Chamber and committees

The costs of this one-off, unplanned spending in 2003-04 will be met within the usual flexibilities available to the Executive in managing its overall resources. It will comprise a combination of carry forward of 2002-03 underspending and 2003-04 estimating, windfall savings in a range of demand determined spending. It is not possible to say at this stage what combination of 2002-03 and 2003-04 savings will deliver the resources required.

Withdrawal from the Common Fisheries Policy would be a matter of negotiation and Treaty amendment.

Funding to Scottish fishing communities is available through both European Structural Funds Programmes and other Community Initiatives. For individual communities the availability of funding is determined by the geographic coverage of programmes and initiatives and the specific measures targeted within each. Discussions with the Commission establish and set the total funding available to Scotland for each Structural Fund Programme. On-going discussions with the Commission as part of the monitoring process will assess whether any re-prioritisation of funding between measures is required and also to establish whether co-operation between programmes is required to target aid towards specific communities.

The question of any compensation arrangements for industry is a matter, in the first instance, for the Executive. I announced the planned £50 million package of measures on 28 January. Officials will be pursuing with the European Commission any necessary matters, such as the need for EC State Aid approvals for the assistance proposed.

Following the outcome of the December Fisheries Council, I and officials have had numerous discussions with our Whitehall counterparts about support measures for the industry. We, along with industry representatives, met the Prime Minister on 28 January to discuss issues related to the industry. I announced on the same day a £50 million package of measures to assist the sector.

The information is shown in the following table.Actual and Planned Budget Per Head of Population

Force Area	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05
Central	£122	£129	£134	£146	£151
Dumfries and Galloway	£148	£155	£159	£169	£177
Fife	£120	£127	£129	£143	£151
Grampian	£122	£132	£140	£151	£160
Lothian and Borders	£152	£161	£171	£182	£190
Northern	£142	£156	£159	£170	£177
Strathclyde	£158	£170	£178	£192	£201
Tayside	£151	£160	£165	£177	£183
Scotland	£147	£157	£165	£177	£185

Notes:(i) The figures include police Grant Aided Expenditure and, in those years where it was paid separately, additional funding provided to authorities for additional recruitment, DNA testing and the National Intelligence Model. Other additional funding provided to forces for specific purposes (for example in 2001-02 and 2002-03 for additional pressures post 11 September) has not been included. The figures do not include capital expenditure by forces.(ii) Estimated population at 30 June 2000 has been used to calculate the figures for 2000-01. Estimated population at 30 June 2001 has been used for the remainder of the table.

Article 6 of Annex XVII of Council Regulation 2341/2002 provides that the Commission may allocate additional fishing days to member states on the basis of the results or expected results of decommissioning programmes in 2002 and 2003. As part of the negotiations during the December 2002 Agriculture and Fisheries Council, the number of days a UK vessel could spend at sea in the regulated area carrying nets of mesh sizes of 100mm or more was negotiated upwards from seven days to 15 days per month. This was partly on the basis that further decommissioning in the UK during 2003 would reduce our fishing effort on cod by a further 15 to 20%.

The percentage of NHS expenditure and activity for each board area for the last three years is shown in the following table:Percentage of NHS Expenditure and NHS Activity Per NHS Board Area

	2001-02		2000-01		1999-2000
Board	Funding %	Activity %	Funding %	Activity %	Funding %	Activity %
Argyll and Clyde	7.6	7.1	7.8	6.9	7.7	6.9
Ayrshire and Arran	6.5	7.4	6.5	7.1	6.5	7.1
Borders	1.9	2.0	2.0	1.8	2.0	1.8
Dumfries and Galloway	2.8	2.5	2.8	2.8	2.9	2.8
Fife	5.6	5.9	5.6	5.9	5.6	5.7
Forth Valley	4.9	4.8	5.0	4.5	4.9	4.3
Greater Glasgow	21.3	23.1	21.2	23.3	21.4	23.0
Grampian	9.5	9.5	9.6	9.6	9.7	9.7
Highland	4.1	4.3	4.0	4.1	4.0	4.1
Lanarkshire	9.5	9.2	9.0	9.1	9.0	9.7
Lothian	15.6	15.1	15.4	15.7	15.5	15.7
Tayside	8.8	8.0	9.1	8.3	9.0	8.3
Orkney	0.5	0.3	0.5	0.2	0.5	0.2
Shetland	0.6	0.3	0.6	0.3	0.5	0.3
Western Isles	0.8	0.5	0.9	0.4	0.8	0.4
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100

Notes:1. Trust reported expenditure has been used as a proxy for funding as this more appropriately relates to activity levels within NHS board areas. The funding percentages are based on the published Annual Accounts of individual NHS trusts and Island Health Boards as presented to Parliament.2. Activity percentages are based on the Scottish Key Indicators Package for Performance (SKIPPER), produced by the Information Services Division (ISD) of the Common Services Agency (CSA). Total activity = elective in-patients + non-elective in-patients + day cases.

All UK licensed fishing vessels, just over 6,470, are entitled to fish in the Scottish fishery zone. In addition, vessels from other member states and third countries are also entitled to fish in the zone.Of the UK licensed vessels, 2,333 have a port of registration in Scotland with the remainder having registration markings linked to ports outwith Scotland.

Table 1 details the number and quantity of seizures of crack cocaine in each police force area from 1995 to 2000, the latest year where published data is available. Grampian Police data indicates that recoveries of crack cocaine within the Grampian Region have increased from 300 grammes in 1998 to 800 grammes in 2002.Table 2 details the percentage of new individual patients/clients who reported using cocaine and crack cocaine in the Grampian NHS Board area and Scotland-wide from 1997-98 to 2001-02.Crack cocaine use is strongly associated with both acquisitive and violent crimes. Recent research suggests that crack users took part in a significantly higher level of acquisitive crime and other criminality than other drug users. Typical crimes committed by crack users were shoplifting and handling stolen goods. In addition, cocaine and crack cocaine have strong links to the sex trade.A Working Group of the Scottish Advisory Committee on Drug Misuse published a report in August 2002 on psychostimulant use in Scotland, particularly cocaine, crack cocaine and amphetamines. The report, which can be accessed on the national drugs website at http://www.drugmisuse.isdscotland.org highlighted a small, but growing, problem of cocaine and crack cocaine use in Scotland and made a wide range of recommendations covering prevention, the planning and delivery of services, training, research and information, availability and resourcing. The recommendations are currently being implemented by the Executive.As part of the implementation work, the Executive's Effective Interventions Unit issued practical guidance to Drug Action Teams and local agencies on the planning and delivery of services for cocaine and crack cocaine users. It has also committed funding of £100,000 per annum over the following two financial years, for a pilot service for cocaine and crack cocaine users in the Aberdeen area. Officials are currently working with the local Drug Action Team and local agencies on the details of the pilot service, which it is hoped will come into operation before the end of this financial year.Table 1: Seizures of Crack Cocaine; Number of Crack Cocaine Seizures by Police Force Area

	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000
Scotland	1	2	3	18	34	34
Central	-	-	-	-	-	-
Dumfries and Galloway	-	-	-	-	-	-
Fife	-	-	-	-	-	-
Grampian	-	-	-	10	19	31
Lothian and Borders	-	-	-	-	-	1
Northern	-	-	-	-	-	-
Strathclyde	1	-	3	8	14	1
Tayside	-	2	-	-	1	1
Force not specified	-	-	-	-	-	-
Quantity of crack cocaine seizures (kg)
Scotland1	-	-	-	0.4	0.4	0.2
Central	-	-	-	-	-	-
Dumfries and Galloway	-	-	-	-	-	-
Fife	-	-	-	-	-	-
Grampian	-	-	-	0.3	0.4	0.1
Lothian and Borders	-	-	-	-	-	0.0
Northern	-	-	-	-	-	-
Strathclyde	-	-	-	0.036	-	0.0
Tayside	-	-	-	-	-	0.0
Force not specified	-	-	-	-	-	-

Note:1. It should be noted that due to the rounding of small numbers areas may not add up to the Scottish total.Table 2:New Individuals Reported to the Scottish Drug Misuse DatabasePercentage of New Individual Patients/Clients Who Reported Using Cocaine and Crack Cocaine

	Grampian					Scotland
	1997-98	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	1997-98	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02
No. of Individuals reporting illicit drug use	994	777	671	592	625	7,637	8,004	9,269	9,490	9,629
% reporting use of cocaine	5	8	11	11	15	2	3	5	6	7

Source: Scottish Drug Misuse DatabaseNotes:Seizures1. Information on seizures of drugs controlled by the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 is published annually by the Home Office in a range of bulletins under the general title Statistics of Drug Seizures and Offenders Dealt With. 2. Statistics on seizures cover seizures made during the year by police and by officials of HM Customs and Excise and other bodies. Seizures involving more than one drug are counted as a single seizure in the total number of seizures, but are counted separately against each individual drug or drug class involvedScottish Drug Misuse Database3. The database collects anonymous information about new problem drug users presenting at a broad range of drug services across Scotland, including general practices.4. It is emphasised the information held on the Scottish Drug Misuse Database relates to new patients/clients. The definition of "new" is (a) the person is attending the particular service for the first time ever, or (b) the person has attended before but not within the previous six months. Thus, the statistics do not reflect the total number of drug misusers seen by services during any period. A study is presently under way on the feasibility of re-reporting individuals to the database at regular intervals. If re-reporting is implemented successfully, the database will provide a better source of information on the total number of people receiving treatment.5. All figures in the table exclude penal establishment inmates and information received from needle exchanges.6. More detailed information is published in the ISD Scotland publication Drug Misuse in Scotland 2001 which is available on the National Drug Misuse website.