Chamber and committees

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:No such monies have been given by the Executive.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:Whist this is properly a matter to be raised with the local authority concerned I have made some enquires and can confirm that we are not aware of any wage subsidies being provided by East Ayrshire Council to new staff at HM Prison Kilmarnock.

All four new appointees to the Board of the National Galleries of Scotland, announced in October 2002 completed political activity forms prior to their appointment.

Appointments to the Board of the National Galleries of Scotland are unpaid, but travelling and subsistence expenses are met.

Members of the Board of the National Galleries of Scotland are expected to prepare for and attend meetings of the board, of which there are at present six annually. In addition, board members may be involved in some additional meetings and events.

None of the four new appointees to the Board of the National Galleries of Scotland, announced in October 2002, was nominated for appointment. All four appointees completed application forms in response to advertisements in the national and local press.

Vacancies on the Board of Trustees of the National Galleries of Scotland were advertised in the following newspapers on 8 or 10 February 2002: The Scotsman and Scotland on Sunday; The Herald and Sunday Herald; the Dundee Courier & Advertiser; the Aberdeen Press & Journal; and The Sunday Times. The closing date for applications was Friday 15 March.

The Scottish Science Trust is a charitable organisation independent of government, established in 1997 principally to support the work of science centres in Scotland, and with the assumption that no government support would be required. However, it has recently become clear that the trust is unable to attract sufficient support from non-government sources to be able to continue with its activities. In the light of these indications, I met the Chair of the trust and the Chairs of the Scottish science centres last month, to gauge what type of central organisational support the centres regard to be necessary and sustainable, and to explore the possible role of the Executive in supporting this. The Executive has since invited the Chair of the trust to work with the science centres to produce proposals for successor arrangements to the present trust. Once we have received these proposals, we will be in a position to consider what part the Executive may be able to play in assisting in the establishment of successor arrangements. In 2001-02, the Executive provided one-off support of £350,000 to the trust, mainly to enhance its science education programmes, but also to assist with running costs.

HEBS evaluates the media impacts of their teens advertising programme through the Teen Tracking Survey, which is carried out every two months with a monthly sample of 300 people aged 12 to 17. Key measures are awareness, understanding of message and emotional response to the ads, with interviews carried out in respondents' homes. Qualitative post-testing is also carried out to explore in greater depth audience responses to the advertising, and this information then feeds into future planning and development. All evaluation research is carried out by independent agencies, which ensures objectivity and critical reflection.Awareness of Club Smoking stands at around 74%. Of those respondents, 79% said that "the ad made me think about health issues" and 71% said that "this ad really sticks in my mind". Furthermore, 77% believed "this ad will convince people that even occasional smokers can become addicted" and 73% said "I could relate to what is going on in the ad".

The Club Smoking advertisement campaign forms part of a smoking strategy targeted at teenagers, which is part of the wider Think About It health campaign. There is, therefore, no specific budget for Club Smoking but approximately £520,000 has been spent on it to date.