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I have asked Tony Cameron,Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is asfollows:

The Scottish Prison Servicehope to be able shortly to proceed with upgrading A Hall following thesuccessful upgrades of B, C and D Halls, involving upgrading of the ablutionareas and the installation of in-cell sanitation and electric power.

I have asked Tony Cameron,Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is asfollows:

The Scottish Prison Service accepts that “slopping out” isan undesirable practice and is committed to ending it as soon as possible.However it will be some time before slopping out can be ended completely. Themost realistic time that slopping out can be ended is about a year after thecompletion of the second of the two new prisons that were announced by the Executive on 5 September 2002 as part of its decisions on the prison estates review.A firm date cannot be given because a number of variable factors are involved;including future trends in prisoner numbers, issues affecting the timescale forcompletion of the new prisons such as the obtaining of planning permission, andthe need to make arrangements for decanting and moving prisoners to allowexisting accommodation to be improved.

We have no current plans to re-regulatethe bus industry.

The Executive is considering this issue as a matter of priority under its Know the Score campaign, and will be producing materials which highlight the risks of drug-assisted rape in the lead up to Christmas. Details will be announced in due course. In addition, information and advice on how to recognise the risks and signs of drug-assisted rape will be included in forthcoming parents’ guides to talking about drugs and alcohol.

Following up the guidance issued to police forces in October 2002 by the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS), ACPOS is presently examining the possible use of forensic sampling kits specifically designed and developed for use in the investigation of drug-assisted assault. Additionally, police forces throughout Scotland are engaged in developing their own local initiatives, aimed at providing advice and guidance to the publicon drug-assisted sexual assault.

The interpretation of planningpolicy and guidance is a matter for the planning authority, in the first instance.

Complaints about the handlingof applications can be made through the planning authority’s own complaint procedures.Where an objector feels that they have suffered injustice or hardship as a resultof maladministration or service failure on the part of the planning authority, itwould be open to them to make a complaint to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.

Planning decisions are also opento review in the courts. Neither the ombudsman nor the courts deal with complaintsabout the exercise of the planning authority’s legitimate discretion in reachinga decision.

It would be for the planningauthority to consider what action to take in the circumstances of the case. It maybe possible to modify or revoke planning permission or require the discontinuanceof the use but that would depend on the circumstances of each case and would bea matter for the planning authority.

There is currently no proportionalsplit of resources between different public transport modes.

Whilst the Scottish Executive provides advice on the provision of music tuition in the classroom, primarily inthe form of curriculum guidelines, it is the responsibility of individual education authorities and headteachers to make decisions on how best to provide music educationin their schools.

Funding for the initiative isbeing allocated to local authorities through the Scottish Arts Council. It willbe for each local authority, working closely with the council, to prepare plansrelevant to its individual circumstances that will enable it to meet the target.

The Scottish Executive has longsupported and encouraged public involvement in the regeneration of architecturallyimportant buildings throughout Scotland. Through Historic Scotland the Executive funds the Buildingsat Risk Register which provides information to the public on historic buildingsin need of rescue with a view to encouraging people to buy them and find new usesfor them. Since the Buildings at Risk initiative was started in 1990, some 650 historicbuildings have been saved in Scotland.

Most public involvement in buildingregeneration projects, however, is channelled through the work of Building PreservationTrusts (BPTs) in rescuing historic buildings which have suffered from long-termneglect. At a local level, Historic Scotland gives priority to BPT projects in awardingrepair grants. Moreover, Historic Scotland provides revenue grant to the ScottishAreas Committee of the Association of Building Preservation Trusts to assist intheir work of promoting and supporting the work of BPTs in Scotland.