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Employment of existing staff and workers is a matter to be resolved between the existing and new operators and staff and their Unions. During the tender period, existing employers circulated lists of staff involved. The Scottish Executive is not aware of what notice and information has been given to employees by the several operators.

It will be for the existing and incoming operators to decide whether there is a need for workers to be made redundant. The tender documents do not require that all existing staff be retained. Our current expectation is that the TUPE Regulations will apply.

There is a potential risk to water courses from leachate. Accordingly modern landfill sites are operated to minimise water ingress and leachate is extracted and treated to a high standard before being discharged. New landfill sites will be regulated by the Pollution Prevention and Control Regulations 2000 and will have to meet the conditions in the EC Landfill Directive, which requires sites to be situated and designed so as to meet the necessary conditions for preventing the pollution of soil, groundwater or surface water.

Studies into the effects on human health of living close to landfill sites have suggested that there is a need for further research. The Scottish Executive and UK Government Departments therefore commissioned the Small Areas Health Statistics Unit (SAHSU) last year to investigate the incidence of a range of cancers and birth defects around 7000 landfill sites in the UK. SAHSU is due to report by the end of May.

If an application for planning permission for a landfill site at Mid-Lairgs were to be made, the National Waste Strategy: Scotland and National Planning Policy Guidelines would be important factors in its determination by the local authority. The application would also be accompanied by an environmental impact assessment which, amongst other things, would examine the risk that the proposed site posed to the River Nairn. In addition the site would be regulated by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency under the Pollution Prevention and Control Regulations 2000 and would have to meet the conditions in the EC Landfill Directive. The Directive requires sites to be situated and designed so as to meet the necessary conditions for preventing the pollution of soil, groundwater or surface water.

The Brankley landfill site has been discounted by epidemiologists as the source of the virus. The virus is a type O Asian strain and has been imported, possibly in infected meat products. Work continues to identify possible routes with which the virus has gained entry. The source farm currently is thought to be a pig farm at Burnside, Heddon on the Wall.

The Scottish Executive and other bodies, such as the NFUS, are providing regular guidance, advice and information to farmers, the public at large and other key interests. This is being done at national level but local media interests are helping as appropriate. Detailed advice has been given to farmers on the Welfare Movements Scheme, the Movement to Slaughter Scheme and the Welfare Disposal Scheme (via the Distribution Board). Additionally, farmers in the Dumfries and Galloway subject to the slaughter cull have been kept appraised of developments by letter or telephone. Helplines have been and remain in operation at the SERAD HQ and various regional offices.

It is a European requirement to set up a 3 km protection zone around any infected farm. Within this radius there is a high risk of local disease spread.

Information from the Office International des Epizootics (OIE), the World organisation for animal health in Paris indicates that airborne spread of foot and mouth disease can be as much as 60km overland and 300km by sea. Those are maximum distances under favourable conditions. In practice the possibility of aerosol spread depends on a number of factors including, number and species of the affected host animal, weather conditions (wind speed, air temperature, relative humidity). Aerosol spread overland is also subject to variation caused by land features which might disrupt the plume of virus.However, insofar as this particular strain of virus is concerned, initial studies based on observations made in other countries suggest that aerosol transmission from infected premises has not been a prominent feature. So far this would appear to be being borne out in this country, as the spread appears to be by direct contact particularly through sheep. The position obviously is being monitored very carefully as the outbreak continues.

I am satisfied that the slaughter of sheep stocks within infected areas is based on sound veterinary advice. This advice cannot be made publicly available as it contains certain information which if disclosed would harm the frankness and candour of internal discussion between Ministers and Officials. The Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information provides an exemption in such circumstances.