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The Food Standards Agency has advised me that the EU ASP Working Group requested further information on the variation of toxin levels in individual parts of the scallop. A second, more detailed scientific report addressing this issue has been prepared and will be scrutinised by the working group in early April. The reports were prepared for the EU Working Group and they will decide on the circulation.Additionally work is being progressed by the Agency to ensure a rigorous enforcement regime, and an adequate monitoring programme can be developed which will guarantee consumer safety should a tiered approach be acceptable in scientific terms.

We are in regular contact with the UK Government on a range of issues.

No payments can be made to members of the Scottish Transport Group pension schemes before the Scottish Transport Group is wound up.

An Agriculture Council was scheduled for that week and it was thought that Mr Finnie would attend. The meeting was cancelled but because of an administrative oversight the information which had been entered on the department's database was not amended. Steps have now been taken to prevent similar errors occuring in the future. Information on ministerial attendance at EU meetings provided to the Parliament's Reference Centre has been amended.

Following my announcement on 13 December, the Executive wrote to all Education Authorities, Further Education colleges and heads of other centres on 18 December inviting them to submit requests for review by 10 January. By 19 January, the Appeals Review team had received 3,974 returns.In order to ensure that no appeals were excluded solely because of their late submission, the Appeals Review team accepted requests for review as late as 29 January when subject teams began their work. In a few very exceptional cases, requests have been accepted beyond this date. However, at this stage in the process it is no longer possible for the team to accept more new cases.As at 21 February, 4,216 cases were included in the appeals review process, and a breakdown of these cases by Education Authority is shown in the table.

Appeals Review 2000Numbers of cases by education authority

ABERDEEN CITY	86
ABERDEENSHIRE	210
ANGUS	100
ARGYLL & BUTE	81
CLACKMANNAN	14
DUMFRIES & GALLOWAY	238
DUNDEE CITY	94
EAST AYRSHIRE	136
EAST DUNBARTONSHIRE	117
EAST LOTHIAN	67
EAST RENFREWSHIRE	100
CITY OF EDINBURGH	276
EILEAN SIAR	47
FALKIRK	77
FIFE	271
GLASGOW CITY	253
HIGHLAND	139
INVERCLYDE	69
MIDLOTHIAN	68
MORAY	67
NORTH AYRSHIRE	96
NORTH LANARKSHIRE	184
ORKNEY ISLANDS	19
PERTH & KINROSS	66
RENFREWSHIRE	137
SCOTTISH BORDERS	163
SHETLAND ISLANDS	3
SOUTH AYRSHIRE	106
SOUTH LANARKSHIRE	147
STIRLING	72
WEST DUNBARTON	43
WEST LOTHIAN	92
TOTAL	3,638
FE COLLEGES	71
INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS	507
TOTAL CASES	4,216

It is not sportscotland's practice to disclose to third parties whether or not it has received an application from any particular person or group.

The Regulations governing the Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS) are extremely tight and leave little room for discretion when applying penalties. There are, however, certain circumstances under which "obvious" errors can be accepted, and Area Aid Applications can be amended after the submission date of 15 May. Officials have been pressing the EU on the extension of the obvious error concept, and also on the proportionality of sanctions. My department, along with other UK Departments and other member states, are now providing ideas for consideration by a Commission Working Group established to look at simplification of the Common Agricultural Policy.

The "local community", as applied to the Local Facilities Strand of the Sports Facilities Programme, is determined through sportscotland's supply/demand model and is the appropriate catchment for a particular facility type. This varies from facility to facility and is affected by location, geography and transportation.Other strands of the programme take account of "communities of interest". For example, the National and Regional strands focus on discrete sporting groups, including disabled persons.

Under the Agenda 2000 proposals, my officials participated in a number of discussions on the eligibility of oilseeds to receive aid under the Arable Area Payments Scheme. This was because we recognised that the quality control criteria was an area where a simplification of the rules would benefit producers. The European Commission rejected this, as they were anxious to foster their policy of quality improvement in order to reduce the need to import oilseeds from outwith the Community. Currently, however, my officials are taking part in a general exercise on ways of improving the administration of the CAP. We will thus again be asking the Commission to look carefully at this matter.

The current statutory notification period is determined in the Environmental Protection Act 1990. The Scottish Executive is aware however of the limited opportunity which this allows for public consideration and comment. Accordingly, assurances have been sought and gained from the biotechnology companies which will provide a longer notification period for this spring's farm evaluations. The exact period of notification has not yet been determined.