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Companies are supported by a very wide variety of programmes from the Scottish Executive, the Scottish Enterprise Networks and other public sector bodies. Scottish Enterprise Borders received an additional £2.3 million in the current year to help meet the challenges the area is facing, the third year of increased funding. The LEC estimates that this has helped it to provide some £700,000 to textile companies in the Borders since 6 June 2000. In addition, a Faraday award of £1.2 million has been awarded by the DTI to the Technitex project, a collaborative project across the UK led by Heriot Watt at Galashiels. The total value of support is dependent on the extent to which companies and other bodies involved in the industry come forward with eligible projects and proposals.

Benefits, including the provision of Crisis Loans, are a matter reserved to the UK Government. It is therefore for the DSS to decide how they should best be administered. The Scottish Executive will continue its regular dialogue with UK Ministers on how the Scottish Executive and the UK Government can best work together to tackle such issues.

Iain Gray's response on 25 April 2000 to Mr Duncan Hamilton informed him that no funding would be available from the Scottish Executive in the years 1999-2000 and 2000-01 to train (a) lip readers and (b) teachers of lipreading. The Scottish Executive did not know what funding was available for this purpose from local authorities or health boards as this information is not collected.Officials have now met with the Scottish Course to Train Tutors in Lipreading based at Donaldson's College, Edinburgh to explore the possibility of funding. Section 9 Grant under the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 has now been awarded. This pump priming grant will provide a basis to extend local services and develop the links between Audiology Clinics and Further and Adult Education Provision.

The number of households that will qualify for assistance under the proposed scheme will depend on the charges levied by each of the water authorities in the coming year and the level at which any cap is set. As the charge levels have yet to be set and proposals for the scheme are still out to consultation it is not presently possible to identify the actual number of households that will qualify. It is however anticipated that at least 100,000 households throughout Scotland will receive assistance under the proposed scheme.With regard to the administration costs of the scheme my officials are presently discussing the implications for the billing process with local authorities. It is anticipated that suitable software adjustments can be made to the existing systems that will significantly reduce the requirement for on going administrative costs. This is however subject to any adjustments resulting from the consultation process. For this reason an estimate of the administrative costs is not available at this time.

The £10 million allocated to local authorities in 2000-01 under the Strategy for Carers in Scotland for services to support carers was distributed as follows:

Local Authority	(£000)
Aberdeen	411
Aberdeenshire	378
Angus	233
Argyll & Bute	204
Clackmannanshire	97
Dumfries & Galloway	301
Dundee City	326
East Ayrshire	244
East Dunbartonshire	166
East Lothian	177
East Renfrewshire	146
Edinburgh, City of	887
Eilean Siar	70
Falkirk	270
Fife	699
Glasgow City	1355
Highland	387
Inverclyde	181
Midlothian	134
Moray	155
North Ayrshire	283
North Lanarkshire	611
Orkney Islands	38
Perth & Kinross	274
Renfrewshire	322
Scottish Borders	237
Shetland Islands	40
South Ayrshire	244
South Lanarkshire	546
Stirling	161
West Dunbartonshire	183
West Lothian	242

Official statistics on the level of debt are limited. The Bank of England provides details on consumer credit by type of lender but not broken down either by geographical area or household type. The lack of such data is an issue being considered by the DTI Taskforce on Overindebtedness with which the Executive is involved.

£2 million will be made available in the years 2001-02 and 2002-03 and £6 million will be spent in 2003-04.Bidding guidance is currently being drawn up and will be issued shortly.

Under the Strategy for Carers in Scotland local authorities have been asked to spend £10 million a year from this year on supporting carers, double the funding previously earmarked. The strategy requires authorities to report to the Executive in detail on how they use their share of these resources. This is being done through local authorities' Community Care Plans and their annual updates. These plans and updates must be accompanied by a letter from local carers' organisations confirming that they have been consulted on the use of these resources and that they are satisfied with how the money is being spent.

Figures on credit unions are available from the Registrar of Credit Unions now part of the Financial Services Authority. In 1997-98 the Registrar's annual report recorded that there were 124 credit unions in existence in Scotland. In 1998-99 this had risen to 135. The Registrar's report for 1999-2000 is not yet available but the FSA confirm that as of 16 January there were 138 credit unions registered in Scotland. The Registrar's report details the address of each credit union but aggregate figures are only provided for Scotland.

There are currently no details available on the number of low cost insurance schemes available but the Executive is in the process of establishing which local authorities provide such schemes. The Scottish Federation of Housing Associations operates a scheme on behalf of housing associations and approximately 80 housing associations participate.

I have no such plans at present. The arrangements that are in place and those that are planned for the future are designed to ensure high quality care and protection for all care home residents. I will keep the need for research on this specific aspect under review.