Chamber and committees

The available information shows that no persons were proceeded against, or convicted of, the sale of solvents to minors in Edinburgh sheriff court or district court between 1997 and 1999. Information for 2000 is not yet available.

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.

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 Scottish Executive uses a number of mail service providers, including Consignia plc, for the collection and delivery of mail within Edinburgh. The preferred method used is based on the service requirements and the most cost-effective method for that service.The Scottish Executive continually monitors the market to ensure that the best value for money is achieved. There are no current plans to consider using an alternative provider for the services that Consignia plc currently supply.

I hope to make an announcement about the Scottish Football Partnership Ltd in the near future.

The Minister for Lifelong Learning and I left Edinburgh to fly to Helsinki via Brussels, and returned to Edinburgh via Copenhagen.

Regardless of whether a bid is made to host the European Football Championship in 2008, we will continue to support the development of football at all levels including the provision of facilities.Since 1995, over £34 million of Lottery Sports Fund and Exchequer monies has been invested in football in Scotland. Sportscotland has allocated £7.6 million per annum to the schools/community strand of the sports facilities programme. Other programmes operated by sportscotland, including the Youth Sport, TOP and School Sports Co-ordinator programmes, also assist the development of football. Football is also a core sport in the Scottish Institute of Sport.There are questions about the financial viability of developing full-size indoor training facilities. However, the Scottish Football Academy strand of the Lottery Sports Fund has been allocated £6 million over three years to provide 60m x 40m indoor structures as an integral part of the individual training facilities eligible for support. The maximum award level has recently been increased to £1 million per project.

Information in the format requested is not held centrally. The available information, on crimes of rape and assault with intent to rape which are recorded by the police, and on persons with a charge proved in court where the main offence was rape or assault with intent to rape, is given in the table.Rapes and assaults with intent to rape recorded by Lothian & Borders PoliceCrimes recorded and persons with a charge proved in court, 1997-2000¹

Year and Crime	Number of offences recorded by the police in:		Number of persons with a charge proved2
	City of Edinburgh Council area	Lothian & Borders Police Force area
1997
Rape	95	144	6
Assault with intent to rape	28	41	3
Total	123	185	9
1998
Rape	114	151	6
Assault with intent to rape	25	36	1
Total	139	187	7
1999
Rape	60	111	8
Assault with intent to rape	18	27	4
Total	78	138	12
2000
Rape	76	119	N/A
Assault with intent to rape	22	31	N/A
Total	98	150	N/A

N/A data not yet available.Notes:1. The statistics dealing with recorded crime and court proceedings are not directly comparable as a person may be proceeded against for more than one crime involving more than one victim, or a crime may be recorded in one year and proceedings taken in a subsequent year.2. Where rape or assault with intent to rape was the main offence. Figures relate to all cases originating from Lothian & Borders Police; no separate breakdown is available for cases originating from City of Edinburgh.

The Scottish Executive does not directly operate a grants programme for the development of sports facilities. Any proposals for the development of facilities adjacent to the National Stadium, the future of which was secured by the Scottish Executive, should be discussed with the appropriate bodies at local level in the first instance.

I have asked VisitScotland to discuss with the SYHA how best they can help. VisitScotland is working with the industry and is increasing its marketing activities in those countries that offer the best prospect at this time. Funding for VisitScotland is at a record level. The Enterprise Networks have prepared advice for businesses and made that available through outlets such as the Small Business Gateway and the Local Enterprise Companies.