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Food Standards Agency Scotland (FSAS) advise me that they wrote to the Commission on 15 October to ask their thoughts on how a review of the 4.6mg/kg trigger level could be pursued. The FSAS will be happy to provide data on scallops and mussels, should the relevant European scientific committees request it.

No.

Negotiations on Trade Contracts for the new Scottish Parliament building at Holyrood are carried out on a commercially confidential basis and it would not be appropriate to name publicly those contractors who have yet to provide a Performance Bond, particularly as most contracts in this category have only recently been awarded. The Convener of the Holyrood Progress Group has informed me that there are currently no claims under consideration relating to those Trade Contracts where a Performance Bond is no longer required.

To date, a total of 60 Trade Package contracts have been awarded. Other than a Performance Bond, the SPCB is entitled, under the terms of each contract, to request a Parent Company Guarantee as advised by the Construction Manager. In addition, there are a number of performance management tools in place throughout all Trade Packages which ensure that the client's interests are suitably protected. These are:1. The Construction Managers monitor on a daily basis that work is being carried out to the required standard set out in the detailed specification for materials and workmanship, and performance delivery is measured against the construction programme.2. Action is taken as necessary to ensure that no payment for sub-standard work is made and steps are taken to encourage improved levels of performance.3. Three per cent of the gross value of all payments due to contractors is retained and released only when the client is satisfied that the contract has been completed and any defects rectified to the required standard. To date, with the exception of the contract with Flour City Architectural Metals (UK) Ltd, no recovery has been sought against a Parent Company Guarantee in relation to any of the Trade Packages let. The value of the original contract with Flour City Architectural Metals (UK) package was £7,157,281.29.

The Convener of the Holyrood Progress Group has confirmed that no estimates for such an outcome are available at this stage, and as was reported to the Finance Committee at their meeting on 8 October 2002, once the position on programme is more certain, any financial implications will be reported to the committee.

The SPCB regards the amount of fees paid to individual consultants as commercially confidential. Publication of such information by the Parliament would generally be considered as something that might impede fair competition between them and their competitors and/or prejudice the consultants', or the Parliament's, future negotiating position. Disclosure would also be in breach of the individual tender agreements between the Parliament and the consultants, which were agreed on a commercially confidential basis and could not be made without the agreement of the firms involved. I understand from the Convener of the Holyrood Progress Group that the Auditor General was required to obtain the specific approval of the respective consultants before authority for publication of the figures was given under the particular circumstances. The Parliament would not normally release such information unilaterally and that is only proper. It is the case that certain elements of fee agreements are still under discussion, however, once outstanding negotiations have been concluded and subject to clearance with the Parliament's legal office, we would expect to secure the agreement of the consultants involved and make these details available.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-26945 on 4 July 2002. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.

The office of the Water Industry Commissioner for Scotland is funded through a levy on Scottish Water. The levy from Scottish Water including establishment costs of the Water Industry Commissioner's office has been £5,170,599 covering the period from 1 November 1999 to March 2003.

The Scottish Executive has no immediate plans to revise the current interim movement regime. The present arrangements will be reviewed with industry stakeholders once the results of the detailed veterinary risk assessment and associated cost-benefit analysis, as recommended by the Lessons to be Learned Inquiry, are known. Findings from these studies will be available in the New Year.

This is an operational matter for sportscotland. However, I understand that sportscotland has arranged to meet Federation representatives tomorrow.