We are not aware of any such studies having been carried out. Mining Scotland expects to be able to benefit from the availability of operating aid to the coal industry recently announced by the UK Government. In addition, Mining Scotland has a long-term contract with Scottish Power under which all of the coal produced by its Longannet mine is supplied directly to Longannet power station. That contract would not be affected by developments elsewhere in the electricity generation sector.

On 20 April 2000 the Scottish Executive and Scottish Enterprise welcomed the announcement that Motorola is to invest £1.3 billion in a state of the art project to be situated at the manufacturing facility in Dunfermline, acquired from Hyundai.

The latest information available for the median waiting time for Fife residents admitted routinely from the waiting list for a hernia operation during the 12 month period to 31 December 1999 was 112 days.

The proportion of biodegradable material in wastes going to landfill varies according to the source and the time of year. The information requested is not available for all local authorities, although some authorities have carried out sampling exercises. I intend shortly to publish a report of recent research commissioned jointly by the Executive and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency to collect waste management data for 1997 and 1998. This will include a summary of the sampling information provided by local authorities.

Scottish Enterprise and the local enterprise companies have sold 796 acres of land and 1,158,000 sq ft of buildings during the period from April 1997 to the end of February 2000.These sales realised income of £62.148 million. Each year Scottish Enterprise is set a gross expenditure budget. This gross figure represents the maximum expenditure Scottish Enterprise may incur in the financial year. Receipts from the sale of land and property contribute towards this overall gross figure.

The Scottish Executive has no record of Mr Crawford's letter of 3 November 1999 or his reminder of 20 January 2000. However, if the Member cares to send my office another copy, I shall ensure that it receives immediate attention.

As from academic session 1999-2000, Disabled Student Allowance was extended to part-time students undertaking the equivalent of 50% or more of equivalent full time courses. Students on the fourteen-month, two-day social care course should therefore qualify for assistance. However, the rules are complex and students should approach the Student Awards Agency for Scotland for advice on their individual circumstances.

The Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee (SEAC) have considered the practice of spreading rendering condensate on land and have concluded that as a precautionary measure it should be discontinued on land where cattle may graze.

The Environmental Agency published a report on the options for the disposal of treated effluent from a particular rendering plant in June 1997 which showed that all the disposal methods - including the historical method of disposal onto the land surface - present extremely low risks of exposure to BSE infectivity, negligible compared to other risks in daily life. An assessment of the risk using a set of pessimistic assumptions showed that the likelihood of the most exposed individual ingesting sufficient material in one year to cause infection was around one in a 1,000 million.The Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee have noted the methodology used in this report and is content with its conclusions.

I refer to the answer given to question S1W-4627.

Officials in Staffordshire Moorlands District Council, the local enforcement authority for the area in question, are not aware of any condensate effluent being brought to Scotland from rendering plants in Staffordshire.Under the Fertilisers (Mammalian Meat and Bonemeal) Regulations 1998 it is an offence to spread mammalian protein derived from the rendering process on agricultural land.