Chamber and committees

The cost of the Holyrood Project Team whose members are staff of the Parliament, is met from Parliament's annual "running cost" budget which in 2000-01 amounts to around £38.7 million. The Holyrood Project Team budget for 2000-01 is just under £480,000. Future years' budgets will be determined in accordance with identified needs and resources available to the Parliament.

No. The allocation of tickets for the Scottish Cup Final is a matter for the Scottish Football Association.

Guidance is contained in National Planning Policy Guideline 6: Renewable Energy (NPPG 6). This guidance is currently being reviewed and will be issued for consultation shortly.

The Scottish Executive has no plans to conduct a feasibility study into the viability of a rail loop from Dyce to Dyce Airport.

The Scottish Executive intends to fund landscaping and road activities adjacent to the Holyrood Parliament building site, and this work will mainly be undertaken through Historic Scotland. Firm cost estimates for these activities are not yet available, and will be determined in the light of finalisation of the Holyrood design.

In financial year 1999-2000, the Holyrood Project Team costs totalled £434,090 which comprised £401,422 staff costs and £32,668 non-staff costs. The costs are included in the Parliament's annual budget and therefore not included in the budget of £195 million.

A fact-finding exercise into specific aspects of this issue has been underway for some months now. I met with the Haemophilia Society in September 1999 to discuss their concerns first hand and thereafter tasked my officials with ascertaining the facts surrounding the heat treatment of blood products for haemophiliacs in the mid-1980s. This will assess whether haemophilia patients in Scotland were exposed to the risks of the Hepatitis C virus through blood products longer than they should have been, given the state of knowledge at the time. The outcome of this investigation will allow me to decide whether any further action is warranted.

The Haemophilia Society, the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service and the Scottish Haemophilia Directors have all been asked to provide information. My officials are currently analysing the information gathered. This is a complex area and it would be premature to comment on possible outcomes until all the facts have been properly examined. I have undertaken to make the findings available to the Health and Community Care Committee and to the public.

Scottish Executive policy and practice is that local groups should be supported locally. This allows for the operation of local democracy, and ensures local accountability and involvement. It is for the statutory agencies such as health boards and local authorities to develop and sustain drug misuse services according to local needs and priorities.

I understand that the Aberdeenshire Council will be meeting on 17 April to discuss future funding support for the voluntary agencies. This will be followed by a meeting of the Aberdeenshire Drug Action Team on 19 April to consider the future role and funding of Grampian Addiction Problem Service within the overall pattern of service provision in the Aberdeenshire area.

There were 630 more doctors working in the NHS in Scotland last year than in 1997. And there were 300 more nurses. We said we would increase the numbers of doctors and nurses and we have done.

We shall announce our decision as soon as possible after we have completed the careful consideration which any proposal to close a school requires.