Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Structural Funds Regulations direct Objective 2 support towards areas undergoing socio-economic change. Assistance has to be concentrated on significant areas most affected, with due regard to national priorities. In this context the minor changes to the wards proposed in Glasgow I announced on 2 December were defined better to reflect these priorities, in the light of representations made to the Scottish Executive by Glasgow City Council.

Local authorities are expected to meet the cost of pay awards within the total provision for Government Supported Expenditure, which will be £6,746 million next year, an increase of 3.7% over the comparable figure this year, and higher than the forecast increase in the RPI.

Local authorities are expected to meet the cost of pay awards within the total provision for Government Supported Expenditure, which will be £6,746 million next year, an increase of 3.7% over the comparable figure this year, and higher than the forecast increase in the RPI.

I refer the member to the answer to S1W-2882 for the number of authorised absences among secondary school pupils in 1996-97, 1997-98 and 1998-99. More detailed information on categories of authorised absence is not collected by the Scottish Executive.

Authorised absence is defined as:

sickness;

medical and dental treatment;

bereavement;

domestic circumstances relating to exceptional hardship at home;

no school within walking distance and no transport arrangements;

study leave;

religious observance;

family holidays where attendance is otherwise satisfactory;

meetings prior to, and in, court;

attendance at, or in connection with, a Children's Hearing;

attendance at, or in connection with, a Child Care Review;

weddings of immediate family;

certified debates, sports, musical or theatrical productions not arranged by, or in conjunction with, the school;

extended visits overseas to relatives;sanctioned, extended absence in relation to children of travelling families.

Data on the numbers of individual pupils not attending school through authorised or unauthorised absence is not collated nationally. The information can only be represented as an aggregated number of possible attendance.The annual percentage of absence in secondary schools for the years 1996-97 to 1998-99 was as follows:

Secondary Schools	1996-97	1997-98	1998-99
Authorised Absence	11%	10%	10%
Unauthorised Absence	1%	1%	1%

To assist education authorities, schools, teachers and parents in tackling non-attendance the Government supported the publication of the Scottish Initiative on Attendance, Absence and Attainment's good practice document Close to the Mark, which was published in December 1997. This publication offers practical support materials for schools, pulling together the examples of good practice identified by the Initiative in its work on attendance issues. It contains guidelines to help a school evaluate and develop its own practice in line with HMI publication How Good is our School?. Good practice is shared between schools through the Ethos NetworkSchools and education authorities have now agreed targets to raise attendance, and are putting in place strategies to meet those targets. The framework for setting targets was set out in Setting Targets - Raising Standards in Schools, published on 4 March 1998. Locally agreed targets where returned to HMI at the end of last year.Several initiatives funded under the Excellence Fund for Schools - Special Programme, including New Community Schools and Education Action Plans, contain components for reducing the level of absence.

The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the UK Government over a range of matters. We welcome the recent decision to open up Prestwick Airport to US cargo carriers and hope that this will improve the competitiveness of Scottish business.

We have no current plans to do so. However, an additional £1 million per year in 1999-2000 and for the next two years has been allocated to Health Boards to spend on smoking cessation services and nicotine replacement therapy. These services will provide counselling, advice and support to smokers who want to give up. A week's supply of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) will also be offered, free of charge to those who can least afford it.

The recent report by the Standing Advisory Committee on Trunk Road Assessment (SACTRA) on "Transport and the Economy" highlighted the complexities associated with analysing the local economic impacts of transport schemes. They cautioned against exaggerated claims for the significance of such impacts, and argued that studies of local economic development impacts should take full account of the likely displacement of jobs from other areas. The report set out a number of recommendations on how such studies should be carried out. The Executive is currently considering, with the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, the implications of the SACTRA report for its future appraisal methodology.The appraisal carried out for the Strategic Roads Review indicated that the M74 Northern Extension would be likely to have an overall positive impact on the local economy. At this stage, it is impossible to be more precise than this.