S1W-7268 Pauline McNeill: To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is a shortfall of university applications in the field of engineering and, if so, what the shortfall is.

S1W-7348 David Mundell: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has considered the theories set out by Jonas Ridderstale and Kjell Nordstrom in their book Funky Business and, if so, what conclusions it has drawn and whether they will have any implications for its own working practices and its policies on the working practices of Scottish business.

S1W-7349 John Scott: To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is a disproportionately high number of multiple sclerosis sufferers in the Ayrshire area compared to the rest of Scotland and, if so, why this is.

S1W-7350 John Scott: To ask the Scottish Executive why health boards in Scotland are charged more for beta interferon than comparable health bodies in other parts of the world.

S1W-7351 Dr Elaine Murray: To ask the Scottish Executive what the average annual cost per prisoner is in each prison and young offenders’ institute.

S1W-7352 Dr Elaine Murray: To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisons and young offenders’ institutes do not have internal sanitation in each cell; which institutions continue to require inmates to "slop out", and how many inmates are affected in each institution.

S1W-7353 Dr Elaine Murray: To ask the Scottish Executive which prisons and young offenders’ institutes have undergone structural alterations worth over £100,000 in the past five years and how much capital has been invested in each institution.

S1W-7354 Mr Keith Harding: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish, with regard to its Race Equality Advisory Forum, the criteria for selecting the individual members of the forum, its budget allocation and details of the number of times it has met so far.

S1W-7355 Mr Keith Harding: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish, with regard to its Review of Councils for Voluntary Service, the criteria for selecting the individual members of the review group, its budget allocation and details of the number of times it has met so far.

S1W-7356 Mr Keith Harding: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish, with regard to its Strategic Review of Executive Funding to the Black and Ethnic Minority Voluntary Sector, the criteria for selecting the individual members of the review group, its budget allocation and details of the number of times it has met so far.

S1W-7357 Mr Keith Harding: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish, with regard to its Common Housing Registers Steering Group, the criteria for selecting the individual members of the Steering Group, its budget allocation and details of the number of times it has met so far.

S1W-7358 Mr Keith Harding: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish, with regard to its Common Repairs Working Group, the criteria for selecting the individual members of the Working Group, its budget allocation and details of the number of times it has met so far.

S1W-7359 Mr Keith Harding: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish, with regard to its Single Social Tenancy Working Group, the criteria for selecting the individual members of the Working Group, its budget allocation and details of the number of times it has met so far.

S1W-7360 Mr Kenneth Gibson: To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to make people travelling abroad on business or holiday pay the full cost of necessary vaccinations.

S1W-7361 Mr Kenneth Gibson: To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made towards establishing a national influenza immunisation programme.

S1W-7362 Mr Kenneth Gibson: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to (a) encourage more widespread testing for chlamydia and other sexually transmitted diseases and (b) encourage the public to come forward for testing.

S1W-7363 Mr Kenneth Gibson: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will ensure that the less accurate invasive swap test for chlamydia will be replaced by the more accurate urine test and, if so, when this will be achieved by each health board.

S1W-7364 Mr Kenneth Gibson: To ask the Scottish Executive how many of Scotland’s 63 gynaecology units routinely screen for chlamydia.

S1W-7365 Mr Kenneth Gibson: To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of women undergoing termination of pregnancy or giving birth were tested for chlamydia and how many had the disease in the last year for which figures are available.

S1W-7366 Mr Kenneth Gibson: To ask the Scottish Executive which high risk groups will be tested routinely for chlamydia at genital urinary medicine clinics.

S1W-7367 Mr Kenneth Gibson: To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to resolve any difficulties relating to the implementation of the new Higher Still English course.

S1W-7368 Mr Kenneth Gibson: To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the publication of the report Education at a Glance 2000, what steps it will take to ensure that a greater proportion of school curricula for pupils aged 12-14 is dedicated to maths and science.

S1W-7369 Mr Kenneth Gibson: To ask the Scottish Executive why time dedicated to maths and science is less than the OECD average for Scottish pupils aged 12-14.

S1W-7370 Mr Kenneth Gibson: To ask the Scottish Executive what the implications for local authorities are of the recent decision by the European Court of Justice that employers must backdate employees’ membership of company pension schemes to 1976.

S1W-7371 Mr Kenneth Gibson: To ask the Scottish Executive what initiatives it is undertaking to reduce the incidence of vandalism in schools.

S1W-7372 Mr Kenneth Gibson: To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to encourage the formation of Community Safety Partnerships.

S1W-7373 Mr Kenneth Gibson: To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to encourage initiatives such as the Moray Fare Travel Scheme.

S1W-7374 Mr Kenneth Gibson: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider introducing legislation on community safety.

S1W-7375 Mr Kenneth Gibson: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to review its funding of community safety initiatives in order to assess whether they can be adapted to provide incentives for longer term resource planning and support partnership strategic priorities.

S1W-7376 David McLetchie: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish a weekly digest of all upcoming matters of public interest, including Ministerial announcements and engagements and publication dates of documents issued by it and reports addressed to it.

S1W-7377 Roseanna Cunningham: To ask the Scottish Executive what the basis is upon which appointments are made to the board of the Scottish Prison Service.

S1W-7378 Roseanna Cunningham: To ask the Scottish Executive what guidelines are issued to the Scottish Prison Service as to the manner in which it conducts reviews.

S1W-7379 Roseanna Cunningham: To ask the Scottish Executive what the remit was of the recent Scottish Prison Service review of healthcare provision in Scottish prisons; which bodies or individuals were consulted, and when the results of the review will be published.

S1W-7380 Karen Gillon: To ask the Scottish Executive when it intends to provide further guidance to local authorities on further development of open cast coal mining.

S1W-7381 Karen Gillon: To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to increase the provision of nursery places for three year olds living in rural areas.

S1W-7382 Alex Neil: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will outline the process which will be used in preparing its response to the Hawk and Owl Trust Report; what timetable is envisaged; which organisations will be consulted, and whether it will make available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre all the submissions it receives on the matter.

S1W-7383 Alex Neil: To ask the Scottish Executive what process will be used in preparing its response to the UK Raptor Working Party Report; what timetable is envisaged; which organisations will be consulted, and whether it will make available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre all the submissions it receives on the matter.

S1W-7384 Alex Neil: To ask the Scottish Executive what the outcome was of the Joint Ministerial meeting held on 26 May 2000 to discuss pensioner poverty in the UK.

S1W-7385 Alex Neil: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown of information communications technology training by it and its agencies for each of the past two years and the current year, broken down by local enterprise company area.

S1W-7386 Alex Neil: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown of tourism spending by it and its agencies for each of the past two years and the current year, broken down by local enterprise company area.

S1W-7387 Alex Neil: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown of spending on the provision of childcare provision by it and its agencies for each of the past two years and the current year, broken down by local enterprise company area.

S1W-7388 Alex Neil: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown of financial assistance for new businesses starting up by it and its agencies for each of the past two years and the current year, broken down by local enterprise company area.

S1W-7389 Alex Neil: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown of spending on assistance for individual learning accounts by it and its agencies for each of the past two years and the current year, broken down by local enterprise company area.

S1W-7390 Alex Neil: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown of Investors in People Programme spending by it and its agencies for each of the past two years and the current year, broken down by local enterprise company area.

S1W-7391 Alex Neil: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide details of its actual spend this year and its projected spend for next year on services for people with severe learning difficulties, including a breakdown by type of service provided.

S1W-7392 Alex Neil: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide details of funding it has provided in each of the last three years and the current financial year to the National Schools for the Deaf and Blind.

S1W-7393 Alex Neil: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown by Department of its own targets and actual performance to date for recruiting New Deal trainees and employees, indicating the target and actual durations of such recruits and details of their employment destinations on leaving or completing their period with the Scottish Executive.

S1W-7394 Alex Neil: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has made representations to Her Majesty's Government about the failure to date of the New Opportunities Fund to make any awards in Scotland.

S1W-7395 Alex Neil: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to review the current division of responsibilities between Railtrack, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and local authorities for the maintenance and upgrade of lands surrounding railway bridges, including underpasses.

S1W-7396 Alex Neil: To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to review the effectiveness of the national strategy for tenant participation within each local authority area.

S1W-7397 Alex Neil: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to review the effectiveness of the tenant consultation and participation procedures being used by South Lanarkshire Council in respect of establishing the feasibility of housing stock transfers in the area and, in particular, to assess whether the council has given due regard to the role of the South Lanarkshire Federation of Tenants.

S1W-7398 Alex Neil: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will detail by health board area the incidence of burkholdaria cepacia in each of the last five years including details of the number of fatalities and the age groups of those affected.

S1W-7399 Alex Neil: To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects to announce the outcome of its consultations on the draft volunteering and community action plan.

S1W-7400 Alex Neil: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown of the number of people over 50 who are on the New Deal by local enterprise company area.

S1W-7401 Alex Neil: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown by local authority area of the number of households receiving assistance through the Warm Deal programme including details of the level of grants awarded.

S1W-7402 Alex Neil: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide an estimate, by local authority area, of the shortage of high support and medium support housing units required to meet the needs of people with severe learning difficulties; what is the actual and projected spend on such units by local authority for the current year and each of the next two years, and whether it has a different policy for supporting those who are coming out of residential care into the community and those who are coming from a family care environment as to their eligibility for such units.

S1W-7403 Alex Neil: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide details of the work it and its agencies are doing to promote and develop the (i) opto-electronics industry, (ii) textile industry, (iii) dairy industry and (iv) food industry, and what was the relevant spend on each industry in each of the last three years and the current year.

S1W-7404 Alex Neil: To ask the Scottish Executive what its plans are for tackling unemployment in Hamilton and Bellshill.

S1W-7405 Alex Neil: To ask the Scottish Executive what its plans are for tackling unemployment in Kilmarnock and Loudoun.

S1W-7406 Alex Neil: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all the Joint Ministerial Committees which have been set up with UK Government Departments, how many times they have met so far and what they have achieved.

S1W-7407 Alex Neil: To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish the outcome of its consultation exercise on the reform of the public appointments system.

S1W-7408 Alex Neil: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to set up a unit or agency to co-ordinate voluntary international aid efforts from Scotland.

S1W-7409 Alex Neil: To ask the Scottish Executive what has been the number of redundancies in the forestry and related industries since May 1999.

S1W-7410 Alex Neil: To ask the Scottish Executive what its estimates are of forestry related exports from Scotland in each of the past three years.

S1W-7411 Alex Neil: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to implement emergency measures to deal with the current state of the dairy industry in Ayrshire.

S1W-7412 Alex Neil: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to change the categorisation of racing pigeons to make them a protected species.

S1W-7413 Alex Neil: To ask the Scottish Executive what methodology is employed by the raptor study groups contracted by Scottish Natural Heritage and whether it will review this method of assessing the raptor population.

S1W-7414 Alex Neil: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide details of the number of (i) bank account arrestments and (ii) wage arrestments in each of the past three years.

S1W-7415 Alex Neil: To ask the Scottish Executive what number and percentage of bank account arrestments were exercised last year on people who were on benefits at the time of arrestment.

S1W-7416 Alex Neil: To ask the Scottish Executive how many bank accounts arrested last year recovered sums greater than £63 and how many were of a value that exceeded the value of the debt being recovered.

S1W-7417 Alex Neil: To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated value is of the outstanding repair and maintenance requirements of secondary schools in Hamilton North and Bellshill.

S1W-7418 Alex Neil: To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated value is of the outstanding repair and maintenance requirements of secondary schools in Kilmarnock and Loudoun.

S1W-7419 Mr Keith Harding: To ask the Scottish Executive how many posts in the Scottish Executive, including its agencies, have been created in or transferred to Fife since 6 May 1999.

S1W-7420 Mr Michael McMahon: To ask the Scottish Executive whether a decision has been reached on the allocation of Rough Sleeper Initiative funding to Glasgow and Edinburgh following the most recent round of bids for funds.

S1W-7421 Mr Gil Paterson: To ask the Scottish Executive whether European Regional Development Fund money is available for the re-opening of the Airdrie to Bathgate rail link.

S1W-7422 Mr Gil Paterson: To ask the Scottish Executive what representations, direction or guidance have been made to or given to the Strategic Rail Authority regarding the Bathgate to Airdrie rail link and, if none, what representations, direction and guidance it proposes to make or give.

S1W-7423 Mr Gil Paterson: To ask the Scottish Executive whether any Public Transport Fund money will be available to re-open the Bathgate to Airdrie rail link.

S1W-7424 Mr Gil Paterson: To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-6233 by Mr Jim Wallace on 23 May 2000, what steps it is taking to ensure that every police force establishes rape suites in their police stations as a matter of priority.

S1W-7425 Karen Gillon: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide additional funding for road safety publicity in the current financial year.

S1W-7426 Alex Johnstone: To ask the Scottish Executive what the contribution from public funds has been in the last three years towards (a) the acquisition of and (b) the management of land acquired by and for the benefit of the community groups.

S1W-7427 Mr Duncan Hamilton: To ask the Scottish Executive how much will be saved from the announcement of maximum prices for generic medicines and what projects these savings will be redirected to.

S1W-7428 Mr Duncan Hamilton: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list each study, consultation and report commissioned by the Minister for Health and Community Care, specifying in each case the date of publication or expected publication and the date made available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.

S1W-7429 Michael Russell: To ask the Scottish Executive whether access to Customs and Excise records held in Scotland will come within the scope of its proposed freedom of information legislation.

S1W-7430 Michael Russell: To ask the Scottish Executive what proposals it intends to make under the proposed freedom of information legislation with regard to Her Majesty’s Government records held in Scotland by bodies responsibility for which is not devolved to the Scottish Parliament.

S1W-7431 Michael Russell: To ask the Scottish Executive what its policy is towards access to any governmental records held in Scotland which are presently closed to researchers for periods from 30 to 100 years.

S1W-7432 Mr Kenneth Gibson: To ask the Scottish Executive how many operations were cancelled in Glasgow hospitals in the last year for which figures were available.

S1W-7433 Mr Kenneth Gibson: To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to (a) tackle and (b) minimise disruptive classroom behaviour.

S1W-7434 Mr Kenneth Gibson: To ask the Scottish Executive how many hours a week of physical education pupils in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools, should receive and which local authorities have yet to achieve these targets for the last year for which figures were available.

S1W-7435 Mr Kenneth Gibson: To ask the Scottish Executive how many New Deal placements were made available by each local authority for the last year for which figures are available.

S1W-7436 Mr Brian Monteith: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all the task forces, working groups, review groups, action groups and similar committees established by the Minister for Children and Education and his deputy ministers since 6 May 1999 and when each group is expected to publish its report.

S1W-7437 Lord James Douglas-Hamilton: To ask the Scottish Executive what its stated objectives were in relation to the A701 Transport Challenge Fund bid from Midlothian Council; what requirements were placed on the council in relation to this funding, and whether each of these requirements was met in full.

S1W-7438 Lord James Douglas-Hamilton: To ask the Scottish Executive on what date Midlothian Council was sent the last payment from the money allocated through the Transport Challenge Fund for the development of the A701 upgrade proposals.

S1W-7439 Lord James Douglas-Hamilton: To ask the Scottish Executive whether Scottish Enterprise or Lothian and Edinburgh Enterprise Ltd contributed to the non-capital costs of developing the A701 upgrade proposals being progressed by Midlothian Council.

S1W-7440 Lord James Douglas-Hamilton: To ask the Scottish Executive whether any of its departments or agencies will have any involvement in the ongoing development and implementation of Midlothian Council’s proposals to upgrade the A701.

S1W-7441 Karen Gillon: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to commit any further resources in the current financial year to tackling homelessness and rough sleeping other than those already committed to the Rough Sleepers Initiative.

S1W-7442 Richard Lochhead: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the names of the chairmen of each of the water authorities specifying in each case their salaries, any pension or other benefits received, the overall cost of these positions to the water authorities, and whether any of the chairmen are members of any political party and, if so, which party.

S1W-7443 Richard Lochhead: To ask the Scottish Executive what its policy is on salary levels and benefit packages for the chairmen of the water authorities.

S1W-7444 Richard Lochhead: To ask the Scottish Executive why it was decided to create a new promotional body for the meat industry.

S1W-7445 Richard Lochhead: To ask the Scottish Executive what value of research funding awarded by the Rural Affairs Department was awarded to bodies outwith Scotland in each of the last five years and what percentage of the Department’s total research funding this represents.

S1W-7446 Richard Lochhead: To ask the Scottish Executive how much of its total research funding has been awarded to bodies outwith Scotland, broken down by department and expressed in both monetary and percentage terms.

S1W-7447 Richard Lochhead: To ask the Scottish Executive how many students enrolled with the Scottish Agricultural College in each of the last five years.

S1W-7448 Richard Lochhead: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it pays for any advisers to House of Commons Committees or Her Majesty’s Government from its budget.

S1W-7449 Richard Lochhead: To ask the Scottish Executive how many copies of Rural Scotland: A New Approach were printed and how much it cost to publish and distribute this document.

S1W-7450 Richard Lochhead: To ask the Scottish Executive what estimate has been made of the cost to (a) business and (b) the Scottish Executive of implementing the EU Water Framework Directive and whether it will make a statement on the timescale for the implementation of this directive and the general impact it will have on Scotland.

S1W-7451 Mr Gil Paterson: To ask the Scottish Executive what the average time between initial consultation and second appointment is for out-patients attending the psychiatric unit of Hairmyres Hospital, East Kilbride.

S1W-7452 Mr Gil Paterson: To ask the Scottish Executive what steps will be taken to protect the environment when Chapelcross power station closes.

S1W-7453 Mr Gil Paterson: To ask the Scottish Executive what impact the closure of the Rape Crisis Centre in Perth would have on the local community.