We are in regular contact with the UK Government on a wide range of issues, including the oil and gas industry.

This is a reserved matter. We remain in regular contact with the oil and gas industry on a wide range of issues, in particular through PILOT, of which I am Vice Chair. We will continue to work with the industry and with the UK Government through PILOT, to strengthen and sustain the oil and gas industry in the UKCS.

The Scottish Executive provides support to the UK-wide Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP). WRAP has established a Business Development Service which aims to assist businesses which sell, buy, process or collect recycled glass, paper, wood or plastic to attract finance and investment. This service is free and the advice is tailored to the individual business. WRAP also periodically offers funding for capital investment and research and development purposes. To date £369,500 has been awarded to three companies in Scotland. Further information is available on their website (www.wrap.org.uk).In addition, where recycling companies have projects that meet the eligibility criteria, they can apply for Regional Selective Assistance (RSA).Details of RSA applications over the last three years from recycling companies is contained in the table:

	RSA Applications	Grant Applied For	Grant Offered
1999-2000	0	0	0
2000-01	3	£368,600	£369,000
2001-02	2	£44,200	£45,000

These figures were obtained from SAMIS using the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes 37.10, recycling of metal waste and scrap and 37.20, recycling of non-metal waste and scrap.There are a number of other sources of grant available including the local enterprise networks, packaging compliance schemes, local authorities and European funds. Details of applications and grants under these schemes are not held centrally.

Support for local authority expenditure on general and winter road maintenance is provided within the general grant allocations to each council, and is not separately identified.

The available information is given in the following table. The category of "drug" crimes recorded by the police only includes crimes involving the importation, cultivation, supply or possession of drugs. Other types of crime e.g. crimes of dishonesty to fund the purchase of drugs or crimes committed under the influence of drugs may be "drug related" but cannot be separately distinguished in the recorded crime statistics.Drug Crimes Recorded by Police Force Area per 10,000 Population and as a Percentage of Total Crime, 1999 to 2001

	Drugs Crimes as a Rate per 10,000 Population			Drugs Crimes as a Percentage of all Crimes
Police Force area	1999	2000	2001	1999	2000	2001
Central	47	46	71	7	8	12
Dumfries and Galloway	48	31	45	8	6	8
Fife	43	36	47	6	5	6
Grampian	50	44	50	5	5	6
Lothian and Borders	57	58	63	6	6	7
Northern	55	39	58	12	8	12
Strathclyde	76	81	89	8	9	10
Tayside	51	42	53	6	5	7
Scotland	62	61	71	7	7	9

The statistics requested are not held centrally by the Scottish Executive but the Department for Culture, Media and Sport maintains a database of National Lottery awards on their website which sets out the number and amount of awards, by local authority area and by constituency, for each lottery fund.

Information on patients who did not attend a hospital appointment is available only for first out-patient appointments. The number, and percentage, of patients who did not attend (DNA) their first out-patient appointment, for the years ended 31 March 2000, 31 March 2001 and 31 March 2002, by NHS board, is given in the following table.There are many reasons why patients might fail to attend a hospital appointment. Work is currently under way to examine ways of reducing the number of patients who do not keep appointments, to identify and disseminate good practice, and to consider the development of targets to drive improvements in performance. The group is expected to report before the end of 2002.NHSScotland: Number and Percentage of Patients That Did Not Attend Their First Out-patient Appointment, by NHS Board of Residence. Years Ended 31 March 2000, 31 March 2001 and 31 March 2002^P

	Year Ended 31 March 2000		Year Ended 31 March 2001		Year Ended 31 March 2002P
NHS Board	Number	Percentage	Number	Percentage	Number	Percentage
Argyll and Clyde	14,031	11.6%	13,947	11.5%	10,817	12.3%
Ayrshire and Arran	10,791	10.2%	10,708	10.4%	11,653	11.4%
Borders	1,730	6.3%	1,666	6.3%	1,679	6.2%
Dumfries and Galloway	2,166	6.8%	2,189	6.9%	1,766	7.2%
Fife	9,827	9.9%	9,979	10.1%	9,975	10.2%
Forth Valley	6,761	9.2%	6,913	9.5%	6,897	10.4%
Grampian	9,277	8.0%	9,912	8.8%	10,318	9.0%
Greater Glasgow	45,883	15.5%	42,402	14.9%	46,615	16.8%
Highland	3,968	7.2%	3,856	7.1%	3,758	6.9%
Lanarkshire	20,096	13.0%	19,120	12.7%	18,451	13.9%
Lothian	22,966	11.4%	23,001	11.6%	21,103	11.5%
Orkney	129	4.0%	149	4.6%	154	5.7%
Shetland	210	4.1%	243	4.6%	157	3.4%
Tayside	13,956	10.2%	13,714	10.3%	13,305	10.4%
Western Isles	497	7.3%	556	8.0%	440	7.9%
Scotland	162,288	11.3%	158,357	11.3%	157,088	12.0%

^PProvisional.Source: SMR00, ISD Scotland.

As part of the Global Connections Strategy launched in October 2001, the Executive stated its aim of attracting high value economic activity to Scotland and stressed the importance of helping anchor companies in Scotland. Scottish Development International officials based both at home and overseas continue to work closely with new and existing clients to identify new inward investment opportunities, including the possibility that companies may wish to establish their European headquarters in Scotland.A number of incentives are available to companies wishing to establish headquarters in Scotland ranging from grants, most notably Regional Selective Assistance grant within the Assisted Areas of Scotland to help with sourcing customers, suppliers and suitably skilled employees.For high potential companies which are owned and are headquartered in Scotland, the Global Companies Development Process offers tailored support to global companies or companies who wish to become global.

The Scottish Executive set out its broadband strategy last year in Connecting Scotland: Our Broadband Future and our vision was to make broadband connections more affordable and pervasive across the country, including in rural areas. As part of that strategy, the Executive has developed the Pathfinder initiatives to aggregate public sector demand for broadband in the Highlands and Islands and South of Scotland. It is hoped that this major investment on the part of the public sector will help to stimulate both demand for and supply of broadband within these areas, which might not be immediately covered by the commercial market. Work on the Pathfinder initiative is well in hand.Our strategy also undertook to identify where there was a need for direct support measures; our programme under the UK Broadband Fund is developing this element through almost a dozen projects managed by Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise. These include awareness raising measures and technology trials in rural areas, such as Powerline Carrier and Wireless pilots, which aim to determine the potential of these technologies for delivering broadband in rural communities. The UK Government has set a general target on broadband which is to "have the most extensive and competitive broadband market in the G7 by 2005" and the Scottish Executive's broadband strategy is designed to contribute to this overall objective.Currently, about half of the Scottish population has access to broadband via terrestrial ADSL and/or cable-modem equivalents.

In spring this year Scottish Enterprise Grampian commissioned a feasibility study into the establishment of a film liaison service for the north east. A meeting was subsequently held on 27 August between the Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Councils and SE Grampian, and it was agreed to progress this development by drafting objectives for such a service for further discussion.