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The Scottish Executive requires trusts to report on compliance with the contractual requirements of the New Deal for junior doctors and available data covers whether junior doctors meet the limit of 56 hours per week. Considerable efforts have been focussed on ensuring that accurate information is recorded and gathered from trusts on this key objective.It is the responsibility of trusts to ensure compliance with New Deal. Trusts are currently further updating their information systems to ensure that working patterns of junior doctors, including the average hours worked, are recorded for junior doctors.

In answering parliamentary questions the Scottish Executive always respects the status of information held in confidence, and does not distinguish between that and whether or not such information has been subject to a formal request under these arrangements. So far as I am aware no formal request of this kind has been made.

The Minister for Social Justice is responsible for co-ordinating the devolved aspects of asylum issues, working in partnership with other cabinet ministers.

The Scottish Refugee Integration Forum was established in January 2002 and has met three times. Six satellite groups were established to take forward specific areas of work. The satellites have completed their evidence gathering sessions and are now considering their priority actions. These draft action plans will be considered at a full meeting of the group towards the end of September.

The work of the group is continuing. It is not possible at this stage to be definitive about when the report will be submitted to ministers or published.

Resources are allocated to NHS boards on the basis of need. Boards are held to account for managing within the allocations made to them and for achieving national and local targets.The Health Department will support boards to achieve these targets through regular monitoring and performance management.

The roles of policy analysts vary. All will be team leaders and most will be responsible for a discreet policy area. Their duties are likely to include developing, implementing or evaluating policy, preparing briefing and speeches for ministers, giving evidence to Parliamentary Committees, and representing the Executive at meetings and in exchanges with a wide range of organisations. Some policy analysts may also be called upon to manage substantial projects or to be responsible for significant numbers of staff and large-scale financial resources.Successful applicants from the Policy Analyst recruitment exercise could be assigned to work in any part of the Scottish Executive. Decisions on the posts to which successful applicants are to be assigned will take account of the skills and experience of the applicants and the vacancies available at the time they are able to take up appointment. The Executive's vacancy position changes over time as a result of internal movement.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-26486 on 20 June 2002.

This information is not available for the Lothian NHS Board area for the periods in question. The manpower planning system used in other parts of Scotland to provide this detail has only recently been installed in this area.What we do know is that in recent weeks, in the Lothian NHS Board area, the number of uncovered shifts amounts to less than 1% of all rostered shifts.

In accordance with standard practice, the national guidance on car parking charges was published in Management Executive Letter (MEL) (2000) 13, dated 17 March 2000, copies of which are available to the public through The Stationery Office. Should the guidance be revised following the current review, it will be published in a Health Department Letter (HDL) and made available in the same way.