The cost of administering and running local government elections is met by local authorities from their general allocation. The UK Government provides funding to local authorities for costs associated with administering and running the Scottish Parliament elections.

As a result the Scottish Government has not incurred expenditure against the categories on the returning officer''s forms for these elections.

The Scottish Government did, however, contribute approximately £4.8 million to the cost of the electronic counting system for the 2007 elections.

Scottish Government officials met with stakeholders on 5 March and 17 June 2008, and on 2 April, 20 July, 5 August, 19 August, 11 September and 17 November 2009. Issues discussed at these meetings included a survey of bee colonies to determine the presence of Varroa mites showing resistance to pyrethroid treatments, the Bee Health Strategy for Scotland and the European and American Foulbrood outbreaks.

The Minister for Environment, Roseanna Cunningham MSP, met with stakeholders on 6 January 2010 to discuss developments in bee health. The Minister made it clear that the Scottish Government was not in a position to offer financial support for European Foulbrood control or compensation to businesses. The Minister agreed that we would look at spend under the EU Apiculture programme; stated that we had committed additional resources for bee inspectors, and that we would develop and enhance our existing resources while working with the industry on a disease control plan for 2010 and on the issue of antibiotic residues. The Minister also stated, without making firm commitments, that we would consider how to support working groups for the Bee Health Strategy and consider the issues raised in the paper tabled by the Bee Farmers Association at the meeting. The Scottish Government will also continue to develop the Bee Health Strategy within the resources available.

In addition the Scottish Government funded full time apiculture specialist at the Scottish Agricultural College liaises with stakeholders frequently during the provision of training, education and advice.

The Scottish Parliament elections are currently the responsibility of the UK Government. Since 2000, the Electoral Commission has been responsible for providing guidance for voters, including information on the operation of and the voting system for the Scottish Parliament. As a result the Scottish Government has not incurred any expenditure on these issues.

The Scottish Parliament itself also provides public information on the workings of the Parliament and the voting system.

Given the role of Scottish ministers in determining this application it would be inappropriate to comment on its specifics at this stage. A decision will be made on this application in due course.

Yes. NHS boards in Scotland, through individual patient treatment requests panels, have referred patients with severe aortic stenosis to centres in England for transcatheter aortic valve implantation.

This information is not available centrally in the format requested.

The UK Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI) Registry shows that, in 2009, 12 people were referred by NHS boards to a centre in England for transcatheter aortic valve implantation TAVI.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

The Scottish Government has given a commitment in its Road Safety Framework to consider if speed awareness courses would be an appropriate contribution to road safety in Scotland. As part of this process it will consider research which has been conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of such courses. Notwithstanding this, the decision on whether a speed awareness course would be an appropriate means of case disposal would lie with the Lord Advocate.

The Scottish Government has given a commitment in the Road Safety Framework to consider if the introduction of a speed awareness course would be an appropriate contribution to road safety in Scotland. This is a medium term commitment with a timescale of between two and five years from the publication of the framework which was in June 2009.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.