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Figures are not available for import and export tonnage's by Standard Industrial Classification or by local authority area.Statistics on the value of imports and exports by industry are published for Scotland as a whole in Scottish Economic Statistics, and in a quarterly News Release. Statistics on the total tonnage's of freight carried to and from Scotland by certain modes of transport are published in Scottish Transport Statistics, in each case for groupings of the categories which are used to compile the statistics for that mode.

Local authorities have a duty under the Road Traffic Act 1988 to carry out a programme of measures designed to promote road safety. This includes giving practical training to road users where authorities consider this appropriate.The Scottish Executive provides funding to the Scottish Road Safety Campaign to enable it to produce and distribute to local authorities road safety education resources aimed at children of all ages. These include Smart Moves, a multimedia resource intended for children aged between 10 and 14 years old. This focuses on safer routes to school and aims to develop decision-making and risk assessment skills and a positive attitude to personal safety and responsibility.The Executive recognises the need for co-ordinated action working towards greater safety for children travelling to school. Accordingly, guidance was issued recently to local authorities and to every school in Scotland on how to run Safer Routes to School schemes. The Executive also funds the Children's Traffic Club in Scotland, which offers free road safety education to all three- and four-year-old children in Scotland.A manual, entitled Kerbcraft, was issued by the UK Government in 1997 to all Road Safety Units in the United Kingdom. The manual, which provides guidance to enable adult volunteers to train children aged five to seven years old in basic pedestrian skills, is based on the results of a successful pilot project in Glasgow. The Government is also funding a study to explore the effectiveness of computer simulation for the training of five- to ten-year-old pedestrians.

We are currently working with the NHS in Scotland to establish national maximum waiting times, to be delivered from March 2001, in the key clinical specialties of heart disease, cancer and mental health. In addition, the introduction of instant appointment booking systems, the establishment of additional one-stop clinics and the re-design of services to improve the patient pathway, will tackle inequity and reduce waiting times.

The Eglinton Review made four main recommendations in its final report, of which one dealt with a method of funding the Councils of Voluntary Service. The recommendations are:

• to re-focus the activity of the CVS to promote and support capacity building in the community;
• to develop a shared funding approach which brings together the Scottish Executive with a range of key agencies;
• to re-organise along community planning boundaries on a federal or confederal basis;
• to develop a training programme for staff and volunteer managers.

We are currently analysing the responses to our consultation on the review and are considering our response.The Scottish Executive will be taking forward discussions on the proposed shared funding approach. Our first priority is to fill the gap sites that exist in the CVS network. We are currently exploring this with CVS Scotland.

Rent arrears management is the responsibility of individual local authorities. Once the current study into rent arrears management being carried out by the Accounts Commission and Scottish Homes is completed, the Executive will consider whether further guidance to councils needs to be issued.

It is primarily a matter for health boards and their Trusts to plan and deliver services to meet the needs of their populations. The Scottish Executive has, however, been working closely with Greater Glasgow Health Board and its partner Trusts on an ambitious programme to modernise and improve acute hospital services across the city. At its board meeting on 21 March, I understand that the health board will consider a package of proposals for the future of acute services in Glasgow prior to public consultation. Any decisions will then be taken following an interactive process involving the full range of interested parties.

The Beattie Committee report, Implementing Inclusiveness - Realising Potential and the Opportunities and Choices consultation document addressed the problems of those young people, predominantly male, who experience uncertain transitions in the immediate post-school period. I will be announcing the Executive's policy response to both these documents within the next few weeks.

My statement to Parliament on 10 February made clear that we will support those authorities that are committed to developing a charging scheme, by providing, on a case by case basis, matching financial support to help meet their research and development costs. I shall announce the detail later in the year.

Advice is contained in the practice note Rent Arrears Management published by The Scottish Office in March 1994. The Accounts Commission and Scottish Homes are jointly carrying out a study into rent arrears management in local authorities and in housing associations. The study is due to report in early summer.

I understand that Railtrack is currently working with Strathclyde Passenger Transport Executive to assess options for providing a rail link to Glasgow Airport. A rail link to Edinburgh airport has also been examined a number of times.A total of £18.3 million has been made available by the Executive for the Freight Facilities Grant scheme in Scotland over the next three years. This scheme provides capital grants to assist companies to take freight off the roads and on to rail and inland waterways. To date the Executive has received no applications or notes of interest for grants for rail freight links to airports.