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Cancer services are one of the three top clinical priorities for the NHS in Scotland. The Scottish Executive is committed to reducing the incidence of all forms of cancer, including breast cancer, and we have set a challenging target of reducing the incidence of cancer by 20% over the next 10 years.In order to meet those targets we have in place a number of different policies aimed at improvements in the treatment and care of people with cancer. These include:

• supporting the breast cancer screening programme with funds of over £5 million per year:

• establishing one stop clinics for investigation and diagnosis of breast lumps, to reduce the anxiety of waiting for results;
• setting a national maximum waiting time for cancer treatment, to be delivered by March 2001;
• encouraging the use of the Scottish Intercollegiate Guideline Network (SIGN) guidelines on Breast Cancer in Women which was published in 1998;
• renewing and updating the guidelines on the Referral of Women with Breast Problems and issuing them to all GPs in Scotland, including new evidence and guidance on determining the urgency of individual cases;
• setting up three multi-disciplinary managed clinical networks on breast cancer across Scotland, allowing for the sharing and dissemination of good practice;
• encouraging referral of patients to specialist breast surgeons;
• undertaking prospective audits of breast cancer, among others, nationwide using the relevant SIGN guidelines;
• having the Scottish Cancer Group work with the Clinical Standards Board for Scotland on ways of improving quality of cancer care generally and on developing standards for assessment and accreditation of cancer services;
• supporting six research projects on or related to breast cancer through funding of £754,000;
• funding the Cancer Therapy Network to encourage the entry of as many patients as possible to clinical trials at a cost of £1 million.

As cancer is an overall clinical priority for the NHS in Scotland and is tackled through many different routes, we do not require health boards and NHS Trusts to identify separately how much of their expenditure they devote to providing cancer services, but we expect them to give the treatment and care of all forms of cancer due priority in allocating their resources.

I refer to my answer to question S1W-4236.

I refer to my answer to question S1W-3720.

Transfers to community ownership will enable councils and councillors to develop a more strategic role in the provision of housing in their area. To support this process, we have proposed that Scottish Homes' development funding role should transfer to the council following a whole stock transfer. Councils will continue to have statutory responsibility for the homeless in their area.

Currently, a local councillor may make representations on housing matters to the council on behalf of a constituent who is a council tenant. Transfer need not prevent a councillor from making such representations to the new community landlord on the constituent's behalf. In the case of the Glasgow transfer, there will be councillors on the management boards of the Glasgow Housing Association and the Area Housing Partnerships.

Only a very small part of the funds have been returned. However, in a few cases, funds have not been issued where film-makers have not been able to complete their financing.

The Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television (PACT) has 40 fully producing members in Scotland, including companies which produce for television. I understand that the great majority of production companies are members of PACT.

The following feature films were shot in Scotland by Scottish based companies:

Aberdeen, Mist Gate (now Lomond Shores), Shaping a Nation, Daybreak and One Life Stand.

The following were shot in Scotland by companies not based in Scotland:

Complicity, The World is Not Enough, Women Talking Dirty, Uddam Singh, The Little Vampire, House of Mirth, The Cup, To End All Wars, Creatures and Strictly Sinatra.

Scottish Screen has been added to the list of National Lottery distributing bodies with effect from 7 April. Scottish Screen is responsible for applications relating to film production in Scotland. A strategic plan has been drawn up and new management arrangements put in place.

Scottish Screen will set criteria in line with the Policy Directions issued by the Scottish ministers to them as the National Lottery distributor for film production in Scotland. I will place a statement of the criteria in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe).

British Screen has provided finance for three Scottish feature films and project development finance for a number of others. It has also invested in several short films, including financing the Prime Cuts scheme for three years.