The Scottish Government is currently reviewing options for reporting on the greenhouse gas emissions attributable to Scotland’s consumption of goods and services in order to determine the most suitable approach to fulfilling the reporting duty in section 37 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009.

Given the time lags in the availability of the emissions data that is required to estimate consumption-based emissions (greenhouse gas emissions by industry for Scotland as well as the countries from which we import) and the compilation of the necessary economic and environmental input-output information (domestic and abroad), we anticipate being able to report on 2010 consumption-based emissions in 2013, and 2011 data in 2014.

The Scottish Government will seek to minimise the delay in the reporting period wherever possible providing this does not adversely impact the quality and validity of the information.

In October 2009, the Scottish Government published a time series of Scotland's Ecological Footprint and Greenhouse Gas Footprint for the period 1992-2006. This is available online at the following address:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/10/28101012/0.

Commercial sponsorship for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games is a matter for the Glasgow 2014 Organising Committee. The organising committee will seek to engage commercial partners across a range of sponsorship categories that are considered to be in the best interests of the games. Potential sponsors will be evaluated against a number of criteria including service provision, brand relevancy, financial offer, ability to activate, financial robustness and image/record. The organising committee will undertake due diligence checks to ensure that financial, legal and ethical considerations are factored into decisions around potential commercial partners for the games.

Commercial sponsorship for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games is a matter for the Glasgow 2014 Organising Committee. The organising committee applies due diligence checks to all potential sponsors and would never engage with an organisation that has any involvement with illegal activities.

As set out on page 5 of the Infrastructure Investment Plan, a strategic environmental assessment has not been undertaken, as budgetary plans and programmes are outwith the scope of the Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005. However, the individual projects and programmes within the Plan will be assessed appropriately as they are developed.

As set out on page 13 of the Infrastructure Investment Plan, a high-level initial assessment of how projects and programmes are expected to contribute to the four prioritisation criteria has been undertaken. The four criteria are delivering sustainable economic growth, managing the transition to a low carbon economy, supporting delivery of efficient and high quality public services and supporting employment and opportunity across Scotland. Some projects and programmes within the pipeline are still at an outline stage, so this high-level assessment provides an initial indication of whether the project will have a positive impact on managing the transition to a low carbon economy, which will be developed further as part of more detailed business cases.

The assessment of proposed projects and programmes against the prioritisation criteria is an initial high-level assessment of the outcome. This provides a reasonable overview of the likely outcomes from the full suite of investments, but providing the assessment for each of the individual projects and programmes could be misleading, as these are at different stages of development and will be refined and updated, as more detailed business cases are developed.

Scottish ministers decide on the priorities given to the range of potential investments in the light of the government’s purpose and the four prioritisation criteria that are derived from that purpose. Prioritisation occurs at two levels: each cabinet secretary considers the top priorities in their portfolio in delivering the purpose and their core objectives, and collectively the cabinet considers the balance between portfolios within the Scottish Government’s overall programme of investment.

Proposals for the Commonwealth Games shooting events on the site at Barry Buddon are at an early stage of development. My understanding is that the circumstances which might require the consideration of compensation measures in this context do not pertain at this stage in the development of the proposal for shooting on the site at Barry Buddon for the Commonwealth Games.

The only Commonwealth Games site which impacts upon these types of designation is the military training ground at Barry Buddon which will host the shooting events in 2014. I can confirm that the plans as currently drafted involve the construction of temporary facilities within the existing MOD live-firing range. The Games organisers are working closely with Scottish Natural Heritage to ensure that proposals are developed which are compliant with the procedural requirements of the Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994 (as amended).

Commercial sponsorship for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games is a matter for the Glasgow 2014 Organising Committee. It is not the intention to publish material drawn upon as part of the selection process but the organising committee will undertake due diligence checks to ensure that potential sponsors comply with the standards expected of commercial partners.