I agree that it would be desirable if more of our livestock were slaughtered and processed within Scotland and my department will consider as a priority any viable proposals to do so under its capital and non-capital grant schemes.

The Domestic Sewerage Relief Grant worth £89.7 million/£59.2 million/£29.7 million was paid to the water authorities in 1996-97, 1997-98 and 1998-99 respectively. This was a transitional scheme designed to assist domestic customers cope with the payment for the sewerage service received. It is the only grant paid to the water authorities which has been withdrawn in the past four years.The withdrawal of relief to customer groups is a matter for the water authorities. The information requested is not held centrally.

No. The Executive has increased Aberdeen City Council's revenue grant by 15.2% over the next three years, a total of £30.4 million over the period. I hope that this will enable the council to look favourably at the amount of support they provide to their tourist board.

We announced last October the availability of record levels of support for the fisheries sector under the Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance (FIFG). We also announced this morning a £27 million package of support for the industry. That includes up to £25 million for decommissioning during the coming financial year, to bring whitefish capacity more closely into line with available fishing opportunities and help put the remainder of the fleet on a sounder financial footing for the future; additional resources to support conservation measures and £1 million to implement the report of the Scottish Fish Processors' Working Group.

The Health Technology Board for Scotland is currently working on a process to comment on all Final Appraisals from the National Institute for Clinical Excellence. Treatments for Alzheimer's disease will be the first topic to go through this process in the spring.As an interim measure, the Scottish Executive has asked Drugs and Therapeutics Committees to review any advice they may have provided to their clinicians on the use of these treatments in Alzheimer's disease, taking into account the NICE guidance.

No. The Scottish Executive's aim is to improve the operation of the current system which requires children to face up to their responsibilities and to change their behaviour to stop offending in future. In addition to their responsibilities under section 1 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995, parents are required to attend a children's hearing and are encouraged to support their children in complying with any supervision requirement.A supervision requirement on a child from a children's hearing may include a requirement on the child to make reparation to a victim or to the community. The Youth Crime Review seeks to extend the range of suitable programmes and measures available to children's hearings.

Under the Housing (Scotland) Act 1988, private landlords can apply to the courts for possession of their property where the tenant, or anyone living with the tenant, has caused a nuisance or annoyance to neighbours or has been convicted by a court of immoral or illegal use of the premises. This is a discretionary ground and the sheriff will only grant the landlord possession if he believes it is reasonable to do so. To complement this legislation, the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 brought in extended grounds for eviction which allows landlords to repossess a house where criminal conduct has been committed or where anti-social behaviour has been committed or is likely to be committed, either in the locality of the tenanted property by the tenant, or someone residing or lodging with him, or by visitors to the property. In addition to these legislative measures, we are considering ways to encourage sociable neighbourhood initiatives and are evaluating existing initiatives to see if they should be replicated elsewhere. We have also commissioned the Chartered Institute of Housing in Scotland to produce a think piece on how to tackle the problems of anti-social behaviour in the private sector.

Information on violence against local authority school staff has been collected centrally since 1997-98. In that year the total number of incidents reported across Scotland was 743. In 1998-99 a total of 1,898 incidents were reported. Figures covering the 1999-2000 school year will be published early in 2001.Comparisons cannot be made between the 1997-98 and 1998-99 figures, because some authorities did not reply to the 1997-98 survey and because systematic and consistent reporting procedures are not in place in all local authorities.Because of concerns about the consistency of recording I am unable to give a breakdown of the figures by local authority area at this stage. The Scottish Executive is currently considering how this situation can be remedied.

Information on waiting times for a first outpatient appointment with a consultant, following referral by a General Medical Practitioner/General Dental Practitioner, is collected centrally by the Information and Statistics Division of the Common Services Agency. This information is published in Scottish Health Statistics and in other ISD releases which are available on the Internet - http://www.show.nhs.uk/isd.

No. It is for individual health boards and NHS Trusts to meet the revenue consequences of the new medical equipment from within existing resources.Health board unified budgets increased by an average of 7.2% in 2000-01 and will increase by an average of 6.5% in 2001-02.