Whilst the agriculture sector benefits from reduced duty on red diesel, worth over 40 pence per litre compared to most other industries and private motorists, the Executive is aware of the issues surrounding the rising cost of fuel, as it impacts on both the price paid for diesel by farmers and the transportation costs of their suppliers and customers. However, given that fuel costs affect all sectors of the economy and are determined by factors outwith Scotland, more detailed analysis of specific sectoral impacts has not been undertaken.

The EU agricultural subsidies appeals procedure has been in operation since November 2000 and I have no plans to make any changes to the structure of the procedure itself. In March this year, the legislation was amended to extend coverage of the procedure to the new Single Farm Payment Scheme and Scottish Beef Calf Scheme. The extension of the procedure to the Land Management Contracts Menu Scheme should take place shortly.

Information is transferred electronically between the systems on a regular basis for disease control and public health purposes, subsidy cross checks and to support policy decisions. This process is currently being reviewed to identify improvements which can be made following the recent up-grade to the system operated by the British Cattle Movement Service.

My officials record and monitor appeals lodged by scheme, scheme issues (e.g. livestock record keeping) and the grounds of appeal. They also monitor appeal outcomes. This information allows them to determine whether any changes are required to our scheme management and administrative procedures or to the appeals procedure.

The procedure has to date not identified any serious shortcomings in our systems, although at times backlogs of appeals have built up and it has taken us longer to process cases than we would like.

Scottish Executive ministers and officials will play a full part, in both a Presidency and member state role, in the UK team working to ensure a successful Presidency that delivers our fisheries-related objectives. It is not possible to be precise at this stage as to what our specific priorities will be. These will, to a large extent, depend on what is agreed during the Luxembourg Presidency and what issues will carry over to the UK Presidency. I look forward to discussing our priorities with the Environment and Rural Development Committee in September.

The Executive is committed to addressing skills issues within the sector in close partnership with all key stakeholders.

We are contributing to the work that PILOT, the government and industry taskforce for the oil and gas industry, is undertaking to develop a cohesive framework for collective action to attract, retain and encourage skills development within the industry.

The Executive is closely involved in the UK development of the various Sector Skills Councils. Cogent, the Sector Skills Council for the UK’s Oil, Gas and Polymer industries, have recently commenced Stage One of their Sector Skills Agreement (SSA). This is a sophisticated assessment of their sectors’ long, medium and short-term skills needs and the mapping of the drivers of change.

The Enterprise Network are also involved in a number of initiatives which assist the oil and gas sector.

In addition, the Fresh Talent initiative announced by the First Minister will bring talented, hard working people who can make a positive contribution to both the oil and gas sector and the Scottish economy.

A list of overseas posts maintainedby the Scottish Executive is provided in the following table. This includes directappointments and secondments for which the Executive is meeting the full costs,but not staff on loan where the receiving organisation is meeting the main salarycosts. Agencies within the Scottish Executive Main Bargaining Unit (SEM) have indicated that they haveno overseas posts at present. Information is not held centrally on overseas appointmentsby other agencies outwith the SEM.

Table: Overseas posts maintainedby the Scottish Executive

Present Post	Location	Employment Status
Head of Office	Scotland House, Brussels	Assignment
Deputy Head of Office	Scotland House, Brussels	Assignment
Policy Advisor	Scotland House, Brussels	Assignment
2 x Desk Officer	Scotland House, Brussels	Assignment
Policy Adviser	Scotland House, Brussels	Assignment
EU Office Team Head (policy).	Scotland House, Brussels	Assignment
Personal Assistant and Receptionist	Scotland House, Brussels	Locally Engaged Staff
Office Manager and PR,	Scotland House, Brussels	Locally Engaged Staff
Parliamentary Officer	Scotland House, Brussels	Locally Engaged Staff
2 x Administrative Assistant	Scotland House, Brussels	Locally Engaged Staff
First Secretary, Scottish Affairs	British Embassy, Washington	Assignment
Second Secretary, Scottish Affairs	British Embassy, Washington	Assignment

Seconded National Expert Education and Culture	European Commission, Brussels	Secondment
Seconded National Expert Legal Service	European Commission, Brussels	Secondment
Seconded National Expert Enlargement	European Commission, Brussels	Secondment
European Parliament	Atrium Building, Brussels	Secondment
2 x Stagiaire (in-service trainee)	European Commission, Brussels	Stagiaire
Civil Service Bi- Lateral Exchange Programme	Ministere de la Justice, Paris	Secondment
Ecole Nationale of Administration	Strasbourg, France	Secondment

Note: The Scottish Executive has advertised for the post of FirstSecretary/Counsellor, Beijing, China.

The range of events for TartanWeek 2005 was the most extensive yet. An evaluation of these events is being preparedby the Executive’s Analytical Services Division and this will help assess the impactof this year’s programme.

Tartan Week is one element of the Executive’s efforts to promote Scotland in the United States. Through the Scottish Affairs Officein Washington DC, the Executive is committed to working throughout theyear promoting Scotland in line with our International Strategy.

The work of promoting Scotland in theUSis carried out all year round through our Scottish Affairs office in Washington andTartan Week is an important element of that work. The Tartan Day Working Group establishedin the lead up to Tartan Week 2004 and the evaluation that our Analytical ServicesDivision carried out during this year will assist the Executive and partners buildon Tartan Week 2005.

The programme for Tartan Week2005 was the most extensive and ambitious to date. More Scottish organisations thanever before were involved through events such as the Scotland Village and ScotlandRun in New York and the Life Sciences seminar in Boston.

It is too early to accuratelyassess the impact of Tartan Week but the Executive’s Analytical Services Divisionis producing an overall evaluation of the 2005 programme. This report will lookat amongst other things, the effectiveness of events, media impact in Scotland andthe US and changes in Promotion of Scotland indicators.