Chamber and committees

I refer to the answer I gave to question S1W-2746 on 24 November which outlines the Executive's position on banning tobacco advertising and sponsorship. The Advocate General's opinion is significant, but we await the judgement of the European Court of Justice which is expected later this year. We remain committed to introducing a ban on tobacco advertising and sponsorship and will consider all available options to bring this about, including primary legislation.

Local authorities' percentage shares of Aggregate External Finance from 1996-97 to 2000-01 inclusive are shown in the following table:

Council	1996-97	1997-98	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01
Aberdeen City	3.7	3.7	3.5	3.5	3.6
Aberdeenshire	3.8	3.9	3.9	3.9	3.9
Angus	1.9	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0
Argyll & Bute	2.1	2.1	2.1	2.0	2.0
Clackmannanshire	0.9	0.9	0.9	0.9	0.9
Dumfries & Galloway	2.8	2.9	2.9	2.9	2.9
Dundee City	3.2	3.2	3.2	3.2	3.2
East Ayrshire	2.3	2.3	2.3	2.3	2.3
East Dunbartonshire	1.7	1.7	1.7	1.8	1.7
East Lothian	1.5	1.5	1.5	1.5	1.5
East Renfrewshire	1.3	1.3	1.4	1.4	1.4
Edinburgh, City of	7.5	7.8	7.8	7.8	7.7
Eilean Siar	1.3	1.3	1.3	1.3	1.3
Falkirk	2.5	2.5	2.5	2.5	2.6
Fife	6.3	6.3	6.3	6.3	6.3
Glasgow City	15.6	15.0	15.0	14.9	14.8
Highland	4.5	4.6	4.5	4.6	4.5
Inverclyde	1.9	1.9	1.8	1.8	1.8
Midlothian	1.5	1.5	1.5	1.5	1.5
Moray	1.6	1.6	1.6	1.6	1.6
North Ayrshire	2.6	2.6	2.6	2.6	2.7
North Lanarkshire	6.3	6.0	6.1	6.1	6.2
Orkney	0.7	0.7	0.8	0.7	0.7
Perth & Kinross	2.2	2.2	2.3	2.3	2.3
Renfrewshire	3.3	3.2	3.2	3.2	3.3
Scottish Borders	2.1	2.1	2.1	2.1	2.1
Shetland	0.9	1.1	1.1	1.0	1.0
South Ayrshire	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.1	2.0
South Lanarkshire	5.7	5.5	5.5	5.5	5.6
Stirling	1.6	1.6	1.6	1.6	1.6
West Dunbartonshire	2.2	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0
West Lothian	2.8	2.8	2.8	2.9	2.8

Since the introduction of the Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations, which came into force on 1 December 1997, fire brigades have been concentrating their attention on high and medium risk premises and are carrying out fewer routine inspections of low risk premises.

The Scottish Further Education Funding Council is responsible for the funding of Scotland's further education colleges. It has commissioned an estate condition survey of every college, including those in Glasgow, which are now nearing completion.

The information requested is not held centrally.

It is not possible to give precise figures on deaths resulting from tobacco use. However, it is estimated that each year more than 13,000 people in Scotland die from smoking-related diseases, including lung cancer, coronary heart disease and stroke (figures taken from The UK Smoking Epidemic; deaths in 1995).

From estimates made for the United Kingdom as a whole by the Independent Expert Committee on Medical Effects of Air Pollutants, it is estimated that the number of deaths in Scotland brought forward by exposure to particulate, sulphur dioxide and ozone in ambient air is about 2,000 per year. This estimate is approximate because it does not take into account other pollutants or possible long-term effects on health and the figure in itself may be an underestimate.

As previously announced, people aged 65 and over should now be offered influenza immunisation, rather than aged 75 and over as before. This expansion of immunisation will place a significant extra workload on general practice.

For winter 2000-01, we have agreed new financial arrangements with the Scottish General Practitioners Committee of the BMA to recognise the workload and to encourage better take up in the community.

GPs will receive payments ranging from £6 to £7.40 per dose administered to those aged 65 and over. The higher payments will be made to those who immunise the highest percentage of their eligible patients. GPs will also offer vaccination to the non-age related at risk groups. In addition, as part of the agreement the 1% abatement to GPs' capitation payments as part of the stock order scheme has been abolished.

The information requested for 1998 (the latest year available) is detailed in the table below. This can also be found in table 13 of the Scottish Executive Statistical Bulletin Housing Trends in Scotland: Quarters Ending 30 June and 30 September 1999 (HSG/2000/2).Copies of this Bulletin are available from SPICe, and an electronic version can be found on the Scottish Executive Website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk.Information for earlier years can be found in bulletins HSG/1998/6, HSG/1997/7, and HSG/1997/3, all of which are available from SPICe.Summary Information on Right to Buy Sales of Public Authority Dwellings: 1998¹

Area	Number of Sales	Mean Selling Price (£)
SCOTLAND	14,101	15,169
Local Authority	13,592	15,190
Aberdeen City	804	18,111
Aberdeenshire	295	20,162
Angus	208	16,580
Argyll & Bute	169	15,717
Clackmannanshire	119	17,096
Dumfries & Galloway	366	15,360
Dundee City	321	12,857
East Ayrshire	435	12,685
East Dunbartonshire	149	18,606
East Lothian	203	19,919
East Renfrewshire	85	16,154
Edinburgh, City of	665	14,831
Eilean Siar	47	15,235
Falkirk	446	15,074
Fife	833	14,779
Glasgow City	1860	12,984
Highland	629	17,141
Inverclyde	405	11,580
Midlothian	191	19,233
Moray	120	19,077
North Ayrshire	341	13,633
North Lanarkshire	1456	14,631
Orkney	37	17,444
Perth & Kinross	249	17,280
Renfrewshire	506	13,953
Scottish Borders, The	159	15,061
Shetland	48	20,469
South Ayrshire	343	14,574
South Lanarkshire	1168	15,106
Stirling	164	17,844
West Dunbartonshire	275	14,815
West Lothian	496	16,506
Scottish Homes	509	14,597

Notes:

1. Includes Right to Buy, Rent to Mortgage, and voluntary sales.

I refer to my answer to Question S1W-6528.

A survey conducted in 1997 for the Scottish Needs Assessment Programme for sexually transmitted infection in Scotland, indicated that all Genito-Urinary Medicine clinics in Scotland routinely tested all clients for chlamydial infection.

I refer to my answer to Question S1W-6528 regarding the development of testing for chlamydial infection.

The recently issued SIGN guidelines recommend the use of molecular tests, but the timing of their introduction is for decision by health boards.

Figures for actual and estimated expenditure on running costs by The Scottish Office and its agencies for the period 1993-94 to 1998-99 are contained in Appendix 3 of the Government's Expenditure Plans 1999-00 to 2001-02, Serving Scotland's Needs. Figures for estimated expenditure on running costs in 1999-00 by the Scottish Executive are contained in Chapter 9 of the annual expenditure report of the Scottish Executive, Investing in You. Information on estimated expenditure by some of its agencies are in other Chapters of this report. Tables showing expenditure on running costs by the Scottish Executive and all of its agencies for 1999-00 will be made available shortly on the Internet.