My letter of 5 December 2002, to the Convener of the Finance Committee, reported that a list of individual contractors or contracts, where performance bonds have, or have not, been requested, cannot be provided for reasons of commercial confidentiality. I am, therefore, unable to provide the information requested.

The Scottish Executive's participation in the EU policy-making process is subject to the Concordat on the co-ordination of EU policy issues, which includes explicit provisions on the confidentiality of discussions.

Highland Council's free personal and nursing care total allocation in 2002-03 was £4.106 million. Of this, £2.092 million was based on the most recent information available on the number of residents funding their own care in residential and nursing homes in that area. In addition, the council received £2.014 million which was distributed pro rata through the Grant Aided Expenditure formula for social work services for home-based older people. The Spending Review 2002 settlement reflects the Care Development Group's (CDG) costing assumptions for free personal care. The group took into account, as key influences, demography along with other relevant health and social factors, change in the unit costs of care, supply of informal care and possible shifts in care provision. Their assumptions estimated an increase in demand from unmet need and a shift from informal to formal care of approximately 12% building up over the first two years of the policy to 2004-05. The Executive provided resources in excess of those identified by the CDG.The Executive will be collecting data from local authorities on the uptake of free personal and nursing care on a quarterly basis. This will inform whether any adjustment of allocation is necessary.

In addition to the recently completed £233,700 footway in Duror, the final section of footway at the War Memorial is currently being discussed with Highland Council and once agreement is reached this section will be programmed for implementation.The double white line system through Duror is due to be refurbished within the next few weeks and improvements to the visibility at Achindarroch junction are being investigated.Speed surveys are being undertaken at two locations within Duror and will be used to re-assess the need for a speed limit.Officials have contacted the Duror and Kentallen Community Council and a meeting will be arranged with them shortly to discuss these and other issues.

The Scottish Household Survey (SHS) collects data from a sample of Scottish households on an annual basis. In the three years from 1999 to 2001, on average 7% of people living in rural areas said that they did not have a bus service.The Executive supports transport in rural areas through the Rural Transport Fund (RTF). This supports over 400 new or enhanced bus and ferry services and over 100 Rural Community Transport Initiative projects.

The following table provides details of the cost of medical negligence claims over the last 10 years.

Financial Year	Total Award	Total Expenses	Total Cost
1992-93	£1,794,429	£277,558	£2,071,987
1993-94	£1,892,312	£252,290	£2,144,602
1994-95	£3,051,962	£342,016	£3,393,978
1995-96	£3,554,930	£569,043	£4,123,973
1996-97	£4,059,883	£535,621	£4,595,504
1997-98	£3,521,199	£623,936	£4,145,135
1998-99	£3,303,709	£653,383	£3,957,092
1999-2000	£2,955,357	£555,778	£3,511,135
2000-01	£3,925,462	£890,870	£4,816,332
2001-02	£6,462,315	£815,534	£7,277,849

There has been no comparison undertaken between compensation paid in these cases and what the levels of compensation may have been paid under a "no fault" health insurance scheme.There are currently no plans to alter the way in which compensation is claimed and settled for acts of possible clinical negligence. However, you will be aware that in response to the reports published earlier in the year, by the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Church of Scotland, the Scottish Executive established an expert group to look at current compensation arrangements for patients injured by the NHSScotland. This group is due to report by the end of 2002.

I understand that Northlink Orkney and Shetland Ferries Ltd intends to publish detailed information on missed sailings and late arrivals on its website at www.northlinkferries.co.uk, and I refer the member to that site for regular performance information. I expect to receive a monthly report from the company, in terms of our agreement with them, within six weeks of the end of the month concerned.

We have no current plans to do so. At present, employers generally have the option but not the legal obligation to ask the police to investigate suspected crimes on their premises. There are some limited statutory exceptions to this. For example, where employers suspect that money laundering may be taking place, then steps must be taken to bring this to the attention of supervising authorities.Regardless of the attitude of public agencies, there is nothing to prevent an employee or any other person making a complaint about a suspected criminal offence to a professional body, the police or the procurator fiscal. The Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 provides protection for individuals who make certain disclosures of information in the public interest. This includes the disclosure of information which, in the reasonable belief of the worker making the disclosure, tends to show inter alia that a criminal offence has been committed, is being committed or is likely to be committed.Nevertheless I will consider the specific examples raised in correspondence from the member and respond to him.

The Scottish Executive will continue to press the European Commission to allow further simplification of the subsidy schemes on such things as form filling, proportionality of penalties, inspection procedures and detailed scheme rules.

The Scottish Forestry Grants Scheme (SFGS) represents a major change from the current Woodland Grant Scheme and Farm Woodland Premium Scheme (both of which operate across Great Britain). Development of information systems to support SFGS is a significant task and, to ensure that the systems are properly developed and tested, the Forestry Commission has recently announced that applications for SFGS will not be accepted until June 2003, after which the scheme should be fully operational. This represents a two-month delay to the original target date of April 2003, but the existing grant schemes are being kept open for an additional two months to minimise any inconvenience to the industry. The necessary changes to the Scottish Rural Development Plan have been approved by the EU STAR (Agricultural Structures and Rural Development Committee), as announced on 19 November.