Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Glasgow pilot Drug Court commenced sitting on 12 November 2001. So far it has imposed 10 Orders, an encouraging start and on course to meet the target of between 150 and 200 orders a year.

There are no plans to bring this funding further within the control of the Student Awards Agency for Scotland. The Agency already issues guidance to institutions on the use of these funds. Individual institutions are better placed to assess the hardship needs of individual students, given the range of circumstances they may face and to issue funds quickly to those students judged most in need.

No target has been set for the private rented sector.

A £25 million programme has been undertaken to upgrade the main shopping streets in the city centre of Glasgow. This was undertaken by Glasgow City Council, in partnership with Scottish Enterprise Glasgow and with European funding. In partnership with the council a range of events are supported throughout the year which promote Glasgow as a vibrant city. Events supported include Glasgow Air Fair and summer in the city events. Over the last three years, Scottish Enterprise Glasgow has provided funding of £225,000, to the City Centre Partnership, for a range projects in the city centre, including the retail sector. Over the last two years Scottish Enterprise Glasgow has funded £20,000 each year for a television advertising campaign to promote Glasgow as the place to shop at Christmas.Greater Glasgow and Clyde Valley Tourist Board, with support of £125,000 from Scottish Enterprise Glasgow, have secured 237 conferences in the last two years.

Our overall aim must be that widening access becomes embedded as a mainstream activity for higher education institutions. I am therefore pleased that as part of its consideration of a new condition of grant the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council is currently considering how to achieve this, in a way which recognises the specific circumstances of individual institutions. Overall funding for the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council for the period 2001-02 to 2003-04 was set out in the guidance letter I sent to the council on 23 November 2000. This noted that overall planned funding for 2001-02 was 5.6% higher in real terms than in the previous year, with the value of the settlement maintained in real terms over the following two years. Over the period, £18 million was specifically earmarked within the council's financial settlement for widening access. In particular, the council was asked to: provide a further 800 fully funded FTE places by academic year 2003, in addition to the 2,000 already allocated in the 1998 review, with these to be targeted in such a way as to maximise their take-up by those from currently under-represented groups;devise a mechanism to provide additional support to institutions which reflects the extent to which they provide for students from under-represented groups, anddevise a scheme to incentivise private sector investment in access initiatives. On 11 December 2000, I subsequently announced that an additional £0.5 million would be made available to the council during 2000-01, which it should use to encourage collaborative development projects to increase the uptake of higher education and Continuing Professional Development in the rural south west.In addition, funding of £21 million has transferred to the council for over the period 2000-01 and 2001-02 in respect of funding for the higher education in the Highlands and Islands via UHI Millennium Institute, designated as a higher education institution on 1 April 2001, and the Open University in Scotland, which has a strong track-record of providing higher education to those in remote rural areas, and whose funding was transferred during 2000-01 to the council. This figure is largely comprised of funds transferred from the Scottish Further Education Funding Council, which previously funded higher education provided by further education colleges in the Highlands, and from the UK Government, which previously funded the Open University in Scotland.

I refer the member to the answer given to question on 6 December 2001.

Telecommunications regulation is reserved to the UK Government. The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the Department of Trade & Industry and OFTEL regarding the impact of UK policies on Scotland.Within the context of its economic development remit, Scottish Enterprise is developing the Accessing Telecoms Links Across Scotland (ATLAS) project which aims to increase choice within the wholesale telecoms market in Scotland. Ultimately this should benefit businesses by increasing choice of suppliers at a local level.

The Scottish Executive has no function in relation to telecommunications regulation.

I refer the member to the answers given to questions S1W-19754 (26 November 2001), S1W-19873 (28 December 2001) and S1W-19874 (28 December 2001).

The Scottish Executive Health Department takes account of supply and demand indicators for the Professions Allied to Medicine (PAMs) in NHSScotland in order to influence the Higher Education Sector in the allocation of PAMs pre-registration student places. This includes the number of student radiographer places in Scotland.