Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Executive has played a full part in the negotiations to date on all aspects of the proposed revisions to the Large Combustion Plant Directive and has been in regular contact with the UK Government and the European Commission as negotiations have developed. Under the Common Position adopted by the Council in November 2000, the Directive would not apply to plants used on off-shore platforms. This was also the case in the European Commission's original proposal for a revision to the Directive. We will continue to monitor the progress of the proposed revision and play a full part in the remaining stages of the negotiating process.

As negotiations on the proposal to amend the Large Combustion Plants Directive have only reached the Common Position stage, it is not possible to gauge accurately the costs to the Scottish economy of the proposal until the final text is agreed and adopted by the Council and the European Parliament. This is expected to occur in the second half of 2001. However the Common Position included the option of a national plan approach for "existing plant" (i.e. plant licensed prior to July 1987) rather than the mandatory application of emission limit values to each individual plant. The national plan approach could provide the option of more flexibility in implementing the Directive through controlling emissions where it is most cost-effective to do so.

I have today sent the Convenor of the Education, Culture and Sport Committee a report on the supply of teachers. A response to your specific question can be found at Annex F of the report.Copies of the report have been placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre.

I have today sent the Convenor of the Education, Culture and Sport Committee a report on the supply of teachers. A response to your specific question can be found at paragraphs 39-45 of the report.Copies of the report have been placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre.

The position is set out in Schedule 5, C7 of the Scotland Act 1998.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-10616.

Details of NHS Trust medical equipment replacement programmes are not held centrally.

The Executive is committed to increasing the monies available for capital expenditure in the NHS in Scotland to improve equipment and facilities to improve patient care.

I refer to the following table. For ease this is set out in a similar format to Table 1 in Making a Difference for Scotland.

Table 1: Increased budgets by Portfolio as a % of 2000-01 budget and increase in 2003-04 as % of total increase¹ 

Programme	% change in each portfolio budget from 2000-01 to 2003-04	Additional funds received by portfolio in 2003-04 as a % of total increased funding over 2000-01 to 2003-04
Central Government
Justice	21.5	3.1
Crown Office	19.7	0.3
NHS	23.4	34.3
Community Care	596.2	0.3
Food Standards	45.0	0.0
Transport	56.2	4.5
Environment	10.4	1.0
Rural Affairs	10.8	0.6
Forestry Commission	4.8	0.0
Enterprise and Lifelong Learning	15.3	7.7
Education, Arts, Sport & Culture	25.8	3.2
Communities	29.2	5.1
Administration and associated departments	9.7	0.5
European Funds	2.6	0.1
Total Central Government	21.8	60.9
Total Local Government	20.3	33.1
Of which:
LA Capital	68.7	6.7
LA Current	17.2	26.3
TOTAL ANNUALLY MANAGED EXPENDITURE	12.7	6.2
TOTAL MANAGED EXPENDITURE	20.4	100.0

¹The table only covers main SE Portfolios and excludes figures for Scottish Parliament and Audit Scotland, Capital Modernisation Fund and Reserve.

The Scottish Executive Health Department has just received the Scottish Ambulance Service business case containing their proposals for change. Although there is no specific timetable for consideration, I have asked officials to make recommendations to me as soon as possible in 2001.

Information at the level of detail requested is not recorded comprehensively. Taking a strict interpretation of EU business as business to be discussed at a subsequent Council of Ministers meeting or a meeting involving one of the EU institutions, examples of formal bilaterals are as follows:

Meetings with Germany, France, Ireland, Denmark and the Commission in the course of negotiations between the EU and Norway on fisheries last month.

Meetings between Sarah Boyack and Noel Dempsey on 23 September 1999 in Ireland and on 22 March 2000 in Edinburgh to discuss EU environment policy.

The meeting on 1 December between Scottish Executive officials and French officials to discuss the twinning arrangements with the Czech Republic.

The meeting in Copenhagen in February 2000 at official level with Denmark to discuss the requirement on EU Member States to comply with the Council Regulation on maritime transport and community guidelines on island cabotage.

In addition, a whole range of informal bilaterals involving Ministers and officials of other member states take place on an ongoing basis at the margins of meetings and at specifically arranged venues to discuss issues of mutual interest. Officials from Scotland House in particular meet colleagues from other member state administrations in the normal course of their duties. The Scottish Executive is also involved in many multi-lateral meetings.