I refer you to the answer to question S1W-9428.

The table below details the 1999-2000 budget and outturn figures for those public sector bodies that are set external financing limits:

	Budget	£000 Outturn
National Health Service Trusts	52,026	52,028
Highland and Islands Airports Ltd	12,700	12,300
Caledonian MacBrayne	24,400	21,400
Scottish Enterprise	372,769	372,769
Highlands and Island Enterprise	65,390	65,390
Scottish Water Authorities	221,900	221,900

National Health Service Trusts EFL for 2000-01 will compensate for the overshoot in 1999-2000.

The water authorities are conducting a consultation exercise on proposals to withdraw relief on water and sewerage charges from certain customers. The exercise follows my intervention last year to delay for one year the withdrawal of relief in a number of cases. As part of that intervention, I required any further proposals of this type to be the subject of consultation with all customers that might be affected. The current consultation exercise is in line with that requirement.

Under the Local Government etc (Scotland) Act 1994, the water authorities are required to endeavour not to show any undue preference or discrimination in respect of particular groups of customers. It is against this background that the authorities are conducting the present consultation exercise. The Executive believes that where reliefs are to be withdrawn, withdrawal should be phased to ease the immediate impact and those customers affected by withdrawal should be given sufficient warning so that they can make plans to meet increased bills.

The Executive is currently considering whether it can improve on the assistance provided to many low income households through the link between water and sewerage charges and council tax bands. I expect to publish a consultation paper on this shortly.

Under section 51 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980, education authorities have a duty to make such arrangements as they consider necessary for the provision of free transport, or for provision of other transport facilities as may be arranged, or for paying all or part of reasonable transport expenses for school pupils belonging to their area and attending designated schools. The details of any arrangements made are for each education authority to determine in the light of local circumstances. In general, they make such arrangements for pupils who live outwith the statutory walking distance, defined in section 42(4) of the 1980 Act as being two miles for any pupil under eight years of age and three miles for any other pupil.

It is not possible to provide the level of detail requested from the information held centrally. The table below gives figures for the number of persons with a charge proved in sheriff and district courts in North East Scotland in 1997 and 1998, and the number of these where the main offence involved was aggravated by having been committed while the offender was on bail. Corresponding information for 1999 is not yet available.

Persons with a charge proved, North East Scotland¹, 1997-98

SEJD Crime Category2	All persons		Persons with a bail aggravation3
	1997	1998	1997	1998
Housebreaking	495	466	89	72
Robbery	28	36	5	4
Drug offences	833	817	21	46
Other offences	13,871	14,246	526	549
Total	15,227	15,565	641	671

Notes:

1. Aberdeen, Banff, Elgin, Peterhead and Stonehaven Sheriff Courts; Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire and Moray District Courts.

2. Main offence

3. The offence was aggravated by having been committed while the offender was the subject of a bail order.

Decisions on the size of quotas are based on scientific advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES). The ICES advice proposes sustainable levels of fishing for the forthcoming year and takes into account the estimated level of discarding from the previous year for key commercial species.

The Executive is committed to reducing discards of all species. The new EC Technical Conservation Regulation, which came into force on 1 January this year, introduced new measures to reduce discarding. Furthermore, the Scottish Executive recently made regulations requiring the placement of square mesh panels in fishing nets as from 3 August and a reduction in net twine thickness applicable from March next year. These measures will reduce discards of juvenile haddock and whiting.

Levels of discards are estimated by fish species and sea area. These estimates are given in the Annual Report of the Advisory Committee on Fishery Management. The data below provides the estimated discard rates for the Scottish fleet for the main whitefish species by weight aggregated over the entire North Sea.

	1997	1998	1999
Cod	18.56%	22.98%	11.81%
Haddock	40.30%	37.58%	40.66%
Whiting	35.92%	35.03%	48.15%

My department has to rely on data provided by fishermen to supplement estimates provided by our scientists.

My answer to question S1W-9281 confirms the Scottish Executive's position on compensation and possible assistance for the scallop sector through the Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance (FIFG) programme.

In February this year, I introduced a relaxation to licensing and quota management provisions to allow certain vessels with Category C licences which were affected by the scallop fishery closures to fish for West of Scotland nephrops until the end of August.

In view of the most recent closures off the west coast, I have decided to extend this relaxation to the end of the year.