Chamber and committees

The information is not available centrally in the form requested. However, information from samples of GP records in practices across Scotland whose population is nationally representative suggest the following numbers of patients with multiple sclerosis and chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) were seen by GPs in (i) 1998, (ii) 1999 and (iii) to September 2000 (the latest available statistics).

Estimated number of patients seen
Year	Multiple Sclerosis		CFS/ME
	Jan-Dec	Jan-Sep	Jan-Dec	Jan-Sep
1998	5,900	5,200	N/A	N/A
1999	6,100	5,500	5,800	4,500
2000	N/A	5,300	N/A	5,900

Notes:

Because of changes in the codes used to gather the data it is not possible to provide information on CFS/ME prior to 1999. N/A - Information not available or not yet available.

I have now received the Scottish Prison Service Estates Review and have asked for some additional work to be undertaken. No decisions will be made on it, including the involvement of the private sector, until this follow-up work is completed and after the opportunity for informed public debate.

International trade agreements such as GATS are a reserved matter; the Department of Trade and Industry take the lead. The General Agreement on Trade in Services ("GATS") excludes from its coverage any service supplied in the exercise of governmental authority. Such services are defined as those which are "supplied neither on a commercial basis, nor in competition with one or more service providers". This is interpreted as excluding public services provided by central and local government, such as healthcare, from the GATS since such services are clearly not supplied for profit nor do they compete with privately supplied services.

Information is not available in the form requested. However, the following table provides information on the time taken to answer written parliamentary questions in the first 9 months of 2000. This information is taken from the audits of written parliamentary questions which are available in the Parliament's Reference Centre. The next audit will cover written parliamentary questions lodged from October to December 2000 and will be published in the spring.

The monthly average of questions lodged in the period covered by the table was 708 and 55.1% were answered on time i.e. within 14 days (or within 21 days when they were lodged in a recess longer than four days). In 1999, the monthly average for the period from 1 July was around 450, and for the period from May 1999 46% were answered on time.NUMBER OF WRITTEN PARLIAMENTARY QUESTIONS ANSWERED ON TIME/LATE, BY MONTH

		WEEKS LATE						AT TIME OF THE AUDITS
	On time	0 - 1	1 - 2	2 - 3	3 - 4	4 - 5	> 5	Total answered	Not answered	Grand Total
MONTH
January	327	31	47	27	22	7	53	514	10	524
February	427	47	59	24	24	22	96	699	15	714
March	525	56	86	84	33	16	175	975	41	1016
April	238	56	74	33	16	15	50	482	40	522
May	468	135	103	53	38	66	34	897	83	980
June	560	79	74	37	15	0	0	765	211	976
July	290	35	55	28	19	26	32	485	18	503
August	391	32	34	20	11	7	7	502	29	531
September	285	47	64	36	11	0	0	443	162	605
Grand Total	3511	518	596	342	189	159	447	5762	609	6371
% of Total	55.1	8.1	9.4	5.4	2.9	2.5	7.0	90.4	9.6	100

This table reflects at the position as at 14 July and 14 October being the latest "due date" for PQs lodged on 30 June and 30 September 2000 respectively.

PQ S1W-10593 was answered today.

To answer the question in its original form, that is, to identify the international organisations each Minister has been in touch with since 1 July 1999, would have required a very extensive trawl of Scottish Executive Departments. It is not possible to say precisely what the cost might have been, but we estimate it would have been well in excess of £550. Given this, the earlier answer invited a more specific question.

This is an operational issue for the Scottish Qualifications Authority. I have asked the Chair to reply to you and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre.

This is an operational issue for the Scottish Qualifications Authority. I have asked the Chair to reply to you and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre.

The criteria will be published shortly.

My answer to question S1W-12484 indicated that, following a review of remuneration, the SQA intends to increase fees for markers and other appointees in 2001 by 50%. The Executive will fund these increases in full, at a cost of approximately £3 million. SQA's progress in recruiting markers will be monitored closely by my officials and by the Ministerial Review Group.