Chamber and committees

No. What I said to the committee has to be considered in the context in which it was said. The discussion was about compensation and adequacy of compensation is the essential requirement in that context. I did not say that provision of adequate compensation is the only requirement that has to be met in order to achieve compliance with the Convention. It is clear from the committee report that the committee understood that the exercise of the crofting community right to buy must also be in the public interest in order to be compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights.

The handling of the crofting community right to buy salmon fishings in the draft bill text would not have delivered the intended policy outcome. The policy intention is that crofting community bodies should be able to apply for the right to buy salmon fishings located on or directly exercisable from the croft land which they were acquiring or had acquired through the exercise of the crofting community right to buy. It was not intended that crofting communities should be able to acquire, through the right to buy, salmon fishings on or exercisable from additional land that they might acquire or that their acquisition of salmon fishings should be subject to the additional tests found in section 74 of the bill.

The reasons given in answer to question S1W-28916 relate to an absolute right to buy and because of that are not relevant to the crofting community right to buy salmon fishings. The crofting community right to buy is not an absolute right to buy. It is conditional on a range of criteria being met and can be exercised by a crofting community body only when ministers consider that the acquisition of the property would be in the public interest. There are also very tight constraints on when the right to buy salmon fishings can be exercised. So the existence of the right should have no impact on the value of salmon fishings. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.

We are providing specific grants towards the costs of Gaelic-medium education, supporting 1,860 pupils in 59 primary schools across the length and breadth of Scotland.

The Executive's Plan for Action on alcohol problems, which was published in January, sets out that alcohol problems services should be sensitive to the needs of particular groups including women. The Executive published an Alcohol Problems Support and Treatment Services Framework on 5 September, which identifies women as one of the groups who might need support to access services.The Health Education Board for Scotland, Alcohol Focus Scotland and the Scottish Association of Alcohol Action Teams are currently establishing a women and alcohol network. The network will provide a vehicle for the development and dissemination of good practice in working with women.

The A9 between Perth and Inverness is a high speed long distance road with limited access. There is a strong presumption against providing new junctions.

The Scottish Executive (and UK Government) has made no estimate of the cost of a possible changeover to the euro, either to the public sector or business.The cost of a possible changeover would depend on timing, overall approach taken and individual management decisions.Details of preparations in the public sector for a possible UK entry into EMU may be found in HM Treasury's Sixth Report on Euro Preparations published in July.

As part of on-going strategic planning, NHSScotland bodies have been requested to produce individual outline changeover plans for any possible changeover, similar to that produced by the Scottish Executive during 1999. This was a limited management pre-planning exercise carried out from within agreed running costs. Resources have not been diverted from patient care.As part of the pre-planning exercise, NHSScotland bodies were required to produce resource profiles that might be required for different activities during various phases in the event of a possible changeover to the euro.This exercise did not constitute an estimate of the costs of a possible future changeover. It is not possible at this stage to produce estimates of the cost of a changeover to the NHSScotland. The cost of a changeover would be dependent on the timing, the approach taken and individual management decisions. Details of preparations in the public sector for a possible UK entry into EMU may be found in the Treasury's Sixth Report on Euro Preparations published in July.

Under the UK Government's prepare and decide policy, preparatory work for the possible adoption of the euro is under way. This work takes place at both the UK level and at the Scottish level.NHS boards and trusts have been asked to undertake a review of the implications of any possible changeover to the euro. NHS bodies have also been asked to assess the practical steps required and to submit implementation plans to the Scottish Executive. Details of preparations in the public sector for a possible UK entry into EMU may be found in the Treasury's Sixth Report on Euro Preparations published in July.

Executive policy as reflected in the Land Reform Bill was determined in the light of a range of factors including views expressed in the wide-ranging series of consultations on land reform which started with the consultations undertaken by the Land Reform Policy Group and culminated in the consultation on the draft Land Reform Bill. In this, as in other fields, ministers do not necessarily accept the conclusions, relating to executive policy proposals, reached by any individual organisation that chooses to respond to a consultation.