Scottish Government

To: Interested Parties

23 January 2009

Dear Sir/Madam

CONSULTATION ON SCIENCE IN SUPPORT OF MARINE, ENVIRONMENT, RURAL AFFAIRS AND RELATED POLICIES OF THE SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT

A COORDINATED AGENDA FOR MARINE, ENVIRONMENT AND RURAL AFFAIRS SCIENCE ( CAMERAS) (2011-2016)

The single purpose of the Scottish Government is 'To focus Government and public services on creating a more successful country, with opportunities for all of Scotland to flourish, through increasing sustainable economic growth'. Part of this involves a firm commitment to simplify Scotland's public services to deliver more effective government.

This consultation proposes that each public body supporting science relevant to the Scottish Government's policies related to Marine, Environment and Rural Affairs will use this Coordinated Agenda ( CAMERAS) to help align their scientific activities to avoid duplication and promote collaboration between the organisations.

Responding to this consultation paper

We are inviting responses to this consultation document by 20 March 2009. As the Scottish Government is committed to a Greener Scotland we would prefer to have your views in electronic format, either using the online response form or by email, but responses in writing are also welcome.

Please send your response to:cameras@scotland.gsi.gov.uk or in writing to:

We would be grateful if you could clearly indicate in your response which questions or parts of the consultation paper you are responding to as this will aid our analysis of the responses received.

Handling your response

We need to know how you wish your response to be handled and, in particular, whether you are happy for your response to be made public. Please complete and return the Respondent Information Form included in the on-line questionnaire and also at Annex 1 of the Consultation document as this will ensure that we treat your response appropriately. If you ask for your response not to be published we will regard it as confidential, and we will treat it accordingly.

All respondents should be aware that the Scottish Government is subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and would therefore have to consider any request made to it under the Act for information relating to responses made to this consultation exercise.

Next steps in the process

Where respondents have given permission for their response to be made public (see the Respondent Information Form), these will be made available to the public in the Scottish Government library by 17 April 2009 and on the Scottish Government web pages by 24 April 2009. We will check all responses where agreement to publish has been given for any potentially defamatory material before logging them in the library or placing them on the website. You can make arrangements to view responses by contacting the Scottish Government library on 0131 244 4552. Responses can be copied and sent to you, but a charge may be made for this service.

What happens next?

Following the closing date, all responses will be analysed and considered along with any other available evidence to help us reach a decision on the structure of CAMERAS. We aim to issue a report on this consultation process by 22 May 2009 and publish the completed CAMERAS by early summer 2009.

Consultation Process

This consultation, and all other Scottish Government consultation exercises, can be viewed online on the consultation web pages of the Scottish Government website at

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Consultations/Current. You can telephone Freephone 0800 77 1234 to find out where your nearest public internet access point is.

The Scottish Government now has an email alert system for consultations called seConsult ( http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Consultations/seConsult). This system allows stakeholder individuals and organisations to register and receive a weekly email containing details of all new consultations (including web links). SeConsult is designed to allow stakeholders to keep up to date with all Scottish Government consultation activity, and therefore be alerted at the earliest opportunity to those of most interest. We would encourage you to register.

Comments and complaints

If you have any comments about how this consultation exercise has been conducted, please send them to: Jean Gilchrist at the above address or telephone 0131 244 6428.

Yours Sincerely

Professor Margaret Gill
Chief Scientific Adviser for Rural Affairs and the Environment