Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Executive supports the secondments to it of persons with specialist expertise as they allow the Scottish Executive to benefit from skills and knowledge which cannot be provided by existing staff and for which recruitment to permanent posts is not appropriate. In addition it enables the Scottish Executive to offer to other organisations the broadening of personal development and skills enhancement it seeks for its own staff. Additionally, inward secondments foster and promote links, co-operation and a mutual understanding between the Scottish Executive and particular sectors or organisations.The Scottish Executive does not disclose the names of individuals on secondment. The locations of the 79 current inward secondees are as follows.

Education Department	21
Health Department	18
Environment and Rural Affairs Department	13
Communities Scotland	6
Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Department	6
Finance and Central Services Department	5
Justice Department	5
Development Department	4
Corporate Services	1
Total	79

The Scottish Teacher Release Scheme has provided a valuable means by which National Governing Bodies and School Sports Associations can secure the services of key members of staff to help in the organisation of national and international competitions.The scheme is currently under review as are all sportscotland funded programmes. A decision on whether the scheme will continue will be made early in the New Year.

In designing a building, security considerations are the same regardless of whether it will be built using public private partnerships or conventional procurement. These decisions are of course made by the bodies procuring the building, taking appropriate professional advice. It is for these accountable bodies to carry out the relevant risk assessment to establish the required level of security.

The ferries used by NorthLink Orkney and Shetland Ferries Ltd comply with all applicable safety regulations. Television and gaming machines are securely fixed. Most seating, such as reclining chairs, is securely fixed. Chairs at dining tables are loose when in use but are designed to be fixed to the tables when not in use. I understand that NorthLink is now arranging for these chairs to be fixed to the deck.

Information in the form requested is not held centrally. However, a limited picture for seaborne freight can be obtained from various tables in Scottish Transport Statistics 2002, a copy of which is available in the Parliament's Centre (Bib. number 23316). Statistics are not available in the precise form requested but the available information is shown in tables 10.3-10.6, 10.12 and 10.14. This information cannot readily be summarised given the different coverage of each of the tables.Information on air freight is given in the Annual Reports and Accounts for Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd, copies of which are also available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 22922, for the 2001-02 Annual Report).

Details of drug specific funding at a local level is not held centrally. However, some of the information requested is available in the Corporate Action Plans of Highland Drug and Alcohol Action Team; Orkney Drug, Alcohol and Smoking Action Team; Shetland Drug Action Team; the Western Isles Drug, Alcohol and Smoking Action Team; Moray Drug and Alcohol Action Team; Argyll and Clyde Alcohol and Drug Action Team, and Greater Glasgow Drug Action Team which can all be found on the national website at http://www.drugmisuse.isdscotland.org/.Funding for drug-specific treatment services allocated to the Highland Drug and Alcohol Action Team area for the years 1998-99 to 2003-04 is as follows.Treatment

NHS Board	1998-99(£000)	1999-2000(£000)	2000-01(£000)	2001-02(£000)	2002-03(£000)	2003-04(£000)
Highland	86	137	181	300	414	414

The bulk of the funding for drugs education and for rehabilitation is made available through GAE settlement. However, additional funding for drugs specific education and rehabilitation was allocated as follows for the period 2001-02 to 2003-04.Drugs Education in Schools

Council Area	2001-02(£)
Highland	36,712

Rehabilitation

Council Area	2001-02(£000)	2002-03(£000)	2003-04(£000)
Highland	277	277	277

In addition, the following funding was allocated for drug-related work with young people and families for the years 2001-02 to 2003-04.Changing Children's Services Fund

Council Area	2001-02 to 2003-04(£000)
Highland	692

Where a proposed development involves taking access from a trunk road, planning authorities are required to consult the Scottish ministers, as the trunk roads authority, in accordance with the Town and Country Planning (General Development Procedure) (Scotland) Order 1992. This ensures that road safety issues are fully considered.Should a planning authority resolve to grant planning permission contrary to advice from the trunk roads authority, or without attaching conditions which the trunk roads authority has recommended, it will be required first to notify the Scottish ministers of its decision. It is then for the Scottish ministers to decide whether the application should be called in for their determination or cleared back to the planning authority. We have no current plans to relax this procedure.

The Executive is examining the content of the Scottish Law Commission report 187 and considering what the next step should be in the light of the commission's recommendations. The proposal to extend the title to sue for non-patrimonial loss under the Damages (Scotland) Act 1976 to siblings and others with close ties to the deceased is likely to form part of a wider consultation on damages that is planned for 2003.

No such representations have been made.

The Scottish Executive currently provides nine residential properties for occupation by its employees. In addition, the Scottish Executive owns several estates which are leased to Scottish Agricultural and Biological Research Institutes, the Scottish Agricultural College and the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh. Within these estates there are 51 residential properties of which 44 are currently occupied by employees of these institutions.