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Since the introduction of landlordregistration in March 2006 the Scottish government has received formal written representationson various aspects of the scheme from Stirling Council (March 2006), North AyrshireCouncil (June 2006), Orkney Islands Council (August 2006) and the Association ofLocal Authority Chief Housing Officers (March 2007).

Officials are in contact withlocal authority registration teams informally on a daily basis and through the NationalNetworking Group on landlord registration, and work closely with local authoritiesto resolve any issues that are raised.

The First Minister representedScotland at the British-Irish Council on 16 July.

The Government iscommitted to delivering a freeze in council tax at 2007-08 levels and we will bediscussing with COSLA and local authorities how best this can be achieved. It istoo early to speculate on the impact of what may emerge from those discussions.

Scottish ministers have a close interest in the preparations for the launch of the Gaelic digital channel. Ofcom has a key role in monitoring the Gaelic Media Service (GMS) and the operation of the digital service. An Ofcom working group which includes the BBC, GMS, Scottish Executive, Scotland Office and DCMS meets regularly to discuss progress towards launch of the channel. This group was established to oversee the development of the channel. This arrangement will be revisited when the Gaelic digital channel is operational.

The Scottish Government’spriority for the British-Irish Council is to engage constructively with the othermember administrations.

It is not the casethat our events strategy is any more separate from our tourism strategy than ithas ever been; they will continue to be very closely linked as essential driversof sustainable economic growth. The fact that our tourism policy, and our strategyon major events, both important aspects of growing Scotland’s economy, are now in complementary ministerial portfolios, does not inhibitthat linkage. EventScotland continues to be an integral part of VisitScotland, butwe want our major events strategy to work more closely in supporting the promotionof Scotland as a nation, external affairs, and sports and cultural policy as wellas supporting strong tourism growth.

We expect our initialassessment of the detailed implications of a potential merger between Historic Scotlandand the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland to be completed by the autumn.

We will be in a positionto detail our future plans for Historic Scotland and the Royal Commission on theAncient and Historic Monuments of Scotland once we have completed our current explorationof the detailed implications of a potential merger of the two bodies. As alreadystated in my answer to question S3W-1449 on 13 July 2007, we expect to completethis exploration by the autumn.All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facilityfor which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Scottish ministers are giving close attention to the support and funding required for the operation of the Gaelic digital service and any further details will be announced as part of the Spending Review process. Discussions are also taking place with Ofcom, the BBC and the Gaelic Media Service about progress towards the launch of the channel and these bodies will make announcements at appropriate stages.

This subject has been discussed by broadcasters, their regulator and interest groups. I plan to meet with the Gaelic Media Service and BBC to discuss this and other aspects of the Gaelic digital channel as soon as possible.