This judgement reflects the importance of national companies within a strategy for encouraging participation within Scotland in these aspects of the arts. It also takes account of the capacity which has been demonstrated for valuable educational and outreach work, which enriches the cultural experience of people of all ages throughout Scotland, and the potential benefit to international perceptions of Scotland arising from the reputation for artistic excellence by the national companies.The Scottish Executive has also decided that formation of a joint company remains the model which should be pursued as the best option for providing effective overall management of separate artistic companies for opera and ballet.These broad strategic decision are without prejudice to the need for full examination of a range of more detailed issues about the role and funding of the national companies as part of the commitment by the Scottish Executive to produce a National Cultural Strategy.