Chamber and committees

I am not aware of the data referred to. There is a range of factors that contribute to suicide rates and these include the accessibility of means of suicide. The regulation of Internet services are a reserved matter under the Scotland Act 1998.

The Scottish Executive is not aware of any data on the revenue and employment consequences of passengers flying from airports outwith Scotland.

The application of flight supplements for passengers travelling on package holidays from Scottish airports is a matter for the commercial judgement of operators. If there is evidence of abuse of a monopoly position or anti-competitive practice then such matters should be taken up directly with the Director General of Fair Trading. The Director General can act directly on the activities of industry and commerce by investigating and remedying anti-competitive practices. The Scottish Executive would refer evidence of such matters to the competition authorities.

The Accounts Commission report Millennium Countdown Year 2000 Compliance published in May 1999 reported that 25 authorities planned to have contingency plans in place by 30 September and the other 7 planned to have plans in place by 30 November. The Accounts Commission is undertaking a second assessment of local authorities Year 2000 compliance and the results of that will be announced at the National Infrastructure Forum in October.

Valuations in Scotland are carried out by independent Assessors in accordance with an extensive framework of statute and case law that includes a judicial appeal process. Most rateable values are determined by reference to the actual rents applying both for the subjects being valued and subjects comparable in size, character and situation.

The Scottish Executive has concurrent responsibility with the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions for rail freight grants in Scotland. The UK Minister for Transport and I announced on 13 September a £9.7 million Freight Facilities Grant award to TDG Nexus for works at Grangemouth.Strathclyde Passenger Transport Authority has served a petition on the British Rail Board in respect of its plan of 1989 for regional Eurostar services.

In 1998, the latest year for which figures are available, the percentage of package holiday passengers resident in Scotland who flew from airports outwith Scotland was 29%.**Information derived from the International Passenger Survey (IPS) by the Office for National Statistics. The IPS is a sample survey and the results are, therefore, subject to sampling error.

Committee members may be informed of forthcoming announcements, such as news events or consultation documents, at briefings to Committees by Ministers or Scottish Executive Officials. Committee Clerks may also be informed of announcements through their Committee Liaison contacts in the Scottish Executive.

Executive announcements in the form of consultation documents are made available to the Parliament's Document Supply Centre. All papers laid before Parliament, whether or not they will be subject to any Parliamentary proceedings, are listed in the Business Bulletin under Section H, and are also available through Document Supply.

Scottish Executive announcements in the form of press releases are available on the Scottish Executive web-site. The Parliamentary Information Centre (SPICe) currently takes press releases off the web-site and these are available from the reference centre in Parliamentary Headquarters.It has recently been agreed that SPICe will be included on the electronic press mailing list thereby speeding the transmission of announcements between the Scottish Executive, Parliament and Committees. It is our intention to continue to make improvements in informing Members as systems develop and in light of experience.

Under the Education (Scotland) Act 1980, as amended, local authorities must provide free school milk, meals or other refreshments to all school children whose parents receive income support or the income based job seekers allowance.Local authorities are not obliged to provide free school milk etc to pupils whose parents receive financial assistance under the new Working Families Tax Credit and Disabled Persons Tax Credit schemes as both schemes already contain an element to cover the cost of school milk and meals.

The primary responsibility for taking action to prepare for the millennium bug rests with the business community. However, the Government have taken action to help businesses respond quickly and effectively. £2.6 million of Government money was made available to provide companies in Scotland with suitable training to tackle the millennium bug. We are on course to train 3,000 people before the end of the year.

The availability of free courses was always limited, and the demand has been such that the allocation has now been used up in some areas. However, assistance and advice are still available from a number of sources, including Action 2000, Local Enterprise Companies and Local Support Centres.Although many Scottish companies are on course in their preparations, others have done little or nothing to prepare yet. They should urgently make use of the available resources to ensure their operations are Year 2000 compliant.