Chamber and committees

Many of the devolved matters for which Scottish Ministers are responsible have a European Union (EU) or international dimension. The concordats on EU and international issues provide that Scottish Ministers pursue these interests within the framework of policy on EU and international matters for which the UK Government has overall responsibility.

The Minister for Education, Europe and External Affairs and his Deputy support me and the Deputy First Minister in co-ordinating the Executive's interest in issues relating to these EU and international aspects of devolved business. In doing so the Ministers work closely with various Departments of the UK Government.

This is a matter for the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council. The information requested is not held centrally.

The funding proposals for the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council previously announced take into account the possibility of these designations. In addition, there will be a further increase in the funding proposed for the SHEFC when Bell College and the UHI are designated as higher education institutions as a result of a transfer of funds from the Scottish Further Education Funding Council. The level of that increase will be dependent on a number of factors including the timing of that happening and the agreed numbers of funded places.

The Executive wishes to ensure that any incoming operator in future is financially robust (or guaranteed by another entity to be financially robust) to perform the approved services. The criteria to determine whether an incoming operator is financially robust will be made clear as part of the next tendering exercise. It is not possible at this stage to specify in advance which incoming operators would meet any criteria set.

Pay negotiations are a matter for employers and the representatives of employees in the higher education sector. The Scottish Higher Education Funding Council is not an employer body nor does it take part in pay negotiations for the sector. I have had no discussions with the Secretary of State for Education and Employment on this matter nor has guidance on the handling of the current pay dispute been issued by the Secretary of State or the Executive.

In my guidance letter of 23 November to SHEFC, I emphasised the need for the sector to improve human resource policies and management recognising that staff are our key resource. I believe the funding proposals for SHEFC provide sufficient headroom to increase the unit of funding to institutions to help them address modernisation issues such as management and leadership, progressive human resource policies and maintain the quality of teaching and learning.

There have been no further costs associated with the Independent Committee of Inquiry into Student Finance since Henry McLeish's response of 22 March 2000 to question S1W-5137. The figure of £472,111.73 represents the final costs for that inquiry.

The Public Accounts Committee Report Ministry of Defence: Acceptance of the Chinook Mk 2 Helicopter has been considered. The committee was critical of the acceptance procedure and critical of the RAF Board of Inquiry. It considered that it was "very difficult to rule out categorically a technical fault as at least a contributory cause" of the crash but the committee did not identify any factor which might make it possible to go higher than that so as to be likely to cause the Sheriff to reconsider his conclusion that he was unable to determine the cause of the accident and that he should not speculate. Indeed the committee stated its belief that the Ministry of Defence should be guided by the conclusion of the Sheriff. This being so, it appears to me that the position remains as stated in my letter of 19 May to Mr MacAskill: it is highly unlikely that anything that has come to light since the Fatal Accident Inquiry would alter the Sheriff's determination. Accordingly, I do not propose to take any further action on this matter.

The Scottish Executive has no role in the promotion of new air services. As indicated in the answer to S1W-11315, the development of additional routes and services is a matter for the commercial judgement of the airlines themselves.

Scottish Enterprise and the Scottish Tourist Board work closely with Scottish Airports to support and influence all carriers flying direct into Scotland. Scottish Airports provide a package of direct support which covers both inbound and outbound promotion.

The Scottish Tourist Board does not give direct financial contributions to the airlines. Their contribution to the promotion of air links comes indirectly through the £700,000 annually spent on marketing in the USA, both direct to the consumer and to the trade. All promotions signpost details on how to get to Scotland. Direct flights are highlighted and several tactical promotions are undertaken specifically with the airline for, for example, city breaks in the autumn.

Following the withdrawal in 1998 of British Airways transatlantic service to New York, Scottish Enterprise supported the development and marketing of a new direct service to Newark, ensuring Scotland maintained an "all year round" service to North America.

The Scottish Executive has no responsibilities in relation to light dues. This is a reserved matter and the responsibility of the Department of the Environment Transport and the Regions. The Executive has received no representations on this issue.

Scottish Trade International promotes trade and exports from Scotland through development assistance to companies at an individual level. It does not undertake the generic marketing of Scotland in terms of trade.

The Scottish Tourist Board has 50 staff, from Director level to clerical support, directly involved in marketing Scotland as a tourist destination to the UK and internationally. They are supported by the remaining 160 staff who are indirectly involved in marketing-related activities.All of the British Tourist Authority's 506 staff are directly or indirectly involved with the promotion of Scotland as part of the "United Kingdom" as a tourist destination.