Chamber and committees

The Scottish Executive works with transport authorities and transport operators to encourage the use of public transport through many initiatives. These include new and improved transport infrastructure, funding through the Public Transport Fund, Rural Transport Fund, Fuel Duty Rebate, and through ticket offers and our Learn To Let Go travel awareness campaign which is currently being evaluated.Evaluations of individual schemes and initiatives are not held centrally.

The number of flights undertaken by ministers and officials for the period 11 September 2001 through to 12 October 2001 is as follows:

	Return Flights	One Way Flights
Ministers	30	14
Officials	613	82

Five return flights were with low cost carriers. A low cost reservation service through the Scottish Executive's business travel agent commenced on 4 December 2000 and to date 100 return flights have been booked with low cost carriers.Business travel schedules of ministers and officials are frequently subject to change at short notice. Low cost carrier bookings are non-refundable and cannot be changed. The majority of Scottish Executive travel is with carriers with whom the Executive has negotiated discount rates and which meet business travellers' requirements on routes, schedules and flexibility.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1O-3911 on 4 October 2001.

Decisions on the funding of individual colleges of further education are a matter for the Scottish Further Education Funding Council (SFEFC). The council is currently conducting studies into the supply of, and demand for, further education across four Scottish sectors, including construction. The results will be shared with the colleges, and others, to help inform decisions on how best to provide suitable and efficient further education so as to meet identified needs. Improving the matching of skills supply to demand in Scotland is a core function of the new Future Skills Scotland unit. With regard to the construction sector, Future Skills Scotland will draw upon the outcomes of the SFEFC studies and on labour market information and intelligence provided by the Construction Industry Training Board.

Responsibility for security, on a day to day basis, is delegated to the Departmental Security Officer. The security measures in place at any one time are appropriate to the perceived threat. It would be inappropriate to detail the measures deployed. Security costs are met from the Scottish Executive Administration budget. The direct costs related to Security Branch for the current year is £1.6 million.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-17355 on 1 October 2001.

The information requested for Lothian and Borders Police on recruitment and long-term sick leave is shown in the following table. The number of officers on secondment is not held centrally.

	1997-98	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-/01
Number of Recruits	26	32	62	189
Number of long-term sick absences	254	251	296	254

Note:
Long-term sick absence is defined as sick leave of more than 28 calendar days.

The information requested for Lothian and Borders Police is shown in the following table. Information on age profile and early retirements is not held centrally.

Retirement	1997-98		1998-99		1999-2000		2000-01
	M	F	M	F	M	F	M	F
on completion of 25-30 years service	34	0	42	1	15	1	24	0
on completion of over 30 years service	10	0	0	0	24	0	13	0
on ill-health pension	17	5	24	8	28	4	30	5
on gratuity	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
compulsory	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	61	5	66	9	67	5	67	5

Voluntary Resignation:	1997-98		1998-99		1999-2000		2000-01
	M	F	M	F	M	F	M	F
during probation	4	3	3	4	1	2	5	2
with 2-10 years service	4	5	13	5	7	2	10	4
with 10-20 years service	1	0	0	0	1	0	1	1
with 20-25 years service	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0
Total	9	8	18	9	9	4	16	7

Source: Annual Statistical Returns from forces.

This is a matter for Lothian and Borders Police. The information requested is not held centrally.

This is a matter for Lothian and Borders Police. The information requested is not held centrally.