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Local authorities receive very significant resources for education provision in the local government settlement. In addition, the following targeted resources are being provided for school education for children and young people with special educational needs:

• £20 million in both 2002-03 and 2003-04 through the National Priorities Action Fund Inclusion Programme to support inclusion and equality in Scottish schools.
• £7.8 million in both 2002-03 and 2003-04 to local authorities to provide training for teaching and other staff to enable them to support and teach effectively children with a variety of special educational needs.
• £5 million over 2002-03 and 2003-04 under the SEN Innovation Grant Programme to voluntary and non-statutory organisations.
• £8.8 million in 2002-03 to the seven grant-aided special schools.

There is in addition a wide range of initiatives which will significantly improve services for young people with special educational needs, although they are not exclusively aimed at them. These include implementation of the Beattie Committee Report and The Same as You.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-25236.

No. Mr Murch did not prepare such a report. Constructing the Future was one of several internal Scottish Prison Service (SPS) submissions which were subsequently taken into account in the SPS Estates Review.

The review has been widely distributed including on the Scottish Executive website. A variety of response mechanisms are available and I encourage everyone to respond.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-25236.

The Executive's guidance to planning authorities contained in National Planning Policy Guideline (NPPG) 17, Transport and Planning, places particular emphasis on accessibility to new development by public transport.

As part of our Drugs Communications Strategy, national mass media campaigns are already under way, using the Know the Score logo, to encourage the public to find out more about drugs and where advice and treatment can be obtained across Scotland.The Executive has provided £13.1 million over the three years from 2001-02 to 2003-04 in additional resources to NHS boards to support new and improved drug treatment services. Additional funding of some £2 million over the same period has also been made available to provide treatment services for drug misusers who are involved in the new drug courts.

Tackling health inequalities is the overarching aim of the public health improvement programme being progressed by the Scottish Executive and a range of partners. The programme is based on a three-level approach: improving the life circumstances that impact on health, addressing the lifestyles that lead to illness and early death, and working directly on priority health topics. The White Paper, Towards a Healthier Scotland (Bib. number 3036), and the Scottish Health Plan, Our National Health: A plan for action, a plan for change (Bib. number 10298), provide further details and are available in the Parliament's Reference Centre.

By March 2003, the Electronic Clinical Communications Implementation project will be in place throughout Scotland, enabling widespread electronic linking between GP surgeries and hospitals. This will bring a number of significant benefits for patients, including electronic booking of hospital out-patient appointments by patients and their GPs, via the GP surgery.

The National Waiting Times Unit (NWTU), which I established earlier this year, is working with NHS boards on the development of local waiting times standards, which reflect local clinical priorities, and which focus on tackling the longest waiting times for out-patient appointments.The Executive undertook, in Our National Health, published in December 2000, that the national maximum waiting time for in-patient/day case treatment would be reduced to nine months, from the current 12 months, by 2003. The Executive, through the NWTU, is working with NHSScotland to help the service achieve this target.