The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the Strategic Rail Authority on a wide range of issues of mutual interest.

Railway crime is a reserved matter. The Partners against Railway Crime campaign is funded by the UK rail industry. Whilst the Scottish Executive has no locus or powers to intervene, it has been invited by the rail industry to attend a number of railway crime events to raise public awareness of railway crime in Scotland.

There are currently 592 asbestos related claims before the Court of Session. The cases are procedurally at different stages. In December 2001, Lord Mackay of Drumadoon was appointed by the Lord President of the Court of Session to oversee cases where it appeared their progress had been affected by external factors. Since that date 254 cases have called by order of the court to ensure compliance with the Rules of the Court of Session and to facilitate settlement where this is possible. The court has been advised that 60 of these cases have now settled. Further hearings continue to be scheduled. Procedural reforms for personal injury actions generally have been recommended by a working group chaired by Lord Coulsfield. These reforms have the support of the Executive. On 11 June 2002, the Lord President wrote to Justice 2 Committee outlining progress with the work preparatory to the introduction of a revised procedure early in 2003. The Lord President's letter is one of the papers for the committee's 24th meeting on 18 June 2002, and is available through the Parliament's website.

Monitoring wastewater treatment is carried out by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, in accordance with the requirements of Article 15 of the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (91/271/EEC). There are currently no plans to review these arrangements.

Responsibility for employment and industrial relations, including employment rights, is reserved to the UK Government.The Department of Trade and Industry advises that whether an employee in Scotland is required to work on Sundays is a contractual matter for negotiation and agreement between the employer and employee, or the employee's representatives.If employees in Scotland are required to work on Sundays against their will, or are dismissed for refusing, they may be able to seek redress under common law or unfair dismissal legislation.

I met Dr Lesley Sawers, Chairman of the Consignia Advisory Board for Scotland, on 2 May. The discussion covered the full range of Consignia current and future operations in Scotland. No further meetings with the Consignia Board are planned at present.

We have received invitations to meet representatives of the Communication Workers Union and these are being considered.

The Freight Facilities Grant scheme aims to encourage the transfer of freight from road to rail and waterborne modes of transport by helping companies invest in the facilities needed to compete in financial terms with road transport. This scheme is an important part of the Scottish Executive's transport policy which involves a doubling of resources to £36 million in the three-year period up to 2003-04.The opportunity to take advantage of this grant scheme already exists for companies moving mail originating in Scotland. However, the decision about whether to transfer mail from road to rail is a commercial matter for individual companies to make.

Consignia, post offices and postal services are reserved matters. I understand Consignia is not able to say at the moment if its restructuring proposals will have an impact on postbus services.

Consignia, post offices and postal services are reserved matters. According to the Department of Trade and Industry the number of Scottish post offices were as follows:

End of March 1998	2,051
End of March 1999	2,026
End of March 2000	1,999
End of March 2001	1,933
End of March 2002	1,907