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Public bodies in Scotland work in partnership to provide support to creative industries.

The enterprise bodies and the activities of the business gateway focus on accelerating economic growth through key sectors and companies with particular growth potential.

The Scottish Arts Council supports artists and art organisations to fulfil their creative and business potential. Scottish Screen seeks to develop business and skills in Scotland''s screen industries.

In future, we propose that Creative Scotland be the leading public body advocating for the creative industries. It will evolve complementary tailored services for creative entrepreneurs in the first stages of business development, which dove tail with those offered by the business gateway and the enterprise bodies.

In order to build on existing joint working we will also establish a creative economy forum. The forum will develop further a shared framework for the support and development of the creative economy, based on the core functions described above.

The policy of the National Cochlear Implantation Programme is to continue to provide cochlear implantation unilaterally to adults and children, pending the results of robust trials that establish whether the incremental benefits of bilateral implantation over unilateral implantation justify the incremental additional costs. However, there are some exceptions to this policy, most particularly relating to implant after meningitis induced deafness.

There is no separately identified funding allocation to local authorities for land remediation in the budget. From 2008-09, the former ring fenced specific grant has been subsumed within the general local government settlement. It will be for each council to determine how much of there overall funding allocation to commit to land remediation.

The mileage rate for volunteer drivers was last increased by the Scottish Ambulance Service on 1 January 2001. The ambulance service continues to review the rate regularly and should it determine that it is insufficient to cover costs then it will seek to increase the amount within Inland Revenue rules.

A Protocol for Liaison on Work Related Deaths between the Health and Safety Executive, Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland, the British Transport Police and Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service was published in October 2006. It emphasises the need for a collaborative approach to the investigation of work-related deaths in Scotland, in order to ensure on-going high-standards of public safety and to assist in any possible prosecution.

It is not the case that all work related deaths are treated as potential homicides.  Rather, all work related deaths are treated as potential criminal offences. The protocol formalises the arrangements for the initial investigation of all work related deaths, allowing the Procurator Fiscal to decide whether a serious criminal offence, other than a health and safety offence, may have been committed and parties to agree whether the police, the HSE, or other enforcing authority should assume primacy for the investigation.

The protocol is kept constantly under review. The operation of the protocol is considered by representatives from all signatories at an annual National Liaison Committee meeting and quarterly by a Joint Working Group.

The Scottish Government's purpose is to create a more successful country through increasing sustainable economic growth. A strong tourism industry directly supports that purpose, and also our strategic objective to realise our full economic potential with more and better employment opportunities. Our ambition is to work closely with the tourism industry to help it to grow revenues by 50% by 2015, and we continue to work to the Tourism Framework for Change blueprint which you instigated.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-9930 on 4 March 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

The Scottish Government does not provide financial support direct to householders in respect of contaminated land remediation or related works to their properties. Under the provisions of the legislation, local authorities have powers to carry out remediation work themselves and waive cost recovery where owners cannot pay for remediation for reasons of hardship.

This information is not collected centrally by the Scottish Government. Under Part IIA of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, local authorities have a statutory duty to inspect their areas to identify land that is contaminated land as defined in the legislation and to secure its remediation. Information on individual site investigations should be available from local authorities.

It is for health boards to determine how occupational health services are provided. Any transition to a Shared Services Model is a journey that needs careful planning and execution, and requires comprehensive understanding of the delivery process including customer requirements and delivery objectives. We understand that NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde are in the early stages of considering these issues, and as no decisions have been taken, it is not possible to offer a view on what the outcome of their deliberations may be.