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The Executive recognises the importance of taking a catchment wide approach to addressing flood risk in Glasgow. I am making available an additional capital consent of £1 million to Glasgow City Council which will allow them to take a catchment wide approach in developing sustainable solutions to reduce flood risk in Glasgow.

In July this year Iain Gray and I issued a joint letter to the Chairs of Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise, outlining the key role that local enterprise companies could play in developing the Child Care Strategy, and asking for their support in engaging the enterprise network in the strategy.Following this letter, the Executive organised a seminar on the 19 November for the local enterprise companies to meet with Child Care Partnerships as an opportunity to build links and to share examples of good practice. The event also saw the launch of a Guide to LEC Involvement in the Development of the Child Care Sector. The guide is the result of an Executive-funded research project and is designed to raise awareness of what assistance local enterprise companies can offer the childcare sector. The Executive is planning a further event next year, which will be aimed at employers

The General Register Office for Scotland paper on Drug-Related Deaths in Scotland in 2001 shows that ecstasy was known to be involved in the deaths of 20 people resulting from drug poisoning or overdose. However, we need to be clear that this does not mean that ecstasy was solely responsible for these deaths, as implied in some recent media articles.It is likely that ecstasy, in some cases in conjunction with alcohol, was primarily responsible for only six of these deaths. There were 10 deaths involving poly-drug misuse, where it was not possible to identify the primary drug or drugs responsible. It should be noted, however, that all 10 of these cases involved an opiate, such as heroin, and/or a benzodiazepine. Whilst recorded as being present, ecstasy was not directly involved in the four remaining deaths.The media reports also compared the figure of 20 deaths in Scotland, with a figure of 40 deaths in England and Wales. We understand that the figure for England and Wales comes from a study of deaths in 2001 by St George's Hospital Medical School. The St George's study uses a different methodology from the GROS Paper, so the figures are not directly comparable.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-30406 8 November 2002. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.

The establishment of the Scottish Institute of Sport is a key achievement among a range of initiatives and programmes designed to help our top and emerging athletes compete successfully on the world stage. The Scottish Institute and the network of Area Institutes will ensure that our talented athletes have the top quality coaching and other services and support they need to fulfil their potential. The Talented Athlete and Junior Groups Programmes run by sportscotland and the World Class Performance Programme run by UK Sport are also key parts of the support arrangements.The current review of Sport 21, the development of sportscotland's next four-year lottery strategy and the review of all sportscotland's Exchequer and lottery programmes (following its internal reorganisation) will all contribute to our general aim of encouraging the achievement of sporting excellence.

Planning policy regarding out-of-town retail development is to be found in National Planning Policy Guideline (NPPG) 8: Town Centres and Retailing. Through the use of a sequential approach, the policy contained in NPPG 8 gives priority to town centres for the location of new developments. While the policy does not exclude developments in other locations, they have to be subject to a rigorous examination, part of which includes the effect on existing town centres.A copy of NPPG 8 is available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 1081).

Employment policy is reserved to the UK Government. Jobcentre Plus offers long-term unemployed people in Lanarkshire a range of services to assist them into work including access to New Deal programmes and, in North Lanarkshire, an Action Team for Jobs. The New Deal has helped over 7,000 people across Lanarkshire enter employment and there are special initiatives and support for those clients who face additional difficulties. In addition, in 2002-03, as part of the Scottish Executive's Training for Work programme, Scottish Enterprise (SE) Lanarkshire aim to offer 1,200 work-related training opportunities to long-term unemployed and economically inactive adults in Lanarkshire. SE Lanarkshire are also involved in, and contribute financially, to a range of local projects and initiatives to assist unemployed people, such as the Lanarkshire Community and Employer Intermediaries and PartiSIPate programmes.

The Scottish Executive set a national target of helping 80,000 adults between 2001 and 2004, but recognised that specific targets for each area are best developed locally to reflect local circumstances.The Scottish Executive has now finalised outcome agreements with Community Learning Strategy Partnerships in North and South Lanarkshire, which estimate that almost 11,000 adults in total will be helped during this period.Targets for children are set by schools and local authorities working together to reflect local circumstances.

The Scottish Executive has instructed Amey Highways to investigate the causes of the accidents on the A725 trunk road in the South Lanarkshire Council area highlighted in the STATS 19 returns for 2000-01. Remedial measures will be introduced if any causes are identified as being attributable to the design or condition of the road.

We have accepted all the recommendations in Audit Scotland's report on the review of the management of NHS waiting lists in Scotland. Referral protocols are an important tool particularly when assessing the need for treatment of so called "low" clinical priority patients. The department constantly monitors the way in which NHS management, working with their clinicians, the Medical Royal Colleges and other professional bodies reviews and provides guidance on these matters.