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The Executive is to improve the accessibility, affordability and quality of childcare provision through a range of initiatives. These include: pre-school education with investment of over £130 million a year providing places for all four-year-olds and over two thirds of three-year-olds; New Opportunities Fund investment of £22.5 million which is expected to provide out of school places for 100,000 children by 2003; improved regulation arrangements underpinning our commitment to good quality childcare provision and to children's safety; and we are on track to achieve our workforce target to train 5,000 new childcare workers by 2002.

The Chief Inspector’s report pays tribute to the quality of the work being done by the staff at HM Prison Inverness and he recognises that much has been done since the previous inspection. The Scottish Prison Service understands his concern atthe high prisoner numbers and continues to monitor this as part of its wider management of the prison population.

The consultation document Redressing the Balance: Cross-Examination in Rape and Sexual Offence Trials is being published today. A copy is being placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre and additional copies will be made available in the Document Supply Centre.

The Executive intends to write to interested parties to urge them to familiarise themselves with the Scottish Law Commission's Report on Real Burdens. We hope that if individuals and organisations take time to read and evaluate the Commission's recommendations then this will allow them to respond from a more informed position when the Executive issues its consultation paper on this subject. We anticipate that the formal consultation process will take place in the spring.

Cromarty Firth Port Authority is an independent statutory trust established under the Cromarty Firth Port Authority Order Confirmation Act 1973. The authority is formally accountable to its trustees as established in the constitution provided for in the 1973 Act.

We have made significant progress. Following consultation early in the year we published our detailed proposals for legislation in July. These proposals form the basis for the Regulation of Care Bill which we will be bringing before Parliament later this year.We have, in conjunction with CoSLA, published two newsletters for staff informing them of the progress we have made. These newsletters have been widely distributed to ensure that all key staff are aware of the proposed changes. The most recent edition was sent out last month following the publication of our legislative proposals, and further editions are planned as work progresses.

I refer Ms Macmillan to the answer I gave today to her question S1W-9461.

SCIMAC (the Supply Chain Initiative on Modified Agricultural Crops) took responsibility for liaising with farmers to locate potential sites. The independent Scientific Steering Committee, which oversees the programme of farm scale evaluations, then selected, from those put forward by SCIMAC, farms to be included the UK winter programme. Their selection included the farm near Munlochy.

Following that initial selection, the decision, by the Scottish Executive, to grant consent for the Munlochy site was taken after consultation with the Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE), the Food Standards Agency, the Health and Safety Executive, the natural heritage agencies including Scottish Natural Heritage, and the Scottish Agricultural Science Agency (SASA).

Although the legislation under which this application was submitted does not require a formal public consultation process the public was notified of the proposed site by a Scottish Executive press announcement on 3 August and a statutory notice placed in the local press on 7 August.

Davis, Langdon and Everest, the cost consultants for the Parliament Building project were asked to provide cost estimates for ancillary works. The works covered are: the roadworks within Holyrood Park, the landscaping of the Royal High Playing Fields (including possible acquisition of a small section of the Dynamic Earth site), and the demolition and replacement of the Royal Park Constables Muster room, which are the responsibility of Historic Scotland; and the road and environment improvement works affecting Horse Wynd and Reid's Close, which are the responsibility of City of Edinburgh Council. The cost consultants' current estimate is that the aggregate cost of these ancillary works will be £14.126 million. This figure includes fees, VAT and an allowance for contingencies.

Cromarty Firth Port Authority is an independent statutory trust port. The procedures used by the authority in its commercial activities are a matter for the port to determine. Guidance on national standards which the Executive expects trust ports to follow on the conduct of their business generally is included in Modernising Trust Ports: A Guide to Good Governance published in January 2000.