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The Management Statement issued by the Scottish Executive to Scottish Enterprise requires that they submit statements twice a year to the Executive showing performance against each of the key operating targets identified in their annual operating plan. In addition, on a quarterly basis, Scottish Enterprise prepares a statement of performance against operating plan targets for its board, which is copied to the Scottish Executive.

Business advice and support for women is delivered by Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise. The Scottish Executive acknowledge that these services should reflect the specific needs of current or potential women entrepreneurs. The need for a national centre for women's enterprise is currently under consideration.

Closing the opportunity gap for Scotland's children is a key policy for the Executive. Through Sure Start Scotland we provide resources to give every child the best possible start in life. This supports joint-agency integrated service provision, which is often provided through children's centres. The Changing Children's Services Fund is a further source of resources to act as a catalyst for better integration of health, education, social work and voluntary sector services to improve outcomes for vulnerable and deprived children. All these resources are weighted heavily by local authority area to reflect deprivation levels.

We do not, as yet, have reliable data on the number of childcare places in Scotland. Our current monitoring arrangement (through the annual census of Children's Daycare and Pre-School Education Centres) provides data on numbers of children attending these services. However, the 2002 census data, which will be published on 10 September, will provide information on the number of places for the first time.Counting available places does not necessarily give a useful indication of whether needs are being met, for example breakfast club, after school and holiday provision will all be included as separate places, but each is satisfying a different requirement. Furthermore, one "place" may be used by more than one child, since many parents do not require formal childcare full-time. Our view is that although data on both numbers of children and places is required, we need to supplement that with updated research into parent's needs. From the 2001 Census of Children's Daycare and Pre-School Education Centres, we estimate that one-in-five of 0- to 14-year-olds in Scotland were attending pre-school or daycare provision in January 2001. This is broadly the same as the rate in England. We are also examining the scope for setting clearer targets for Childcare Partnerships. These might include specific increases in the level of provision across different types of childcare, which would help to identify the level and type of provision available and where the gaps are.Childcare provision is being expanded through Childcare Strategy funding. £16.75 million this year and next is being channelled through local authorities who, with their Childcare Partnerships, are expected to address and meet local childcare needs. In addition, the New Opportunities Fund current and third round childcare programmes (totalling £46.3 million) are designed to support both new and existing childcare projects.

A feasibility study on establishing a national centre for women's enterprise was undertaken by the Paisley Enterprise Research Centre of the University of Paisley. The Executive is currently considering the report and will shortly announce arrangements for its publication.

The Executive is currently considering the case for a national centre for women's enterprise. No final decision has yet been reached.

We will announce detailed spending plans for the three years 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06 in September.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-27751 on 15 August 2002.

The Scottish Executive is currently considering the recommendations arising from HM Treasury's cross-cutting review of the voluntary sector and how this will impact on the work being undertaken by the Executive.

The potential savings identified by Sir John Egan in the Rethinking Construction report are a 20% reduction in accidents and defects, and a 10% reduction in capital costs and construction time. The report also highlights a potential 10% increase in productivity, turnover and profits for contractors.The Scottish Executive supports the principles of Rethinking Construction as a means of delivering best practice and improvements in the construction industry. Scottish Enterprise will lead a Rethinking Construction initiative in consultation with Communities Scotland and other stakeholders, using their established clusters approach. Central to this initiative is the creation of a Core Industry Group supported by a wider Rethinking Construction Panel.