Chamber and committees

Proposals are currently being developed to accelerate and extend access to broadband services across Scotland and to increase take-up of existing and projected services. This will include separate infrastructure programmes in the Highlands and Islands and the Scottish Enterprise area, supported by generic marketing and a business incentive package to encourage take-up. Consultations are taking place with a wide range of stakeholders about how these three projects will be taken forward and no final decisions have yet been taken on the breakdown of expenditure in the different geographical areas.

The life and works of Robert Burns are rightly celebrated the world over - promoting Scotland, our history and our culture. In Scotland, new resources are assisting Burn's promotion in schools, the arts and tourism. In particular, following the success of the 2002 Burns a' That Festival, ministers will contribute a further £100,000 to this event.

As recommended in the report of the South of Scotland Steering Group, the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council has established a working group comprising the Higher Education and Further Education institutions active in the South and South west of Scotland to stimulate strategic approaches to developing provision. The interim report of this group is due to be delivered to me shortly.

The Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions are being considered by the Department for Transport in consultation with the Scottish Executive, with a view to publishing any revisions in the course of this year.

Our policies and initiatives on broadband are outlined in the broadband strategy update, which I published last week. You will see that there are specific initiatives in the more rural areas, which should help to speed up broadband provision there. These include the Pathfinder initiatives to aggregate public sector demand for broadband in the Highlands and Islands and South of Scotland. It is hoped that this major public investment will help to stimulate supply of and demand for broadband within these areas. Work on the Pathfinder initiative is well in hand.There are also projects funded by the Scottish programme under the UK broadband fund, encouraging uptake of broadband and exploring alternative delivery mechanisms, which could help roll-out in rural areas. These include awareness raising measures through the Broadband for Business demonstration project in the Highlands and Islands and technology trials of Powerline Carrier and Wireless technology, which aim to determine the potential of these technologies for delivering broadband in rural communities. I also announced a new initiative last week, worth up to £24 million, aimed at accelerating and widening broadband provision in Scotland. Rural areas should benefit from this initiative as will the rest of Scotland.

The figures contained in Building a Better Scotland - Spending Proposals 2003-06: What the money buys are budget plans. Those in Scottish Transport Statistics are outturn figures except where the information is not yet available, in which case a forecast outturn is given. The methodology used also differs due to the Resource Accounting treatment of capital charges, depreciation, VAT and receipts.

The key to safety in many situations in the event of fire is evacuation time, which does not rely on the presence of the Fire Service. Advice is being issued which will request those responsible to review evacuation procedures and fire prevention measures, taking account of the possibility of industrial action.

Personnel are being drawn from all three services across the whole of the defence establishment. In total across the UK this will involve about 19,000 personnel. Personnel will be trained and equipped to provide basic emergency fire and rescue cover. Some existing service Fire Rescue Teams are already trained and experienced in the use of breathing apparatus and other special equipment but additional personnel are also being trained in these techniques. Training is being carried out at service bases across the country.

In the event of industrial action by the Fire Brigades Union, it is our understanding that no claim would lie against the Fire Authority for an alleged breach of its statutory duty under the Fire Services Act 1947 to provide fire cover.

Contingency plans exist for a range of possible scenarios including industrial action in the Fire Service. In Scotland a total of 2,000 service personnel would be involved. There would be over 100 Green Goddess fire tenders, 36 Breathing Apparatus Rescue Teams and eight Rescue Equipment Support Teams.It is to be hoped that common sense will prevail and that, in the light of the setting up of the Independent Review, the Fire Brigades Union will withdraw their wholly unnecessary call for industrial action.