Business advice and support for women is delivered by Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise. The Scottish Executive acknowledge that these services should reflect the specific needs of current or potential women entrepreneurs. The need for a national centre for women's enterprise is currently under consideration.

A feasibility study on establishing a national centre for women's enterprise was undertaken by the Paisley Enterprise Research Centre of the University of Paisley. The Executive is currently considering the report and will shortly announce arrangements for its publication.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-27751 on 15 August 2002.

We will announce detailed spending plans for the three years 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06 in September.

The Scottish Executive supports the principles of Rethinking Construction as a means of delivering best practice and improvements in the construction industry and seeks, where possible, to embed Rethinking Construction principles into policy and implementation.Communities Scotland is introducing new policies and procedures for Registered Social Landlords in order to embed the principles of Rethinking Construction. The object is to secure an improved and cost-effective service from the construction industry for the benefit of tenants.The Public Private Partnership (PPP) process encourages innovation through consortium working to secure effective delivery of projects. The councils participating in the schools PPP programme will be given training and guidance specific to PPP. However, it is a matter for PPP service contractors to decide whether to apply the principles of Rethinking Construction to building procurement within individual school building programmes.We have embarked on a wide-ranging modernisation of the planning system. A number of the initiatives, in particular the recently announced reforms of development planning and the Executive's commitment to higher design standards, support the aims of Rethinking Construction.The modernising of the building control system, which will follow from the proposed Building Bill, will respond to several aspects of the Rethinking Construction initiative, including leadership, focus on the customer, and an integrated team to increase productivity and predictability.

The Scottish Executive supports the principles of Rethinking Construction as a means of delivering best practice and improvements in the construction industry. Scottish Enterprise have agreed to lead a Rethinking Construction initiative, in consultation with Communities Scotland and other stakeholders, using their established clusters approach. Central to this initiative is the creation of a Core Industry Group supported by a wider Rethinking Construction Panel.The Executive has provided £39,500 to fund a secondee for 12 months until the end of September 2002 as part of a knowledge management project called Pulling Together Scotland. As a result, a website has been established to provide information on Rethinking Construction best practice activities in Scotland, assisting the industry and its stakeholders to share information and work in a more joined-up manner.

The Scottish Executive supports the principles of Rethinking Construction as a means of delivering best practice and improvements in the construction industry. Scottish Enterprise have agreed to lead a Rethinking Construction initiative, in consultation with Communities Scotland and other stakeholders, using their established clusters approach. Central to this initiative will be the creation of a Core Industry Group supported by a wider Rethinking Construction Panel.My officials have kept in touch with developments in the rest of the UK, including the recent establishment of Rethinking Construction Centres. Should the Core Industry Group take the view that a Centre is an effective approach to progressing Rethinking Construction in Scotland, the Executive would consider the options.

The potential savings identified by Sir John Egan in the Rethinking Construction report are a 20% reduction in accidents and defects, and a 10% reduction in capital costs and construction time. The report also highlights a potential 10% increase in productivity, turnover and profits for contractors.The Scottish Executive supports the principles of Rethinking Construction as a means of delivering best practice and improvements in the construction industry. Scottish Enterprise will lead a Rethinking Construction initiative in consultation with Communities Scotland and other stakeholders, using their established clusters approach. Central to this initiative is the creation of a Core Industry Group supported by a wider Rethinking Construction Panel.

We are currently in the process of developing an agenda to re-vitalise the Compact and its Good Practice Guides. A Compact Review Group was set up in November 2000, comprising Executive and voluntary sector officials to monitor implementation of the Compact and report to Scottish ministers. The last report on the Compact was published and debated in the Scottish Parliament on 26 September 2001. The review group has now been re-established to ensure the outcomes of the 2001 report are implemented. This group had its first meeting on 3 July 2002.

The Scottish Executive does not currently have any plans to establish a new direct fund for voluntary sector organisations.However, the Executive is of course fully committed to assisting the voluntary sector. The Executive's direct support for the voluntary sector now stands at record levels and has increased year on year since 1998-99. We are also committed to modernising the funding framework for the voluntary sector and this is being considered as part of our on-going work on funding.