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My Department will monitor this matter closely. I am not aware that any financial assistance has been offered to companies by the French government, for the reason suggested, but if Fergus Ewing has any relevant information I would be glad to consider it.

The research report "From Citation to Witness Stand: A Study of Police Witness Duty at Court" published last September revealed that since 1991, through the introduction of mandatory intermediate diets and other measures, there has been a 40% reduction in the number of police officers having to be available for court on any given day. We will continue our efforts to improve the way in which witnesses, whether police officers or others, are dealt with by the criminal justice system.

There are no current plans to increase staffing levels of the Procurator Fiscal Service specifically for this purpose.

Scottish Office commissioned research published in August 1998 has shown a substantial reduction in the amount of time spent by police officers in court. The research also recognised that a significant contribution to this reduction was due to the efforts made by members of the Procurator Fiscal Service to implement the legislative changes introduced by the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995. Other practical and innovative measures such as 'on-call' services were introduced, following consultation in order to make more efficient use of police witness waiting time. Over the last 3 years there has been a steady increase in the number of legal staff employed by the Procurator Fiscal Service. In addition as a result of a recent recruitment drive 22 further legal appointments have been made.As with other witnesses cited to attend court, Procurators Fiscal continue to make every effort to ensure that evidence is agreed where possible and that attendance at court is restricted to those whose evidence is essential.

The Scottish Executive has carefully considered the evidence which exists from other countries on the effect of bans on tobacco advertising and sponsorship on tobacco consumption. Such evidence was assessed in the 1992 Department of Health (Economic and Operational Research Division) publication 'Effect of Tobacco Advertising on Tobacco Evidence:A Discussion Document Reviewing The Evidence'. The evidence from countries which had introduced bans indicated a significant effect. In each case, the banning of advertising was followed by a fall in smoking on a scale which could not reasonably be attributed to other anti-smoking measures in operation in these countries such as increased health education and tighter restrictions on sales of tobacco to young people.

The Scottish Executive will lay regulations before the Scottish Parliament introducing a ban on tobacco advertising and sponsorship. The terms of the draft regulations are currently subject to UK-wide consultations. Under these proposals, the ban on tobacco advertising would come into force on 10 December this year and tobacco sponsorship in line with EU deadlines outlined in the EU Directive 98/43/EC dated 6 July 1998 The consultation period comes to an end on 13 August and Scottish regulations will be tabled shortly thereafter. A parallel set of regulations covering the rest of the UK will be laid at Westminster on a similar timescale.

Scottish Office News Release 0553/99 was issued to main media outlets, and also the relevant specialist trade press list on March 8, 1999. As with all news releases, it is available on the Scottish Office website and was available on the Bulletin Board for a week after the date of issue.

Appointments to the Scottish Valuation and Rating Council are made on a personal, not a representative basis. The current members are :-

Professor Gordon S Milne, Chairman

Bill Anderson

Michael Barclay

Duncan Chisholm

Ian Coull

John Devine

Christopher Haddow QC

Geoffrey Johnston

Professor Douglas Mair

Bill Neish

Peter Paisley

Thomas Scholes Albert Tait

I refer the Member to the answer I gave to question (S1W-00218).

I refer the Member to the answer I gave to question (S1W-00218).

No. I refer Mr Ewing to my reply given to his question (S1W-00261) on 9 July 1999.