Chamber and committees

Public private partnerships can provide an appropriate means of securing improvements in the school stock across a range of circumstances. Such partnerships will not, however, necessarily be suitable in all situations, and local authorities continue to have substantial resources available to them under the traditional capital allocation arrangements. The suitability or otherwise of Public Private Partnerships will be influenced by a number of factors relevant to particular proposals and geographical considerations need not be dominant. Public Private Partnership proposals involving a number of schools in rural areas are currently being progressed. We continue to work with authorities to support their consideration of Public Private Partnerships where they express interest in taking them forward.

The Digital Scotland Task Force is due to report to the Ministerial Committee on Digital Scotland in the first half of May. The task force was asked to give advice on actions to ensure that Scotland obtains and retains maximum economic and social advantage from digital technologies, and I expect that it will make recommendations to support this advice. The Executive's intention is to consult publicly on the task force report as soon as possible after it is finalised.

Any consideration of the re-opening of a railway station at Beattock will have to be set against the Scottish Executive's strategic priorities for Scotland's railways. Once identified, these priorities will underpin the directions and guidance that will be issued to the Strategic Rail Authority for the franchise providing passenger railway services which begin and end in Scotland. It would then be for the train operating companies and Railtrack to ensure the availability of the necessary trains and infrastructure to meet the terms of the franchise.

The Scottish Executive's strategic priorities for Scotland's railways will take account of the needs of travellers in the South of Scotland and elsewhere in the country. A range of factors will be considered including opportunities for improving capacity, journey times and punctuality. These priorities will underpin the advice that will be issued to the Strategic Rail Authority for the franchises providing daytime cross-border passenger railway services.

The Scottish Executive's strategic priorities for Scotland's railways will take account of the needs of travellers in the South of Scotland and elsewhere in the country. A range of factors will be considered including opportunities for improving capacity, journey times and punctuality. These priorities will underpin the directions and guidance that will be issued to the Strategic Rail Authority for the franchise providing passenger railway services which begin and end in Scotland.

The Scottish Executive has no plans to support a feasibility study into the re-opening of the railway station at Beattock.

The Scottish Executive will pursue key initiatives in the European and UK regulatory framework for e-commerce as proposed at the Lisbon summit. Through the National Grid for Learning programme, the Scottish Executive is already committed to connecting every school to the Internet, providing at least four modern computers for every class, and ensuring that teachers and pupils will have the ICT skills to make full use of them. Other direct actions for the Executive in implementing the conclusions of the summit include ensuring electronic access to those basic public services for which the Executive has responsibility. We will be reviewing this last initiative in light of the First Minister's announcement on Thursday 30 March that all devolved government services which can feasibly be delivered online should be available by 2005.The Scottish Executive will also have a role in promoting the development of high-speed telecommunications infrastructure, particularly in relation to higher and further education.

Yes.

The Annual Survey of Information and Communications Technology, carried out across a sample of Scottish schools in October 1999, enabled the number of computers in primary schools to be estimated as 34,400. Of these, an estimated 19,000 are modern computers, defined as being less than four years old. Figures for the number of modern computers in each local authority area will be available when the results of the 1999 School Census are published.

The Annual Survey of Information and Communications Technology, carried out across a sample of Scottish schools in October 1999, enabled the number of computers in secondary schools to be estimated as 69,100. Of these, an estimated 38,200 are modern computers, defined as being less than four years old. Figures for the number of modern computers in each local authority area will be available when the results of the 1999 School Census are published.