There are no proposals to change the research funding arrangements as a result of this incident.

The programme is routinely reviewed each year, and any necessary changes made to reflect shifts in priorities.The time between receipt of samples in the laboratory and the issuing of results is determined by the laboratory procedures required. Whilst automated procedures are used wherever possible, further reductions in testing times are not technically possible.

Clerks are currently preparing draft proposals for the establishment of a scheme to register all party parliamentary groups, to be considered by the Standards Committee. Once such a scheme is in place, the SPCB will be invited to consider what facilities might be made available to registered groups, such as access to meeting rooms in the Parliamentary buildings, and access to catering facilities. An announcement on the arrangements to be put in place will be made in the Business Bulletin in due course.

The Scottish Executive does not hold centrally comprehensive data on fishing licences prior to 1996. The number of licences administered by Scottish Ports on January 1 for the last four years is shown in the following table:

Category	1999	1998	1997	1996
A-White Fish	884	929	964	1015
A-Pelagic	53	52	56	58
B	96	97	98	110
C	72	68	69	75
Under 10 metres	1693	1640	1633	1574
Other	2	5	12	28
Total	2800	2791	2832	2860

Category A licences, split into white fish and pelagic, entitle holders to fish for most relevant species and in most areas. Categories B and C impose further restrictions according to both species and area. Under 10 metre licences are restricted to vessels of this length or under.The figures include licences on vessels and those held as entitlements.

During the last 10 years grants were available for fishery harbour development works under the Fisheries Act 1955 and the European Regional Development Fund. Expenditure in each of the last 10 years was as follows:

Year	Fisheries Act 1955 £	ERDF £
1989-90	187,666	932,484
1990-91	2,426,197	182,033
1991-92	935,973	2,868,349
1992-93	4,255,421	443,478
1993-94	2,277,850	3,914,367
1994-95	2,416,106	2,648,800
1995-96	790,344	2,798,000
1996-97	2,376,924	2,535,000
1997-98	2,697,204	3,155,000
1998-99	1,927,381	2,107,200

Total expenditure on fisheries for each of the last 10 years is covered in the answers to PQ No SIW-00888 and PQ No SIW-00863.

Under the Water Industry Act 1999, it is for the Scottish Executive to appoint the Commissioner. The Executive will make the appointment in full accordance with the principles in the Code of Practice for Public Appointments. This means the Commissioner will be appointed on the basis of merit following an open recruitment exercise. An independent assessor will be closely involved in the exercise to ensure that all candidates are treated equally and their suitability for the post judged against the same criteria.No other bodies will be involved in the exercise. The Parliament's role will be to hold the Executive to account for the appointment. Subsequently, the Parliament will be able to hold the Commissioner to account for the manner in which he or she discharges the functions of the post, including the general function to promote the interests of water customers.

Under the Water Industry Act 1999 the Water Industry Commissioner will appoint members to the three Water Industry Consultative Committees. The Scottish Executive expects the Commissioner to take up his or her appointment on 1 November, and to appoint Committee members as soon as possible after that date.The Commissioner in making these appointments will take into account guidance from the Executive, which will cover the detailed role of the Consultative Committees, and the principles to be observed in recruiting members of the Committees. The guidance will be published.

The Scottish Executive has not had any correspondence with the Chairman of the North of Scotland Water Authority regarding the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive. We have no plans to seek details of correspondence on this topic which Her Majesty's Government has had with the water authority.

Government has identified 60 bathing waters in Scotland. These identifications under EC Directive 76/160/EEC (The Bathing Water Directive) provide protection for both the environment and public health and require the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) to carry out sampling in accordance with the Bathing Waters (Classification) (Scotland) Regulations 1991. I am satisfied that it has sufficient resources to allow it to perform this statutory function. SEPA also has a general duty under section 34 of the Environment Act 1995 to promote the cleanliness of the tidal waters of Scotland.

We are actively seeking to improve the standards of our bathing waters. One of our targets is that all Scotland's beaches will meet clean water standards by 2005.To help achieve this, over the coming months we shall be encouraging partnership approaches such as that taken by the South Ayrshire Council, the West of Scotland Water Authority and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) in relation to the problem of west coast bathing water standards. We shall continue to explore with the water authorities, SEPA and others what can be done to improve bathing water compliance. These discussions will take account of such surveys as that conducted by the Marine Conservation Society.