Chamber and committees

To assist education authorities, schools, teachers and parents in tackling non-attendance the Government supported the publication of the Scottish Initiative on Attendance, Absence and Attainment's good practice document Close to the Mark, which was published in December 1997. This publication offers practical support materials for schools, pulling together the examples of good practice identified by the Initiative in its work on attendance issues. It contains guidelines to help a school evaluate and develop its own practice in line with HMI publication How Good is our School?. Good practice is shared between schools through the Ethos NetworkSchools and education authorities have now agreed targets to raise attendance, and are putting in place strategies to meet those targets. The framework for setting targets was set out in Setting Targets - Raising Standards in Schools, published on 4 March 1998. Locally agreed targets where returned to HMI at the end of last year.Several initiatives funded under the Excellence Fund for Schools - Special Programme, including New Community Schools and Education Action Plans, contain components for reducing the level of absence.

Legislation on drugs and driving is a reserved matter under the Scotland Act. Driving a motor vehicle while unfit through drugs is an offence. The police may take a person whose driving appears to be impaired to a police station for examination by a police surgeon.

The police however have no powers to test drivers for drugs at the roadside comparable to their powers to test for alcohol. Primary legislation would be required to introduce such a power and it would be for the Westminster Parliament to introduce such legislation. The Scottish Executive has recently commissioned research to investigate the prevalence of recreational drug use and driving in Scotland.

£23 million will be spent in Scotland by the New Opportunities Fund (NOF) to offer training to every teacher and school librarian in the use of ICT in their subject area.In addition the Scottish Executive has commissioned a training course aimed at helping primary headteachers plan and manage ICT.

The identification and accreditation of suitable training courses and the recognition of qualifications in any complementary therapy is primarily the responsibility of the professional body or bodies which regulate it.The regulation of health professions is a reserved matter. However, I understand that herbal medicine professional bodies have been encouraged by the Government to form a single self-regulatory body for all herbalists, in the hope that in due course the profession may be in a position to apply for statutory self-regulation.

We have no current plans to do so. However, an additional £1 million per year in 1999-2000 and for the next two years has been allocated to Health Boards to spend on smoking cessation services and nicotine replacement therapy. These services will provide counselling, advice and support to smokers who want to give up. A week's supply of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) will also be offered, free of charge to those who can least afford it.

The recent report by the Standing Advisory Committee on Trunk Road Assessment (SACTRA) on "Transport and the Economy" highlighted the complexities associated with analysing the local economic impacts of transport schemes. They cautioned against exaggerated claims for the significance of such impacts, and argued that studies of local economic development impacts should take full account of the likely displacement of jobs from other areas. The report set out a number of recommendations on how such studies should be carried out. The Executive is currently considering, with the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, the implications of the SACTRA report for its future appraisal methodology.The appraisal carried out for the Strategic Roads Review indicated that the M74 Northern Extension would be likely to have an overall positive impact on the local economy. At this stage, it is impossible to be more precise than this.

I have asked Glasgow City and South Lanarkshire Councils to take forward proposals for the M74 Northern Extension in the context of their Local Transport Strategies and in co-operation with other authorities, including Renfrewshire. These strategies should aim to improve access, including public transport access, across their areas and to reduce congestion, thus increasing the reliability of journey times. Such strategies should improve access to Glasgow Airport and assist in its development.

The M74 Northern Extension was first proposed by Strathclyde Regional Council and has been taken forward by Glasgow City and South Lanarkshire Councils as successors to Strathclyde Region. No Government, past or present, has given any commitment to designate the proposed route a trunk road. A strategic route through Glasgow is already provided by the M8, which was incorporated into the trunk road network on 1 April 1996. The Executive is committing very significant resources to the M8 through Glasgow, including a £30m programme of structural repairs on the Kingston Bridge, to address the inherited problems. The M8 through Glasgow is used by high volumes of local traffic, including a significant element of commuting by car. The Strategic Roads Review appraisal shows that the M74 Northern Extension would have a similar mix of strategic and local traffic. The need for additional motorway capacity across the city has to be considered in the context of the Local Transport Strategies which Glasgow City, South Lanarkshire and all other Councils in the area have been asked to prepare. The authorities concerned are best placed to assess the contribution which the M74 scheme can make to the delivery of these strategies and to address the significant impacts inevitably associated with any urban motorway.

Since 1996-97, local authorities have received a block allocation to cover expenditure on all their non-housing capital programmes including Roads and Transport. This method of allocating resources is by agreement with COSLA. Authorities can also use capital receipts and revenue to meet capital spending needs. It is up to authorities to determine spending priorities from the total resources available to them.

As noted in the report on the Strategic Roads Review, published on 4 November, the Scottish Executive proposes to meet Glasgow City and South Lanarkshire Councils to discuss the M74 Northern Extension. I expect the meeting to consider funding issues and the input of other councils with an interest in the scheme.