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We want to supportbeef producers by helping them compete successfully in the market. In the last fiveyears, the beef processing sector has received grants of almost £6.7 million underthe Processing and Marketing Scheme and around £2.5 million under the MarketingDevelopment Scheme.

Quality MeatScotland has a key role to play in developing and promoting the red meat industry.Beef producers may also receive Single Farm Payment, Less Favoured Area SupportScheme funding and payments under the Scottish Beef Calf Scheme (which has paidover £37 million to specialist beef producers in its first two years).

I refer the memberto the answer to question S3W-257 on 20 June 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Formal statisticsof participation in higher education are not available for the whole of this period.Nevertheless, the history of Scotland is of a country that has been a world leaderin educational innovation and participation over many centuries and it is the ambitionof this Government to build upon that strong foundation.

Information collatedcentrally by NHS National Services Scotland on prescribed doses of drugs is measuredusing the average maintenance dose of a drug as used in adults. This unit of measurementis based on advice from the World Health Organization. It is not possible to extractfrom that data the number of doses of Ritalin (methylphenidate hydrochloride) prescribedexclusively for children.NHS National Services Scotland website carries generalinformation about drugs used in the treatment of Attention Deficit HyperactivityDisorder (ADHD). This information can be found at www.isdscotland.org.

More generally, inrelation to the management of ADHD, NHS Quality Improvement Scotland is currentlyundertaking a national audit of the care and treatment provided throughout Scotland for children with ADHD, including the use of drug therapy.The report of this exercise is due to be published in March 2008.

Risperdal is not licensedfor use in children. However, clinicians can use drugs off-license i.e. outsidetheir licensed indications, if they consider that treatment to be the most appropriatefor an individual patient. In these circumstances the clinician takes personal responsibilityfor the use of the drug.

The firstRisperdal preparations (Risperdal 1, 2, 3 and 4mg tablets) were authorised in the UK on 8 December 1992.

Efexor and Efexor XL are brand names of the drug substance venlafaxine hydrochloride.Venlafaxine has been licensedin the UK since November 1994 and Efexor XL, the modified release form of the drug,was first authorised in August 1997.

It is not possibleto extract from prescription data collated centrally by NHS National Services Scotlandthe number of doses of venlafaxine hydrochloride prescribed exclusively for children.

It is not possibleto extract from prescription data collated centrally by NHS National Services Scotlandthe number of doses of Risperdal (risperidone) prescribed exclusively for children.

The safety ofmedicines is reserved and is the responsibility of the Medicines and Healthcareproducts Regulatory Agency (MHRA). Reports of suspected adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are collected by theMHRA and Commission for Human Medicines (CHM) through the spontaneous reportingscheme, the Yellow Card Scheme. The safety of all marketed drugs is continuallymonitored by the MHRA and CHM. The MHRA has provided the following information:

The number ofsuspected ADR reports received by the MHRA for children aged 0-17 years from 1 July 1963 (when the Yellow Card Scheme was introduced) to 15 June 2007 inclusive for Risperdal (risperidone) is 190. Thisfigure includes reports received from the whole of the UK.

It is importantto note that the submission of a suspected ADR report does not necessarily meanthat it was caused by the drug. Many factors have to be taken into account inassessing causal relationships including temporal association, the possiblecontribution of concomitant medication and the underlying disease. Additionally,the use of medicines may vary between different age groups.