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The Scottish Government and its agencies are expected to respond to all enquiries, including those from MSPs, within 20 working days.

Scottish Development International (SDI) is a joint venture between the Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise. Its budget for 2009-10 was £24.3 million.

The majority of Scottish Development International''s budget, £21.7 million, comes from Scottish Enterprise''s grant-in-aid budget. SDI was also allocated £1.7 million from Scottish Government to cover the salary costs of its Scottish Government employees. In addition, SDI received £0.7 million from the Scottish Government to support its work in the Scottish regions and £0.2 million from Scottish Government in support of its work in the education sector.

The Housing (Scotland) Act 1988 established assured and short assured tenancies. In these tenancies, unlike regulated tenancies, private landlords can set rents at market rates. Deregulation allowed the market to regulate the balance between demand and supply in the private rented sector.

However, there are protections for private tenants. Under sections 24 and 25 of the 1988 act, a tenant with an assured tenancy can apply to the Private Rented Housing Panel if the landlord proposes to increase the rent and the tenant does not agree that the proposed level is reasonable. A Private Rented Housing Committee will then determine a market rent for the property. Under section 34, a tenant with a short assured tenancy can ask a Private Rented Housing Committee to set a reasonable rent, which it will do if the rent being charged is significantly higher than that level.

The Scottish Government does not consider that it would be appropriate for it to intervene in the setting of rent levels for assured and short assured tenancies, which could discourage landlords from making properties available to let and lead to an increase in homelessness. As our Review of the Private Rented Sector made clear, we are committed to encouraging the development of the private rented sector so that it can play a full part in providing good quality accommodation to meet a range of housing needs.

The Scottish Legal Aid Board''s internal target for responding to correspondence from MSPs is 28 calendar days. The board has measures in place to manage and monitor the time taken to respond to correspondence.

I am not aware of any specific discussions regarding the re-enactment of the Battle of Bannockburn, but staff from the National Trust for Scotland and Historic Scotland are involved in preliminary discussions on the improvements to the visitor and interpretation facilities at Bannockburn, which may well include re-enactments of the battle.

I am not aware of any meetings between staff of the Scottish Government and potential sponsors with regard to events commemorating the Battle of Bannockburn, although these may well take place at a later date when the proposals for the improvements to the Bannockburn visitor centre are more fully developed.

I refer the member to chapter 10 of Your Scotland, Your Voice, which sets out the government''s plans for a referendum.

My predecessor met with Scottish Ballet on 1 September and opened their new head quarters at Tramway in Glasgow on 17 September 2009. Officials meet with Scottish Ballet periodically, most recently on 1 December 2009.

The Scottish Government core funds Scottish Ballet by £4.713 million as one of Scotland''s five National Performing Companies. The Scottish Government has helped Scottish Ballet to celebrate its 40th anniversary season, contributed to the costs of the new headquarters in Glasgow, and performances at the Edinburgh International Festival and its highly successful Tour to China earlier this year. In addition, Scotland.org website continues to promote Scottish Ballet.

The grant from the Scottish Government contributes to all areas of Scottish Ballet''s work. A proportion of this work includes touring in Scotland and the UK. There is an additional fund available to the National Performing Companies to support international touring and Scottish Ballet received £100,000 towards their successful visit to China this year.