Chamber and committees

None.The Scottish Climate Change Programme recognised the need for the water authorities to integrate climate change issues into their business strategies and to take account of climate change in future investment programmes. Water Quality and Standards, Investment Priorities for Scotland's Water Authorities 2002-2006, copies of which are available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 15676), recognised the need to use available knowledge on climate change to address a number of possible specific problems in their long-term investment plans.The three Scottish water authorities have jointly produced a set of 10 sustainability indicators, based on the set published by Water UK, to provide a measure of progress towards sustainability in the Scottish water industry.The Scottish water authorities publish annually environment and quality reports, and these are available on their websites.Additionally, the Executive has established a Climate Change Network for the Scottish water industry.

In 2001 the Scottish Executive mounted the first ever major national teacher recruitment advertising campaign, with the twin objectives of improving the public perception of teaching as a worthwhile and rewarding career and increasing the number of talented people entering the profession.The agreement A Teaching Profession for the 21st Century introduced the new Chartered Teacher grade to provide an alternative career progression route. The Chartered Teacher programme will enable teachers to pursue a challenging and rewarding career without having to leave the classroom.A sub-group of the Ministerial Strategy Committee for Continuing Professional Development is drafting guidance to ensure school leaders and managers at all levels are fully supported and equipped to meet the demands of their posts.Education authorities and headteachers are responsible for the quality of courses and standards of attainment in individual schools. In support of this, the Scottish Executive is taking a range of actions which will improve the quality of provision and raise attainment levels nationally. We have published revised curriculum guidelines, advice on curriculum flexibility and a clear statement of National Priorities for education. We are developing the schools/education Improvement Framework as the basis for improvement within individual schools and education authorities. We have provided support and resources for a range of key aspects of education, including literacy, numeracy and science, and through a number of initiatives such as the New Community Schools initiative. We have established the Assessment Development Programme, and are implementing the recommendations of the Discipline Task Group.

The number of junior doctors, defined as doctors in training, required in the short, medium and long term is affected by a variety of major factors, making for a very complex situation.In the short term, in response to the requirements of the European Working Time Directive and of the new contract arrangements for junior doctors, action is being taken to reduce working hours and achieve compliance with those requirements, and we have committed central funding for 375 more junior doctors to support that effort. The bulk of that funding comes on stream in the next two financial years.In the medium to long term, the numbers of junior doctors required are affected by changes in the demands of service provision, the way in which service delivery is organised, patterns of work for senior doctors, patterns of training for junior doctors and the composition and outlook of the workforce.The current fundamental review of medical workforce planning by Professor John Temple which Susan Deacon announced on 20 June 2001 is gathering and examining evidence on these short, medium and long term issues and will be reporting to ministers shortly.

This is a matter for West of Scotland Water and I have asked the Chief Executive to respond. His reply is as follows:The latest estimate of the Stage 1 expenditure is £5.1 million. As well as the three items in the question, this phase also included:extensive Value Management exercises, and the construction, commissioning and running for a 12 month period of a substantial Pilot Plant to confirm the water treatment processes necessary for the new works.An independent review was undertaken by PricewaterhouseCoopers which indicated positively on both the methodology and particularly the robustness of the contract delivery process. In addition, independent cost consultants EC Harris have reported comprehensively on the commercial costing of the project.The allocation of sufficient resources to stage 1 of the project is crucial to the success of the project. Tight definition of outputs and resources at an early stage plus rigorous assessment of options ensures value for money by limiting the scope for cost and time over-runs.

This is a matter for West of Scotland Water and I have asked the Chief Executive respond. His reply is as follows:This issue is addressed in pages 2-20 to 2-21 of the Environmental Statement included in the authority's planning application.During the construction of the new works the Katrine Water Project will develop and implement an Environmental Management System (EMS) which will be integrated with the construction quality and health and safety management systems. Amongst other issues, it will address the procedures to be adopted to minimise environmental risks from noise and vibration. The EMS will also include procedures for appropriate noise monitoring. The EMS will be developed in detail once all planning conditions have been agreed. Environmental monitoring information will be made available to the local community through the recently established Community Forum.

This is a matter for West of Scotland Water and I have asked the Chief Executive to respond. His reply is as follows:The replacement Milngavie water treatment works is located to the north of the existing Mugdock and Craigmaddie raw water reservoirs and is fed by a new raw water pumping station. Based on the maximum design flow the estimated energy usage of the pumping station is calculated as approximately 8.5 million kWh/annum. This energy usage is off-set by a similar reduction in energy usage within the Loch Lomond Supply System, reflecting the efficiency of the proposed scheme. Alternative sites were considered that had a different energy profile. However, in all options pumping was required, whether this was raw water pumping at the treatment works inlet or treated water pumping on the treatment works outlet.

Employment is a reserved issue. Through UK Government and Scottish Executive employment initiatives, for example New Deal 18-24 and Training for Work, the claimant unemployment rate has dropped by 14% in West Dunbartonshire since May 1999.

As at 20 December 2001 there were in the region of 450 asbestos related cases on-going in the Court of Session. During January 2002, Lord Mackay has conducted procedural hearings in a selection of cases, with a view to identifying any issues that might have a bearing on the future progress of these and future cases. Cases will continue to be called before him for the purposes set out in the notice in the Rolls of the Court of Session dated 20 December 2001, but it remains open to parties to the actions to make application to the court in accordance with the normal rules. The nomination of Lord Mackay of Drumadoon does not supersede normal procedure.It is expected that the additional judicial input into these cases through Lord Mackay will expedite progress focusing parties attention on issues that are barring or delaying settlement or other progress. Appropriate priority will continue to be given to those few cases that proceed to proof.

The information requested is not readily available. The nomination of Lord Mackay of Drumadoon to oversee the procedural aspects of these actions, and particularly to focus the attention of parties on the matters which may be barring or delaying settlement or other progress as set out in the notice published in the Rolls of the Court of Session on 20 December 2001, is expected to result in certain actions being concluded more quickly. It is not possible to estimate by what extent, as a number of factors, not all of which are within the control of the court, influence the time such litigations take to be brought to a conclusion.

The A81 is a local road and as such the responsibility of East Dunbartonshire and Stirling Councils as the local roads authorities for the sections of the road that lie within their areas. This is therefore a matter for the councils to address.