Health boards were informed about the additional money on 22 February 2000. Health boards can carry forward these funds into the 2000-01 financial year if required.

No, the Scottish Executive does not plan to withdraw this statement as it states accurately our commitment to investment in water and sewerage services, including those in rural areas.

Levies collected and the percentages allocated directly to Scotland in each of the last five years are given in the table below. The balance of income is channelled to MLC core activities, which include technical and development support at the headquarters in Milton Keynes and technical support through the Brussels Office from which Scottish producers benefit.The advent of QMS will ensure the continuation of existing funding arrangements to SQBLA and SPII, with money currently used to support the MLC's Scottish Office being added to the total. Additionally there is scope for extra cash to be injected into QMS, including resources from the MLC's main budget. Unlike its predecessors, QMS will also have a direct influence on Commission decisions affecting all levy monies raised in Scotland.

Year	Income £ million	% Directly Allocated to Scotland %
1999-2000	4.9	37
1998-99	5.1	31
1997-98	5.1	27
1996-97	5.4	26
1995-96	5.3	23

The appointment of board members and the criteria used to select them is entirely a matter for the organisations represented on QMS. However, I have always believed that if QMS was to succeed it would need to appoint people of the highest calibre and, in my opinion, the appointment of Neil Kilpatrick as Chairman and other members of the board meets that requirement.

This information is not held centrally.

There are no current plans for a UK Fisheries Institute. If such an Institute were to be established I believe that a strong case exists for locating the Institute in Scotland. I have written to the Minister for Fisheries and Countryside at MAFF, Elliot Morley, expressing this view. The Deputy First Minister, Mr Wallace has also written to Mr Morley expressing similar views.

I apologise for the delay in answering this question.The aggregate sterling value of individual EU programmes is dependent on the euro/sterling exchange rate at the time that money is drawn down from the European Commission. These draw-downs will continue over the next two years as grants are paid out under the 1994-1999 EU programmes. The impact of currency fluctuations will not therefore be known until 2002. The £2.5 million figure quoted at the Rural Affairs Committee meeting represented an interim estimate of the effects of exchange rates on the sterling value of EU resources drawn down, at various exchange rates, and in several instalments since 1994, which have been allocated to the Highlands and Islands Agricultural Programme. This figure will be subject to change depending on exchange rates between the time that the £2.5 million was calculated and 2002.

This information is all in the public domain.

Education authorities were requested to provide returns on numbers of exclusions from the beginning of the 1998-99 school session. That is, therefore, the only year for which we currently have figures.

Across the Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire areas, temporary exclusions in primary schools, across all stages, averaged 11 half days for each 100 pupils. Temporary exclusions in secondary schools, across all stages except S6, averaged 71 half days for each 100 pupils. The numbers of pupils removed from the register (permanent exclusions) across the same areas totalled three in primary schools and 28 in secondary schools.

Decisions of this nature are a matter for individual Departments or Agencies to consider.