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The Executive wrote to all Scottish local authorities and Local Enterprise Companies on 16 December 2002 drawing attention to the new list of bodies, announced on 11 December 2002, about to conduct location reviews.

I expect that the Scottish Arts Council's report on future location will be with ministers by the end of this financial year. A decision will be made as soon as possible thereafter.

We are currently considering the report from the consultants commissioned by sportscotland to review their property portfolio as a whole. That will help inform our decision on the future location of sportscotland's headquarters which we expect to make by March.

A range of factors are considered in evaluating relocation reviews. These include costs, operational effectiveness, the position of staff and social, economic and environmental considerations.We will be providing further guidance on social and economic factors to make clear that there is a case for giving greater weight to factors such as unemployment and other indicators of deprivation in considering location reviews.

The Executive has been working closely with the insurance industry and the Association of British Insurers (ABI) in recent months on the issue of flood cover. The Executive welcomes the statement from the ABI that its members will continue to provide flood insurance to homes and businesses on flood plains. The Executive looks forward to a positive and constructive relationship in the future so that affordable insurance remains widely available.

Specific action by the Executive includes providing an additional £3 million to increase the number of money advisers in Scotland and £500,000 for increased central support for money advice including training, information and quality assurance. The Executive has also allocated £1.5 million over three years to help credit unions with capacity building, to extend their membership and the services they offer. The Executive is also working with parties in the financial sector and others to encourage the development of new and alternative means to deliver financial services as well as ensuring existing services are accessible to people at risk of financial exclusion.

The National Liaison Group for Credit Unions is an independent body set up by the credit union movement to discuss issues of common interest and to harmonise lobbying strategies on government policy that may impact credit unions. The Scottish Executive does not consider it appropriate for us to seek representation on such a group.

Treasury figures suggest that there were over 5.4 million basic bank accounts at the end of June 2002. This is an increase over the figure of 3.3 million at the end of 2000. However, an estimated 3.5 million adults in the UK still do not have a bank account. The Executive has regular discussions with the Committee of Scottish Clearing Bankers to explore what can be done to provide more appropriate and accessible products and to encourage a greater uptake of services, such as basic bank accounts.

We have no plans for any successor arrangements for the Scottish Credit Union Partnership.

The Executive is working with the Scottish Credit Union Partnership on a number of centrally provided support functions for credit unions, including healthchecks and business planning, work on volunteer training and the use of IT. The Executive would be willing to take part in any future discussions at UK level on the possibility of a dedicated central services organisation.