Chamber and committees

No. However, detailed guidance on the role and conduct of Scottish Executive civil servants during the 2003 Scottish parliamentary elections, will be issued to Scottish Executive staff when the Parliament is dissolved. That guidance will be published.

Details of current consultation exercises can be found on the Scottish Executive website. Decisions about the publication of further consultations and policy documents are taken by ministers on an on-going basis.

Civilian staff employed by the Scottish Criminal Record Office are employees of Strathclyde Joint Police Board and are subject to their terms and conditions of employment.

As part of the Parliament's security vetting policy, checks are carried out with the relevant foreign authorities on all applicants who are foreign nationals or who have lived abroad for a period during the previous five years. Under normal circumstances, the clearance of such applicants takes on average five weeks: the average for UK resident applicants is two weeks. The terrorist attacks of 11 September resulted in increased demands on the resources of the USA authorities and low priority was given to vetting enquiries. Clearance times increased to an average of 16 weeks, which meant that the interns who commenced in September 2001 had finished their assignment before clearance had been received. As a result of measures set up with Edinburgh University, which arranges the internships, together with easing pressures on the USA authorities, the average clearance time for the most recent intake of interns is currently eight weeks, with the majority being cleared within six weeks.

In order to minimise the overall time taken, the vetting process normally starts before interns are assigned to party groups and a formal application for a security pass received. There are currently 12 USA interns working in the Parliament, of whom nine have been security cleared. The average time that those who have been cleared waited for a security pass, broken down by political party, is:

Party	No. of Interns	Average Time
Labour	4	5 weeks
Scottish National Party*	1	4 weeks
Liberal Democrat*	1	6 weeks
Conservative	3	5 weeks

*The Security Office continues to hasten the clearance of the remaining three interns. (SNP-2, Lib/Dem-1).

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-23495 today, regarding the different procedures for amending planning permissions and the circumstances in which they apply.The procedures in relation to sections 33 and 42 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 (the 1997 Act) involve planning applications, and the normal statutory requirements for public consultation, including neighbour notification, consultation with community councils and, where appropriate, advertising apply.In relation to the power in section 64 of the 1997 act, no planning application is required, and therefore none of the statutory consultation procedures which apply to planning applications would apply.Where the planning authority decides that it wants to promote an order under section 65 of the 1997 act, they must serve notice on the owner of the land affected, the lessee and the occupier of the land affected and any other person who in their opinion will be affected by the order. Those upon whom a notice has been served may request an opportunity to appear before, and be heard by, a person appointed by the Scottish ministers before the order is confirmed or confirmed subject to modifications.The Executive is currently engaged in a consultation exercise on public involvement in the planning system, including public consultation on planning applications. The consultation paper, entitled Getting Involved in Planning, is available on the Executive's website at: www.scotland.gov.uk/planning. The consultation period closes on 31 March.

Section 33 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 (the 1997 act) allows a planning authority to grant planning permission for development carried out, without complying with some condition attached to the original planning permission. Where a planning permission of this sort is granted, it can take effect retrospectively from the date the development was carried out. Section 64 of the 1997 act, empowers a planning authority to vary a grant of planning permission, in circumstances where they take the view that the variation sought by the grantee is not material. It is not possible for such variation to have retrospective effect i.e. the statutory provision does not enable the variation to be effective in respect of the period prior to it being made. Under section 42 of the 1997 act, a developer may seek planning permission to develop land, without complying with conditions attached to a previous planning permission. The planning authority can refuse such an application, grant it subject to new conditions replacing those attached to the previous permission, or grant it unconditionally. Any planning permission granted under this provision cannot have retrospective effect.Section 65 of the 1997 act, allows planning authorities to promote orders modifying planning permission, where they consider it expedient to so do (i.e. not in response to a request from the developer) and where the development proposal has not been completed or the proposed change of use has not taken place. Again the relevant statutory provision precludes such orders having retrospective effect.The Executive's Development Department Circular 4/1998 contains guidance on the use of conditions and the mechanisms in sections 33 and 42 of the 1997 act. It is available on the Executive's website at: www.scotland.gov.uk/planning.

In December 2000 a public information initiative, combining press advertising and an information leaflet, highlighted the simple precautions which could be taken to minimise any harmful effects of lead in water. The leaflet remains available to the public.

There are no lead water mains in Scotland and lead plumbing has not been used since the 1960's. Internal lead plumbing is confined to properties constructed before 1964 although the use of lead supply pipes (the underground pipes connecting properties to the water main in the street) continued until as late as 1971 in some parts of Scotland.The Scottish Executive has instructed the Scottish water authorities to undertake a survey of water supply zones across Scotland, to determine areas where there is likely to be non-compliance with the tighter lead standard being set by the EC from December 2003. As lead does not normally occur naturally in water, any areas of non-compliance detected are likely to be as a result of lead plumbing or lead supply pipes.To ensure compliance with the lead standard, the water authorities will be installing water treatment in areas identified as likely to fail to meet the new standard. In addition, where the water authorities identify the presence of lead plumbing in a particular property, they will advise the owner and/or occupier of remedial action that they can take. As part of their water mains renewal programmes, the water authorities are also replacing any lengths of lead supply pipe that are found to be in their ownership.

The information requested is not held centrally.