The research report "From Citation to Witness Stand: A Study of Police Witness Duty at Court" published last September revealed that since 1991, through the introduction of mandatory intermediate diets and other measures, there has been a 40% reduction in the number of police officers having to be available for court on any given day. We will continue our efforts to improve the way in which witnesses, whether police officers or others, are dealt with by the criminal justice system.

The Scottish Executive will lay regulations before the Scottish Parliament introducing a ban on tobacco advertising and sponsorship. The terms of the draft regulations are currently subject to UK-wide consultations. Under these proposals, the ban on tobacco advertising would come into force on 10 December this year and tobacco sponsorship in line with EU deadlines outlined in the EU Directive 98/43/EC dated 6 July 1998 The consultation period comes to an end on 13 August and Scottish regulations will be tabled shortly thereafter. A parallel set of regulations covering the rest of the UK will be laid at Westminster on a similar timescale.

I refer the Member to the answer I gave to question (S1W-00218).

The Scottish Executive has carefully considered the evidence which exists from other countries on the effect of bans on tobacco advertising and sponsorship on tobacco consumption. Such evidence was assessed in the 1992 Department of Health (Economic and Operational Research Division) publication 'Effect of Tobacco Advertising on Tobacco Evidence:A Discussion Document Reviewing The Evidence'. The evidence from countries which had introduced bans indicated a significant effect. In each case, the banning of advertising was followed by a fall in smoking on a scale which could not reasonably be attributed to other anti-smoking measures in operation in these countries such as increased health education and tighter restrictions on sales of tobacco to young people.

I refer the Member to the answer I gave to question (S1W-00218).

Scottish Office News Release 0553/99 was issued to main media outlets, and also the relevant specialist trade press list on March 8, 1999. As with all news releases, it is available on the Scottish Office website and was available on the Bulletin Board for a week after the date of issue.

Appointments to the Scottish Valuation and Rating Council are made on a personal, not a representative basis. The current members are :-

Professor Gordon S Milne, Chairman

Bill Anderson

Michael Barclay

Duncan Chisholm

Ian Coull

John Devine

Christopher Haddow QC

Geoffrey Johnston

Professor Douglas Mair

Bill Neish

Peter Paisley

Thomas Scholes Albert Tait

The Scottish Executive has no plans to publish this information. The rate of return achieved by the private sector will depend on how successful they are in managing risk during the life of a contract. The operators' accounts will be publicly available.I announced on 24 June that the Scottish Executive will make available the annual expenditure commitments associated with Government public-private partnerships, sector by sector. In addition, for future projects Full Business Cases will be published, which will show whether projects represent value for money.

No. I refer Mr Ewing to my reply given to his question (S1W-00261) on 9 July 1999.

No decision has been made on the introduction of road user charges on any trunk road or motorway, the roads for which the Scottish Executive is responsible. If any such proposals are developed in the future, they will be the subject of full consultation. In terms of other roads, the proposed Transport Bill will legislate to allow local authorities to introduce road user charging on roads for which they are responsible. The coverage of any such schemes will, therefore, primarily be a matter for individual authorities but all schemes will require the approval of Scottish Ministers.