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The Scottish Executive set out its broadband strategy last year in Connecting Scotland: Our Broadband Future and our vision was to make broadband connections more affordable and pervasive across the country, including in rural areas. As part of that strategy, the Executive has developed the Pathfinder initiatives to aggregate public sector demand for broadband in the Highlands and Islands and South of Scotland. It is hoped that this major investment on the part of the public sector will help to stimulate both demand for and supply of broadband within these areas, which might not be immediately covered by the commercial market. Work on the Pathfinder initiative is well in hand.Our strategy also undertook to identify where there was a need for direct support measures; our programme under the UK Broadband Fund is developing this element through almost a dozen projects managed by Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise. These include awareness raising measures and technology trials in rural areas, such as Powerline Carrier and Wireless pilots, which aim to determine the potential of these technologies for delivering broadband in rural communities. The UK Government has set a general target on broadband which is to "have the most extensive and competitive broadband market in the G7 by 2005" and the Scottish Executive's broadband strategy is designed to contribute to this overall objective.Currently, about half of the Scottish population has access to broadband via terrestrial ADSL and/or cable-modem equivalents.

The information requested is not held centrally. A service-led group, chaired by a NHS Trust Chief Executive, has been established to consider the issue of missed appointments. NHS boards and trusts, together with primary care teams are already working to ensure that wherever possible if an appointment is cancelled it can be filled by another patient. Patients also have a responsibility to ensure that where they are likely to have difficulty in attending an appointment they inform their practice or clinic as soon as possible.

The available information is given in the following table. The category of "drug" crimes recorded by the police only includes crimes involving the importation, cultivation, supply or possession of drugs. Other types of crime e.g. crimes of dishonesty to fund the purchase of drugs or crimes committed under the influence of drugs may be "drug related" but cannot be separately distinguished in the recorded crime statistics.Drug Crimes Recorded by Police Force Area per 10,000 Population and as a Percentage of Total Crime, 1999 to 2001

	Drugs Crimes as a Rate per 10,000 Population			Drugs Crimes as a Percentage of all Crimes
Police Force area	1999	2000	2001	1999	2000	2001
Central	47	46	71	7	8	12
Dumfries and Galloway	48	31	45	8	6	8
Fife	43	36	47	6	5	6
Grampian	50	44	50	5	5	6
Lothian and Borders	57	58	63	6	6	7
Northern	55	39	58	12	8	12
Strathclyde	76	81	89	8	9	10
Tayside	51	42	53	6	5	7
Scotland	62	61	71	7	7	9

Regulations can be revoked or simplified both by specific instruments addressing these regulations and by elements contained in more wide-ranging instruments. It is therefore not possible to give figures for reductions in bureaucracy. The Executive works to ensure that all regulations are necessary and proportionate. In particular, for regulations which impact on business, charities and the voluntary sector, the use of the Regulatory Impact Assessment and the Review Regulatory Impact Assessment should guarantee that regulations are proportionate, necessary and fit for purpose when they are introduced and remain so over time.

The information requested is not held centrally. Under Paragraph 34 of Schedule 1 of the National Health Service (General Dental Services) (Scotland) Regulations 1996, a dentist is permitted to charge patients who do not turn up for their appointments.

I have referred the question to the Scottish Arts Council asking that a response be made directly to the member.

As part of the Global Connections Strategy launched in October 2001, the Executive stated its aim of attracting high value economic activity to Scotland and stressed the importance of helping anchor companies in Scotland. Scottish Development International officials based both at home and overseas continue to work closely with new and existing clients to identify new inward investment opportunities, including the possibility that companies may wish to establish their European headquarters in Scotland.A number of incentives are available to companies wishing to establish headquarters in Scotland ranging from grants, most notably Regional Selective Assistance grant within the Assisted Areas of Scotland to help with sourcing customers, suppliers and suitably skilled employees.For high potential companies which are owned and are headquartered in Scotland, the Global Companies Development Process offers tailored support to global companies or companies who wish to become global.

I have asked Clive Fairweather, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons to respond. His response is as follows:The number of inspections carried out and reports issued from 1998 to August 2002, (excluding inspections of Legalised Police Cells), is shown in the following table:

Establishment	Number of Inspections	Reports Issued	Comments
HMP Aberdeen	8	5
HMP Castle Huntly	4	4
HMP Edinburgh	4	4
HMP Friarton	1	1	Amalgamated with HMP Perth
HMP and YOI Glenochil	4	4
HMP Inverness	5	5
HMP Noranside	4	4
HMP Perth	5	5
HMP Peterhead	4	4
HM Unit Peterhead	2	1	Opened 1995, mothballed 2000
HMYOI Polmont	6	6
HMP Barlinnie	4	4
HMP and YOI Cornton Vale	3	3
HMP and YOI Dumfries	5	4
HMP Dungavel	3	3	Closed 2000
HMP Greenock	4	4
HM Remand Longriggend	1	1	Closed 2000
HMP Low Moss	4	3
HMP Penninghame	2	1	Closed 2000
HMP Shotts	4	3
HM Unit Shotts	2	2	Amalgamated with main prison (Temporarily Closed 2002)
HM National Induction Centre Shotts	3	3	Amalgamated with main prison
HMP Kilmarnock	3	3	Opened March 1999
HMP Zeist (informal assessment)	1	1	Closed 2002

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:Each prison provides a range of interventions appropriate to the needs of its population for prisoners who misuse drugs (and other substances), as set out in the SPS Drug Strategy, Partnership and Co-ordination (SPS 2000), available through the Parliament's Reference Centre.Due to the multiplicity of tasks performed by staff, no sensible figure exists of the staff related to this work. All staff are to a degree involved in drugs work. Several other outside agencies also help us to deliver services to prisoners, including local authorities, health boards and voluntary sector agencies. In meeting output targets, these agencies are responsible for determining the resources to allocate. We do not keep a grand total.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:Prisoners subject to statutory throughcare are supervised post-release by Criminal Justice Social Work Services. Short-term prisoners with substance misuse problems (including drugs, alcohol and volatile substances) released from all prisons may access the newly implemented Transitional Care service, provided by the Scottish Prison Service. This service provides pre-release needs assessment and up to 12 weeks post-release advocacy support for needs related to accommodation, employment and training, education, personal finance and health needs, including substance misuse related support.Additional support arrangements may be in place from time to time through local ad-hoc arrangements.