Chamber and committees

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. Mr Cameron's response is as follows:

At present, 10 establishments do not have integral sanitation in each cell but five provide access to other forms of appropriate night sanitation. Institutions which still have an element of slopping out, together with the number of available prisoner places involved, are:

Barlinnie	583
Edinburgh	228
Perth	168
Peterhead	295
Polmont	164

My colleague, the Deputy Minister for Culture and Sport, will shortly convene a group which will develop a new cultural tourism strategy.

There are a range of data sources which provide information on Scottish income distributions, all of which are available to local authorities and other public bodies. The levels of disaggregation available vary between sources and are dependent on the coverage of the relevant survey in Scotland. The table presents a summary of the main sources, contents and contact points for access.

Source of Information	Description	Access
Scottish Household Survey	New Scottish survey with quarterly published summaries. Information is gathered on income from wages/salaries, income from benefits and income from other sources. Some summary analyses have been published for Scotland as a whole. LA level data will be available for large authorities after 1 year and for all authorities after 2 years. Level of detail published will depend on an assessment of the quality and completeness of the information collected.	Scottish Executive. Information can be found on website - http://www.scotland.gov.uk/shs or e-mail [email protected]
Scottish House Condition Survey	The SHCS collects information on the net income of the head of household and spouse/partner. This income can be broken down into: income from wages/salaries, income from benefits, and income from other sources Results are available for Scotland and for 9 local authorities (Highland, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Angus, East Lothian, north Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire, Fife, Argyll and Bute)	Scottish Homes. The main report of the SHCS 1996 was published in October 1997 and there is a continuing programme of further analysis which is carried out within and outwith Scottish Homes. The complete dataset can be obtained from the Data Archive at the University of Essex http://dawww.essex.ac.uk.or e-mail Scottish Homes at [email protected] Or telephone 0131 313 0044.
Family Expenditure Survey	The FES is primarily a survey of household expenditure on goods and services, and household income. Detailed information is available in income source, however disaggregation below the Scottish level is not possible.	Office for National Statistics. Information can be found on website http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase or by contacting [email protected]
Family Resource Survey	Households interviewed in the survey are asked a wide range of questions about their circumstances with a focus on areas relevant to DSS policy such as income, including receipt of Social Security benefits, housing costs, assets and savings. The sample size allows more confidence in the analyses of smaller sub groups, including, for example, regional breakdowns and recipients of certain benefits.	Department of Social Security. Information can be found on website http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase or by contacting telephone no.0171 962 8239
Labour Force Survey	The Labour Force Survey (LFS) is a quarterly sample survey of households living at private addresses in Great Britain. It includes questions on income by source. Results generally available only at the Scotland level.	Office for National Statistics. Information can be found on website http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase or by e-mailing [email protected] or telephone 0171 533 6094. Also access to the data can be obtained via the Data Archive at the University of Essex. http://dawww.essex.ac.uk
General Household Survey	The General Household Survey is a multi-purpose sample survey on approximately 9,000 GB households and about 16,000 adults aged 16 and over. Data are collected on five core topics, namely education, employment, health, housing, and population and family information. A question on average gross household weekly income was included in the last survey for which results are currently available - 1996.	Office for National Statistics. Information can be found on web site http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase or by telephoning 0171 533 5444. Also access to the data can be obtained via the Data Archive at the University of Essex. http://dawww.essex.ac.uk

The five Scottish Agricultural and Biological Research Institutes and the Scottish Agricultural College have strengths across a range of scientific disciplines. They make a major contribution to SERAD's Agricultural, Biological and Related Research Programme which aims to provide underpinning strategic research in support of agriculture and related industries. The general skills developed by scientists employed by these organisations give insights into processes and generate innovative and advisory knowledge and expertise which is sought and utilised by industry. The department's Strategy for Agricultural, Biological and Related Research 1999-2003 states that the research programme will be developed to increase its relevance to identified end-uses including sustainable agriculture; food and bio-industries; and rural communities and development.

There are no plans at present to review this policy.

I refer the member to the answer I gave to question S1W-6139 on 11 May.

Executive funding for flood prevention, in the form of grant, is available to local authorities for confirmed flood prevention schemes. The Executive will consider funding novel methods of flood prevention that local authorities have incorporated in schemes that Scottish Ministers have confirmed.

The Executive administers a flood prevention grant scheme, under which local authorities can apply for grant towards the cost of constructing flood prevention schemes, confirmed under the Flood Prevention (Scotland) Act, for the prevention of flooding of non-agricultural land. Local authorities should be aware of the availability of grant for flood prevention schemes, information on which is available from the Environment Group of the Rural Affairs Department.

There is no scheme whereby assistance is available to community groups.

The UK Government's decision on core and non-core roads in England was taken before 1 July 1999.

The Scottish Executive is responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the A7 from the English border to Galashiels and has no plans to detrunk any part of this route.

The A75 has been part of the Trans-European Road Network for a number of years and all decisions relating to the road take that into account.