Chamber and committees

While I welcomed the publication of the full accessibility study at the end of October 2002, this is only the beginning of the transport planning process, which will form an integral and vital part of the implementation programme in the months and years ahead. It is, therefore, essential that a robust public transport strategy is in place. The projected appreciable mean journey savings for a large percentage of patients is based on the following factors:The pattern of acute hospitals that will emerge from the Acute Services Strategy maintains local access to the bulk of services, which are now delivered on an out-patient, day case or day surgery basis;The provision of ambulatory care hospitals at Stobhill and the Victoria Infirmary will make a number of specialties more locally accessible on an out-patient/day case basis for the first time. Examples include kidney dialysis and chemotherapy provision, andThe accident and emergency (A&E) proposals include two 24-hour consultant-lead A&E/Trauma Centres, an Emergency Receiving Centre at each in-patient hospital, five Minor Injury Units and a dedicated A&E Unit for children at Yorkhill Hospital.NHS Greater Glasgow must, however, continue to analyse the current transport systems and travelling patterns against the new hospital proposals to identify and address any mismatches. It must also enter into close engagement with the Strathclyde Passenger Transport Executive and in full discussion with the Scottish Ambulance Service. I expect NHS Greater Glasgow to fully involve local people in these discussions.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-32145 today. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.

The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 is reserved, but certain limited functions have been devolved to the Scottish ministers in relation to serious crime in or as regards Scotland.The issue of interception warrants by the UK Government in the interests of national security or for the purpose of safeguarding economic well-being is a reserved matter and there is no statutory requirement for the Scottish ministers to be consulted about such warrants where these are in respect of people resident in Scotland.The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 established an independent tribunal (the Investigatory Powers Tribunal) to consider complaints from members of the public about conduct alleged to involve interception of communications by the intelligence services and certain public authorities.

As indicated in response to question S1W-31500, there are limitations to the readily available information sources. For example, we may not be made aware of job losses if intended redundancies are below the threshold of 20 in any one month at which the Department of Trade and Industry needs to be informed under the Trade Union and Labour Relation (Consolidation) Act 1992.The main form of financial support provided to inward investors is under the Regional Selective Assistance (RSA) scheme, though other forms of assistance are provided by the Enterprise Networks. For those companies in receipt of RSA, the Executive maintains records from the point at which grant has been offered to the point at which the company has discharged all its contractual obligations in respect of RSA.We assess the health of the economy in a number of ways and recognise the importance of robust economic statistics in monitoring economic progress and in underpinning economic policy development.

The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the UK Government on a broad range of matters including the national minimum wage, but has no functions in relation to the implementation or the enforcement of the minimum wage.

Yes.

The overall costs of any such approach would depend on the basis on which eligibility for, and amounts of, such aid was determined. Very substantial levels of aid would be needed if it were to make a significant impact on fishing activity. Any scheme of assistance would also need to respect the appropriate provisions in EC law, notably Article 16 of Council Regulation (EC) No 2792/1999.

The Scottish Executive and other public bodies are committed to pay invoices promptly and their internal policies require this. The Scottish Executive observes the CBI prompt payment code and British Standard 7890. Public bodies record their payment performance in published annual accounts.

Under the Fishing Vessels (Decommissioning) (Scotland) Scheme 2001, payments totalling just over £24.8 million were made to the owners of 98 fishing vessels. That equates to an average of just over £253,700 per vessel. Individual payments reflected the amount vessel owners bid under the competitive tendering arrangements which were part of the scheme.

Ninety-eight vessels were decommissioned under the Fishing Vessels (Decommissioning) (Scotland) Scheme 2001 at a cost of a little over £24.8 million. The capacity of these vessels represented a little over 18% of the capacity of the vessels eligible for the scheme (measured in terms of tonnage).