Chamber and committees

Public/private partnership deals undertaken by the water authorities do not generate income for them but result in the authorities paying a tariff to the private consortia concerned for providing value for money services. The following tables show annually for each water authority, charges revenue, new borrowing and EU structural grants.

£ million

North of Scotland Water Authority	1996-97	1997-98	1998-99	1999-00
Charges revenue	120.2	128.0	137.8	153.0
New borrowing	65.9	48.7	46.5	46.0*
EU Grants	0.031	0.022	0.739	0.469

East of Scotland Water Authority	1996-97	1997-98	1998-99	1999-00
Charges revenue	162.0	173.2	194.0	236.5
New borrowing	70.0	55.9	54.7	80.5*
EU Grants	nil	nil	nil	nil

West of Scotland Water Authority	1996-97	1997-98	1998-99	1999-00
Charges revenue	243.1	247.4	266.0	280.0
New borrowing	83.9	62.5	71.3	95.4*
EU Grants	0.008	0.057	0.113	0.015

*New borrowings (EFLs) for the current year were adjusted at water authorities' request to accommodate timing changes in their capital investment programmes. In NoSWA's case £5 million was deferred to 2000-01 and for ESWA and WoSWA £10 million each was brought forward from 2000-01 into the current year. Indicative EFLs for 2000-01 were adjusted accordingly to £55 million, £66 million and £80.9 million for NoSWA, ESWA and WoSWA respectively.

The exact remuneration packages for the Chief Executives will be a matter for negotiation between the Board of each authority and the successful candidates. The final packages agreed will be subject to Ministerial approval; I have indicated to the authorities that a basic salary of a little above £100,000, with fewer benefits than at present, may be considered as the basis for negotiations with their preferred candidates.

I received the Commissioner's advice on strategic charge levels for the period 2000-02 on 22 December, and I announced my decision to Parliament on 26 January.

You will be aware that the European Commission has proposed a compulsory system of beef labelling that is projected to be in place on 1 September, 2000. The Scottish Executive's objective is to seek exemption from these compulsory regulations for beef covered by either a Protected Geographical Indication ("Scotch" beef) or a Protected Denomination of Origin ("Orkney" beef) as described by EC regulation 2081/92. This objective is fully reflected in the UK position in negotiations, but I was able to make this point at the Agriculture Council in December and also more recently, my officials have in Council working groups convened on 11, 12 and 27 January.

Special deprivation payments have been targeted at those councils experiencing higher levels of deprivation, as measured by above average Income Support recipients as a proportion of their total populations. Aberdeen City is not amongst these councils.The payments do not pre-judge the outcome of the review of deprivation indicators within the distribution system that we are undertaking this year with COSLA.

In my statement on 26 January, I announced the results of the strategic review of water charges for the period April 2000 to March 2002. I also announced that I have asked my officials to consider whether we can improve on the protection already given to many low-income households through the linkage between water charges and Council Tax banding.

No.

Grampian Television makes a valuable contribution to the culture of Scotland, particularly of the North of Scotland. Its provision is required to comply with the licence conditions of the Independent Television Commission.

The basic process which is followed is set out below:

Question and template for answer received by Parliamentary Clerk, Scottish Executive from the Chamber Office. Parliamentary Clerk allocates to appropriate Executive Department and issues question and template for answer in electronic form to Departmental Secretariat.

Departmental Secretariat issues question and template to appropriate official to prepare draft answer.

Appropriate official drafts answer. Depending on the question, this is likely to involve liaison with colleagues in other parts of the Executive, Whitehall departments or other bodies.

Draft answer cleared by senior official in Department and returned to Departmental Secretariat.

Draft answer considered by appropriate Minister(s) and any changes discussed with the Department.

Answer lodged with Member and Chamber Office by Parliamentary Clerk.Guidance was issued in May 1999 setting out the above process. Some existing Scottish Office guidance remains of relevance, eg on the interaction of PQs with data protection requirements. Arrangements for liaison with the UK Government on PQs are contained in the Memorandum of Understanding and Concordats. The Civil Service Management Code and the Scottish Ministerial Code also inform the role of civil servants in preparing answers to Parliamentary Questions. These various sources of guidance are being drawn together to create comprehensive guidance for staff on PQs, which will issue shortly. This guidance will also provide advice on dealing with common forms of questions. I will place a copy of this guidance in the Parliament's Reference Centre once it is complete.

SMG's television operations are a matter for the company itself, subject to its meeting its licence obligations to the Independent Television Commission.