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Following therecent reforms and restructuring in the enterprise network, we will shortly beadvertising the post of Chief Executive of SDI. It will be a competition thatis open to members of the Civil Service and to staff of Scottish Enterprise andHighlands and Islands Enterprise.

The drugs misuse budgetwithin the Justice portfolio is £29.5 million/£32.0 million/£32.8 million (£28.7million/£30.3 million/£30.3 million at 2007 prices) for the period 2008-9 to2010-11. This budget is used to provide ring-fenced funding to health boards todeliver drug treatment and support services, and to support a range of nationalprojects.

In line with thelocal government finance settlement, it will be the responsibility of localauthorities to allocate funding for drug treatment services to a level decidedby them on the basis of their local needs and priorities from the consolidated blockgrant. In the past, the level of this funding has been significant, and atleast comparable to the drugs misuse budget within the Justice portfolio. Similarly,local authorities fund drug education from the block grant to a leveldetermined by the local authorities themselves.

In addition tothe above, resources for tackling drug misuse are provided through a number ofother budgets. In particular, many health boards use resources from their unifiedbudget to supplement funds provided through the drug misuse budget; the policeuse some of their resources towards tackling drug misuse, and furtherresources, such as those from the budget allocated to dealing with blood borneviruses, are used to deal with the types of problems associated with drugmisuse.

The joint ScottishGovernment and COSLA concordat covers the three years of the Spending Review 2007period (2008-11) and puts in place sufficient resources to freeze council tax ratesat 2007-08 levels.

Individual local authorityallocations will be announced in mid-December, following further discussions withCOSLA.

The joint ScottishGovernment and COSLA concordat covers the three years of the Spending Review 2007period (2008-11). As part of the Concordat, the Cabinet Secretary for Educationand Lifelong Learning and I will meet the COSLA Presidential Team every two monthsto review progress and any issues that may arise.

Individual local authorityallocations will be announced in mid-December, following further discussions withCOSLA.

The Scottish Governmenthas not received such a formal request from the leader of Glasgow City Council.

We have announcedas part of the enterprise network reform that responsibility for local regenerationand local delivery of Business Gateway would transfer to local authorities. Theaim of the reform was to de-clutter the enterprise landscape in Scotland and toallow Scottish Enterprise to focus on priorities which will make a net positiveimpact on our national economy.

Glasgow City Councilhas a budget as updated under SR07 and it is up to the local authority to prioritisewithin that budget.

It is also importantto remember that there will still be a Scottish Enterprise local office in Glasgow which will continue to work in partnership with GlasgowCity Council to deliver.

A number of budgetlines across the Scottish Government provide resources for tackling drug misusein 2007-08.

£31.7 million wasallocated from the Justice portfolio in 2007-08. Of this, £23.7 million was allocatedto NHS health boards for drug treatment and rehabilitation services. £3 millionwas transferred to the Health and Wellbeing portfolio and Community Justice Servicesfor drugs related activities. The remainder was retained to fund centrally determinedprojects.

In 2007-08, an additional£12.1 million has been made available for drug treatment and rehabilitation foroffenders including Drug Treatment Testing Orders.

There is also expenditureon drugs from the local government budget. The level of this funding has been significant,and at least comparable to the ring-fenced funding provided by centralgovernment. The most recent figures available show that in 2005-06 £37.3 millionwas spent by local authorities on community care services for people with drug and/oralcohol problems.

Health boards alsouse some of their unified budget for drug treatment services. For example, the mostrecent figures show that costs and fees for methadone mixture in 2005-06 amountedto £12.2 million.

Other relevant budgets,such as the police and some of those within the Health and Wellbeing portfolio alsoused some of their resources towards tackling drug misuse. Education authoritiesalso provide drugs education in schools from their wider budgets.

The Scottish GovernmentCounsellor will have overall responsibility for the delivery of Scottishministers’ purpose and strategic objectives in North America. A key part of his role will be to work with the variouspublicly funded bodies that operate in North America to support the most efficientand effective delivery of these objectives. In particular, the Scottish GovernmentCounsellor will have management responsibility for the Scottish DevelopmentInternational’s (SDI) operation in North America, though the Director of SDI NorthAmerica will retain an important professional line of accountability to the Chief Executive of SDI. The SDI Management Board will oversee the work of SDI overalland as such will receive regular reports on North American activity.

The Scottish Governmenthas made clear that its top priority is to pursue sustained economic growth. Ourtrade and investment arm, Scottish Development International, has a key role toplay in delivering this objective and working with other Scottish Government agenciesto strengthen economic, educational and cultural links with Scotland’s leading overseas markets. We have no current plansto create additional overseas posts but will continue to work to ensure that when overseas customers engage with thegovernment they see Scotland and not a collection of different agencies.