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The Scottish Executive gives a grant to RSPB for work connected with the prevention and detection of wildlife crime in addition to several small payments amounting to some £2,620. These small payments are contributions towards work undertaken by the RSPB at the behest of the Executive or one of its working groups established to consider specific policy issues such as the Scottish Biodiversity Group. The main criterion used for any payments made to the RSPB is if the work undertaken is consistent with the policies of the Executive or the relevant working group.With regard to the allocation of funds from the National Heritage Lottery Fund, this is a matter for them.

I understand that Glasgow City Council have carried out studies on the effect of bus lanes on the Victoria Road/Gorbals Street bus corridor. This involved a survey of public opinion and before and after surveys of retail unit occupancy.

The significant regeneration activity taking place in Kinlochleven by the KLDT is being carried out with a view to creating more jobs for the sake of the future viability of the village.

Specifically, I am not persuaded that the crofter right to buy and the other benefits of crofting tenure should be extended to all tenant farmers in the crofting counties. The substantial costs of this, and in particular the cost of compensation to landlords, are a major factor in that decision.

To implement this strategy the Kinlochleven Land Development Trust (KLDT) was formed in 1995-96. The trust is a company limited by guarantee with charitable status which has taken over lease of the land from Alcan.

To date the KLDT has spent £3.5 million on a number of Phase One regeneration plans for the village. This includes the decontamination of the Bunker Buildings, the establishment of four business pavilions, the undertaking of environmental renewal work and the implementation of the footpath training scheme. Furthermore, approximately thirty full time jobs have been created between the opening of Database Direct's distributed call centre and the new bunkhouse.

The proposals for Phase Two are still at an early stage. KLDT has met on several occasions with Alcan employees and the Community Council to review the Phase Two plans. Market research is being carried out by Lochaber Limited/Highlands and Islands Enterprise for KLDT on the viability of the proposals.

Pup surveys prior to 1984 did not include the Inner Hebrides. For these years, in the table below, the population estimates given are the product of the pup production estimate for the surveyed areas and the mean ratio of total population to pup production for these same areas from 1984 to 1998.

Predictions about future population size are very difficult to make and are dependent on a number of assumptions. Two alternative predictions for grey seal numbers over the next five years are contained in the report Scientific Advice on Matters Related to the Management of Seal Populations: 1999, a copy of which is held in SPICe. Because of uncertainty about future changes in pup production, it is not meaningful to predict population size any further into the future than this.

Surveys of common seals between 1974 and 1980 were carried out from boats during the breeding season (June/July). Surveys since 1988 were by helicopter using a thermal imaging camera and were carried out during the August moult when the greatest and most consistent numbers of seals are thought to haul out. The numbers in the table below are counts of seals hauled out on land and represent minimum estimates of the population. A significant proportion of common seals will be at sea even during this period and it is therefore much more difficult to be precise about the total population based on these minimum figures.

The increases between boat and helicopter survey results are partly due to the extension of the area surveyed by helicopter (successive surveys have covered larger areas), partly due to the change in methodology (up to twice as many seals may be detected when surveying by helicopter compared with boats), partly due to the different timing of surveys (seals spend more time hauled out during the August moult than during the June/July breeding season), and presumably also partly as a result of the cessation of harvesting, particularly in Shetland and Orkney. At present, we cannot say how the trend in numbers counted at haul-out sites relates to trends in population size.

The total Scottish population cannot be estimated accurately but is currently thought to be between 43,000-52,000 animals. There is insufficient information to allow future predictions of numbers of common seals to be made.