Chamber and committees

The birth rate in Scotland has been declining for a number of years, from 19.2 per 1,000 in 1960 to 10.4 per 1,000 in 2000 (figures from GRO Scotland), although it is predicted that the rate will remain fairly constant up to 2021. The birth rate has fallen over the same period across almost every advanced industrialised country as people exercise their private and personal choices over family sizes. The Scottish Executive does not consider it feasible or desirable to attempt to influence this trend.

The Scottish birth rate has been declining since 1960. This general trend is in line with the pattern in most other advanced industrial countries, although the birth rate in Scotland has declined more significantly than the rate for the UK as a whole. Actuarial predictions suggest that the Scottish birth rate will remain fairly constant over the next 20 years. As with any demographic trend, there will be a range of implications from the fall in the Scottish birth rate.

The Scottish Executive is working in conjunction with HEBS and ASH Scotland to explore the best means of raising awareness about the impact of passive smoking. A long-term media campaign, linked to other action at community and industry levels, is being devised. This is being informed by the results of a survey of customer attitudes to smoking in public houses and restaurants. The campaign will be multi-faceted, focusing on issues associated with smoking in the workplace and in the home as well as in places of entertainment such as pubs, restaurants, and clubs. The first phase of the campaign is expected to be launched later this year. HEBS and ASH Scotland are also collaborating to produce guidelines for local authorities on the development of tobacco policies in the workplace.

Our aim has been to ensure that the KickStart programme is not "top down" in its approach and that it meets the diverse needs of voluntary and community groups around the country. This meant that we consulted widely, including with the Social Inclusion Partnerships (SIPs). The views of SIPs have strongly influenced the design of the programme and various changes have been made. For example, as a result of SIP views, KickStart will now run for an extra year, until March 2003, and with an increased allocation of £625,000.Most of the SIP clusters are in the process of recruiting their development workers and aim to have them in post between October and November.

The following table sets out actual expenditure by local authorities on improvement and repairs grants for private sector houses for 1999-2000. Figures are not available for expenditure in 2000-01 or for the local authorities estimated expenditure in 2001-02. Real terms figures can be calculated by applying the Treasury deflators (currently 2.5%) in the normal way.

Local authority	Expenditure (£000)
Aberdeen City	1,907
Aberdeenshire	388
Angus	506
Argyll and Bute	1,779
Clackmannanshire	267
Dumfries & Galloway	621
Dundee City	1,646
East Ayrshire	235
East Dunbartonshire	150
East Lothian	604
East Renfrewshire	151
Edinburgh, City of	2,848
Eilean Siar	3,461
Falkirk	495
Fife	419
Glasgow City	6,932
Highland	4,314
Inverclyde	489
Midlothian	53
Moray	557
North Ayrshire	767
North Lanarkshire	1,689
Orkney Islands	1,408
Perth and Kinross	1,083
Renfrewshire	1,879
Scottish Borders	947
Shetland Islands	320
South Ayrshire	310
South Lanarkshire	3,500
Stirling	776
West Dunbartonshire	247
West Lothian	429
Scotland	41,177

The cost of a changeover would depend on the timing, the overall approach and individual management decisions.

The Scottish Executive, through Scottish Trade International (STI), is committed to helping Scottish exporters. STI's activities have, over the past five years, been directed by the Export Development Strategy for Scotland.The continuing need to ensure that companies in Scotland are able to realise the full benefits of trading in international markets will be a key theme of the Global Connections Strategy, which we will be publishing shortly. This will provide a focus for future international economic development activity.Official Scottish Manufactured Exports statistics are compiled by the Scottish Executive from data collected by the Office for National Statistics. They measure actual performance, and provide an estimate of the volume and value of export sales. Figures for the first quarter of 2001 showed an increase of 1.9% in real terms, in the level of manufacturing export sales compared with the previous quarter.

The Scottish Executive has regular contact with HM Treasury on a range of economic issues.UK membership of the single European currency is a reserved issue. Convergence between the UK economy and the economies of the single currency area is one of the five economic tests set out by the Chancellor, which will be assessed as part of any decision to join. Any assessment will be based on the UK economy as a whole.

As I announced on 20 June, Professor John Temple is to chair the fundamental review of medical workforce planning which was a commitment in Our National Health: A plan for action, a plan for change. The review will consider the many complex areas surrounding the supply of trained doctors to NHSScotland, including the provision for general practice.The Executive are also currently working with ISD Scotland, the Scottish General Practitioners Committee (SGPC) and the Scottish Council for Postgraduate Medical and Dental Education (SCPMDE), to develop a statistical model to project the overall supply and demand of the general practitioner (GP) workforce in Scotland. Information obtained from this study will be used to inform decisions on training posts for general practitioners.Earlier this year I also announced new arrangements to give GPs the option of becoming permanent salaried employees of NHSScotland and additional investment to fund up to an extra 50 GP posts in deprived and rural areas.

The relevant data on the recovery and recycling of packaging waste are incomplete as some businesses have yet to submit data or are in the process of reviewing their previous estimates. It is therefore too early to say whether the United Kingdom has achieved its' packaging targets under the EC Packaging Directive. The position should be clearer towards the end of the year when a review of the data which is currently being undertaken is complete.Implementation of the directive is an ongoing process. The National Waste Strategy: Scotland identifies packaging waste as a priority waste stream. The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 1997 transpose the directive into UK law and these are enforced in Scotland by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.