Chamber and committees

Yes. The White Paper, Towards a Healthier Scotland, sets out the principal strategy being pursued by the Scottish Executive to achieve better health and life expectancy for all Scots. An additional £26 million, drawn from this year's budget increases in tobacco taxation are being allocated, exclusively, to taking forward the Executive's health improvement agenda in 2000-01.

I sympathise with those affected by last month's flooding and acknowledge the part played by the local authorities and emergency services in assisting those affected by flooding.

Local authorities have a duty to meet the needs of local communities in emergency situations. Ministers may activate the Bellwin Scheme to meet councils' relevant revenue costs in alleviating the immediate after-effects of an emergency situation. Only Edinburgh City Council have made any approaches to the Executive on this to date.

The repair or replacement of damage to property is a matter for the owners concerned, and their insurers, not the Executive. The level of insurance cover that property holders arrange is a decision that only they can take.

An impact of climate change is likely to be increased rainfall and storminess which may lead to increasing flood risk. The Executive has recently commissioned research to consider effects of climate change on flooding occurrences and flood prevention design standards.

Nevertheless, flood prevention in general is a matter which Scottish Ministers have given and are continuing to give a high priority. Addressing flooding concerns will require action to be taken by all the interests involved including the Executive.

The weir on the River Almond at Cramond is not a scheduled ancient monument and there are no plans to afford it such statutory protection. Historic Scotland can make ancient monument grants to help with the repair of unscheduled monuments, but there is heavy demand on the grants programme and the budget for the next three years is already committed. There are, however, other potential sources of financial support towards such repairs, such as the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The Environmental Statement which was submitted with the Notice of Intention to Develop (NID) contained details of the first phase of a habitat survey. The statement by Midlothian Council which accompanied the NID acknowledged that additional surveys were required on a range of issues, including badgers. These are for the council to pursue.

In the period 1979 to 1997, average life expectancy increased from 74.4 to 78 years for women and from 68.2 to 72.6 years for men. But these levels remain significantly lower than those of other European countries and substantial variation exists in life expectancy between the rich and the poor, with that gap having widened since the mid-1980s.In consequence, the White Paper, Towards A Healthier Scotland, which was endorsed by the Scottish Parliament last September, sets out a wide ranging programme of action to improve Scotland's health. It gives full recognition to the impact on health of poverty and deprivation. Enhanced health education, with a specific focus on health inequalities, is a key component of the strategy and is now being taken forward, enthusiastically, by the Health Education Board for Scotland and Health Board Health Promotion Departments.

The £2.5 million capital consent awarded from the previous Conservative Government's Transport Challenge Fund is being used to help finance the project which, as well as constructing a stretch of dual carriageway from New Milton to Straiton, includes a package of measures which will allow the use of the existing A701 as a dedicated route for pedestrians, equestrians, cyclists and local traffic. The council's project is being financed by conventional procurement methods and the consent continues to be advanced to the council on the agreed phased arrangements to set against total costs.

Such an assessment was not made available to the Scottish Executive and was not a material consideration in making the decision on the Notice of Intention to Develop.

An outline business case was not available to the Scottish Executive and was not a material consideration in making the decision on the Notice of Intention to Develop.

Such details were not made available to the Scottish Executive and were not material considerations in making the decision on the Notice of Intention to Develop.

There are no plans to demolish Queensberry House. The latest cost estimate for renovation received by the SPCB and reported in the Spencely report is £10.34 million excluding fees and VAT. However, I am glad to report that the latest cost estimate received since the Spencely report is £7.6 million (excluding fees and VAT) now that more detailed examination is complete.