The Scottish Executive is working closely with Scottish Enterprise to strengthen Scotland's position as a world centre for leading edge biotechnology and pharmaceutical research. Between 1999 and 2004, as part of the biotechnology cluster action plan, Scottish Enterprise is due to inject £38 million into the continued development of this key sector. This promotional activity is taking a number of forms, including issuing regular e-bulletins to over 2,000 international contacts and use of the Biotechnology Scotland website, where 50% of visitors to the site are from overseas. Opportunities for networking and international partnership working are also being developed.

This work is supported by Scottish Trade International and its network of overseas offices, including its four Scottish Technology and Research Centres in the US. This provides a platform within priority markets for the promotion of Scottish research expertise and the development of strategic alliances. One such partnership agreement was signed in August between Scottish Enterprise and the Maryland Bioscience Alliance, with the support of the Scottish Executive and the State of Maryland. This alliance will help promote business and research collaborations with one of the premier life science centres in the United States.

In another recent development, a research agreement worth over £5 million, between the Japanese company Kyorin Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. and Scottish Biomedical, will see the creation of a brand new research facility based at the West of Scotland Science Park.

Local authorities made a full commitment to Best Value in 1998 by the preparation of implementation plans for its incorporation. This justified the continuance of the moratorium on Compulsory Competitive Tendering by the then Minister for Local Government, Henry McLeish MP. The Scottish Executive has continued to work in partnership with local authorities and others to develop Best Value in local government.

This information is not held centrally. Details of drug treatments given in hospitals are not available centrally. Data collected centrally relates only to prescribed items dispensed by community pharmacists and dispensing doctors.

The Scottish Executive agrees that we need to do more to ensure that excluded young people have the opportunity to make a successful transition to adulthood.

We recognise the particular problems of poverty and disadvantage in Glasgow and are investing significant amounts to enable agencies and organisations to address these problems more effectively. Glasgow City Council received a special deprivation payment of £8.7 million in 2000-01 and can also expect to receive real terms grant increases in each of the next three years as a result of the extra £1.2 billion support for local government we announced in the Spending Review. We have committed £12.5 million to resource alternative provision for Glasgow's hostel dwellers, many of whom are excluded young people and Glasgow will benefit from the additional £100 million we have announced for tackling drug misuse. In addition the implementation of the recommendations of the Arbuthnott Report and the £90 million Better Neighbourhoods Fund, will ensure that service providers can access increased resources to tackle deprivation and social exclusion in areas of greatest need, including Glasgow.

The Learning Disability Review Report, launched on 11 May, estimated that there are around 120,000 people with learning disabilities in Scotland, but acknowledged that detailed information about them, and the services they receive, was inadequate.

The report recommends that local authorities and health boards should jointly draw up "partnership in practice" (PiP) agreements by June 2001 which will serve as the strategic planning document for meeting the needs of people with learning disabilities. A key component of these first PiP's should set out how local authorities and health boards will set up and maintain local registers.

Information on the numbers of children with special educational needs is published in the Scottish Executive School Census Statistical Bulletin which can be found on the Scottish Executive website.

Scottish Enterprise Glasgow (SEG) continuously monitors market availability and suitability to ensure that all aspects of demand for office accommodation in Glasgow can be accommodated. SEG in partnership with Glasgow City Council has over the last five years assembled and promoted the Strategic Sites Programme, which allows IT companies who wish to build their own facility to purchase serviced sites direct from SEG at seven locations throughout Glasgow. In addition, SEG in partnership with Services to Software operate a incubator facility at 150 St Vincent Street which provides small offices on flexible terms with associated infrastructure and business support facilities. The incubator facility has been fully occupied since it opened three years ago.

The city centre office market with a total stock of some 20 million square feet represents the largest office sector outwith London. Modern large scale occupiers with a heavy IT requirement typically require increasingly large floorplates. This is to achieve economies of scale, to provide raised access flooring for underfloor cabling and air conditioning, and a floor to ceiling height of c.2.5 metres. To date there has been no evidence to suggest that the private sector has been unable to provide this standard of accommodation. However, due to the continuing trend for larger floorplates there is increasing evidence of development activity in the Broomielaw. This is primarily due to the fact that the traditional grid iron layout of the city centre cannot provide the size of floorplate some large companies require whereas the Broomielaw can. SEG together with Glasgow City Council and private sector developers have under consideration proposals for the development of business parks at several locations outside of the city centre. SEG in partnership with the private sector are creating a business park at Pacific Quay adjacent to the new National Science Centre. It is envisaged that Pacific Quay will appeal to companies with large IT requirements in the creative industries sector, for example media, design, and software development companies.

In September Henry McLeish also announced the proposed inner-city Science Park development adjacent to Strathclyde University at a site which has been assembled by SEG at George Street/Albion Street to the east of the city centre. This projected £60 million development will ultimately provide c.500,000 square feet of office accommodation aimed specifically at target sectors of the economy which includes software, optoelectronics and biotechnology.

National planning policies encourage the reuse of brownfield sites for new development.

The Scottish Enterprise Network offers support for brownfield development ranging from direct property and site assistance, such as addressing adverse physical conditions associated with brownfield land, to indirect support, advice and advocacy, assessment of the property market and opportunities for competitive advantage.

The development of some dwellings in deprived areas is supported financially through Scottish Homes Grants for Rent or Ownership scheme.

Following the launch of Smoking Kills in December 1998, £3 million was allocated to health boards for smoking cessation services and nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) to be targeted at areas of social deprivation.

Smoking cessation has also been identified as a priority for investment from the £26 million Health Promotion Fund. Health boards will be able to provide more practical support through the NHS for those people who want to quit smoking.Comprehensive information on local smoking cessation services and on the number of people who have received free NRT is not held centrally.

The Scottish Executive will examine the findings of the recent survey, commissioned by HEBS and ASH (Scotland) on public perceptions of passive smoking, when they become available.

The Executive recognises the importance for public awareness and understanding of issues surrounding passive smoking. Everyone should be able to be free from smoke and the effects of smoke wherever possible. It is important for employers, owners and managers of premises to understand these issues and to share the responsibility for creating smoke-free environments

The Executive will consider the need for a public awareness campaign on the effects of passive smoking in the light of the results of this latest survey when known, together with the impact of the Scottish Voluntary Charter on Smoking in Public Places and the HSE's proposed Approved Code of Practice on Passive Smoking in the Workplace.

The amount paid in rates is just one of many influences on the birth, growth and survival of businesses, and so extremely difficult to isolate its effect.