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On St Andrew’s Day thisyear, the First Minister's speech, delivered at the Royal Scottish Academy ofMusic and Drama, focused on culture and the creativity of the Scottish people.The First Minister addressed an audience comprising leading representatives of Scotland'scultural scene: representatives from national cultural organisations, frompublic and private sector bodies, arts practitioners; and also commentators,and students from leading cultural academic institutions. This address, whichcan be accessed at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/pages/news/extras/00017600.aspx.,and a specially commissioned film, Celebrating Scotland's Culture, werebroadcast live on the Executive website.

Breakdown of Event Costs

Celebrating Scotland’s Culture Film	£10,985.00 (excluding VAT)
Production Costs	£ 2,635.00 (excluding VAT)
Catering	£ 2,706.00 (excluding VAT)
Total	£16, 326.00 (excluding VAT)

In addition the First Ministersent a message by Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) telegram to allexpatriate Scots and people with affinity for Scotland around the world tomark the day. This was used by 59 FCO posts at social events they organised orattended.

The Scottish publishingsector is recognised as important to the cultural and creative life of Scotland. the Scottish Arts Council has commissioned “A Review of Scottish Publishing in the21st Century”, which is to be published this year. The council will use the review’srecommendations to determine the appropriate support strategy for the sector. Additionally,a feasibility study into the potential for a web portal site to provide aplatform for Scottish books is also to be funded by the council in 2003-04.

The provision of busservices is a matter for the operating companies concerned, subject to therequirements of their licenses.

The bid specification forthe ScotRail franchise was primarily concerned with the provision of railservices. However, in line with the priorities set out in Scottish ministers’directions and guidance to the Strategic Rail Authority, bidders were also askedto submit a plan regarding inter-modal travel/integrated transport. These planswill be assessed as part of the overall evaluation process.

As with any business, any requirementsof competition law that may apply to operators of rail or bus services in Scotlandmust be met. However, competition is a reserved matter and the Scottish ministershave no functions in this area.

The Parliament received 48 high-profile or VIP visits between May 1999 to May 2000 (inclusive) and 80visits between May and the end of December 2003. From January to end of May2004, the Parliament’s External Liaison Unit are currently developingprogrammes for 18 visits but it is expected that the number of visits willincrease during this period.

The attached table sets out thenumber of high-profile or VIP visits for each month covered in the periodsabove.

Year	Number of Visits
1999
May	1
June	3
July	2
September	1
August	3
October	2
November	4
December	3
2000
January	1
February	3
March	5
April	8
May	13
Total number of visits (May 1999 to May 2000 inclusive)	49
2003
May	9
June	18
July	5
September	2
August	16
October	14
November	10
December	6
Total number of visits (May to December 2003 inclusive)	80
Estimated total number of visits January to May 2004 inclusive	18

This is entirely anoperational matter for visitscotland.com.

Scottish development international(SDI) is charged with attracting inward investment projects to Scotland.SDI is pursuing a number of major inward investment projects including severalin the online services sector. Due to considerations of commercialconfidentiality, itis normal procedure neither to confirm nor deny whether talks are under waywith any specific company about inward investment location decisions.

Prematuredisclosure of company plans for new operations before location decisions arefinalised can lead to loss of competitive advantage, and for publicly quotedcompanies there are often regulatory issues to be considered in advance ofmaking announcements of significant changes to operations.

However,I can confirm that Amazon is clearly recognised as a major e-business playerand has been the subject of selling efforts by SDI and its predecessor body forseveral years.

The Future Development ofAir Transport in the United Kingdom: Scotland contains forecasts up to 2030 of the potential growthof air freight/cargo at Scotland’s main airports including Edinburgh.The impact on surface access will be dependent on whether this growth isrealised. Any improvement in access to the freight section of Edinburgh Airport atTurnhouse is a matter for the local authority, in conjunction with the airportowner.

Both the Rural West EdinburghLocal Plan (which has not yet been adopted) and the West Edinburgh PlanningFramework make provision for the safeguarding of options for possible new roadaccesses to the airport. The Executive currently has no plans regarding anaccess route from the M8 east of the M9 exit. Our priority is to invest insignificant new public transport links to the airport.

There are no plans in thecurrent programme to extend the Edinburgh by-pass from Maybury to Barnton.

The European Commission hasalready issued a call for applications for Marco Polo funding by 10 December 2003. Inthe following months, all eligible applications will be assessed by a panel ofofficials from each member state. The panel will receive advice from theCommission on the quantative benefits of proposals under Marco Polo rules. TheUK Government and the Scottish Executive do not believe it is appropriate tosupport individual proposals until such time as we have seen the full spread ofeligible applications involving Scotland and the UK and had the opportunity to assess the merits ofeach.