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The Scottish Governmentis currently considering conducting studies into the feasibility, costs and benefitsof implementing combined heat and power (CHP) systems in parts of Scotland.

Various studies fromthe Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Greenpeace and the World Alliance forDecentralised Energy (WADE) have assessed the feasibility, cost and benefits ofdecentralised energy systems. These studies suggest that local generation of electricityreduces transmission losses and combined heat and power (CHP) systems can operateat significantly higher efficiencies by reusing waste heat from electricity generation.

We are currently reviewingScottish government funding for the bus industry, including the Bus Route DevelopmentGrant scheme, with bus operators and transport authorities to ensure that it isdirected at improving the quality and reliability of services and at enhancing businfrastructure.

Following a slightdelay to their timetable, the NHSScotland Resource AllocationCommittee (NRAC) have advised that they intend to submit their report to me in August2007.

The key areas forgrowth in the tourism sector are greater productivity and increased investment forexpansion. As with most business models, a number of different drivers are requiredto influence that growth. These include: better capacity utilisation; greater cross-selling;market positioning; effective marketing by the public and private sectors, and capitalinvestment.

We are determinedto do all we can to increase the effectiveness of Scotland’s tourism effort. To do that, we will consider all aspects of Scotland’stourism industry, including funding for tourism services.

Our intention,subject to the outcome of the 2007 Strategic Spending Review, is that theinitial budget for the Enhanced Demand Responsive Transport Initiative will beat least the combined present budgets of the three current funding streams, increasedto allow for inflation.

Yes. The newEnhanced Demand Responsive Transport Initiative will encompass the currentfunding streams for the Rural Community Transport Initiative, the Rural PublicPassenger Transport Grant Scheme and the current Demand Responsive TransportInitiative.

There is real potentialfor tourism benefits to be spread across Scotland, and indeed this has already started happening. Many visitors come to Scotland for a city break, so VisitScotland promotes all of Scotland’s cities rather than just the traditional tourist destinations.Similarly, when visitors are considering a city break, VisitScotland’s marketingencourages them to consider leaving the city for part of their trip, to experienceother parts of the local area. Many visitors are attracted by Scotland’s wild landscape,and want a truly authentic Scottish experience far from the tourist hotspots, sothere is real potential for these more remote areas to benefit from the tourismeconomy, and again VisitScotland marketing supports this. There is, however, withoutdoubt more that could be done to encourage visitors to visit other parts of Scotlandand the government will encourage VisitScotland to support this approach.

VisitScotland isalready a high performing organisation which has demonstrated that it can makea very effective contribution to the growth of Scottish tourism. Nevertheless,I am determined to ensure that the structures we have in place to supportScottish tourism are the right ones, and I am therefore working with theindustry, and the public sector organisations which work alongside it, toidentify whether these structures need to be adjusted. Any proposals for reformwill be announced in due course.