising members of the public of the submission of the application. These notices advised members of the public to submit representations to energyconsents@scotland.gsi.gov.uk, which is the enquiries email address for the Energy Consents and Deployment Unit (ECDU). The second press notices for this development were placed in The Scotsman on 9 November 2010 and in The Courier and Edinburgh Gazette on 9 November 2010 and 16 November 2010. These notices advised members of the public to submit representations to the dedicated Dundee Biomass email address dundeebiomass@scotland.gsi.gov.uk, which had been implemented to deal with the level of representations being received. The biomass section of the ECDU website quoted the dedicated email address as the point of contact during the consultation. The ECDU enquiries email address is quoted elsewhere on the website as general point of contact, hence no amendment or correction was required.

All representations received to either email addresses have been collated and logged.

A decision was taken within the Energy Consents and Deployment Unit (ECDU) at the beginning of October 2010 to cease acknowledging representations in writing, due to the excessive costs involved. This meant that members of the public who submitted representations between the middle and end of September 2010, to the address energyconsents@scotland.gsi.gov.uk, or in writing, did not receive an acknowledgment.

The address energyconsents@scotland.gsi.gov.uk is not invalid, members of the public were asked to direct representations to the dedicated email address dundeebiomass@scotland.gsi.gov.uk to allow easier collation of these responses and to ensure they received the automatic acknowledgement. All representations received to either address have now been collated and logged.

There is no requirement under legislation to acknowledge, either in writing or electronically, representations received.

There is no requirement under legislation to acknowledge, either in writing or electronically, representations received.

Due to the excessive cost, both in postage and in staff time, it is no longer the policy of the Energy Consents and Deployment Unit (ECDU) to respond in writing to representations received. Should the representation have been submitted by email, to the email address stated in the press notices, dundeebiomass@scotland.gsi.gov.uk, the author will receive an automatic acknowledgement. All representations received are collated and logged and form part of the final determination process for the application.

To date, the Energy Consents and Deployment Unit (ECDU) have received 36 consultation responses from a variety of organisations with an interest in the development. These responses are all available on the Scottish Government website. The ECDU have also received 3,292 representations from members of the public. These are not published on the Scottish Government website to protect the identities of individuals.

Government spend on research and development (R&D) is collected through the Office for National Statistics Annual Government Research and Development Survey. The latest published figures are for the financial year 2008-09.

Scottish Government spend on research and development, 2004-05 to 2008-09

Year	R&D spend by Portfolio (£ thousands)					Total
	Education & Lifelong Learning	Finance & Sustainable Growth	Health & Wellbeing	Justice	Rural Affairs & Environment
2004-2005	2,480	8,943	54,992	2,651	61,753	130,819
2005-2006	3,074	9,997	57,109	2,710	63,965	136,855
2006-2007	3,309	8,313	63,362	2,661	54,439	132,084
2007-2008	2,778	8,218	61,187	4,300	60,595	137,078
2008-2009	3,163	8,728	63,371	5,044	59,291	139,597

Source: Government Research and Development Survey, Office for National Statistics.

The table includes R&D spending by Scottish Government directorates, associated agencies and non-departmental public bodies.

However the table excludes:

Scottish Funding Council grants to universities for Research and Knowledge Transfer.

One-off funding mechanisms e.g. the £10 million Saltire Prize, £13 million WATERS scheme.

Whilst recognising the merits of the proposal and the potential role that Scotland could play in promoting conflict resolution, non-violence and cooperation, the Scottish Government is not in a position to fund activity of the kind proposed at the current time. As a result the Scottish Government has, with regret, been unable to lend its support to the proposal relating to Scottish Churches House.