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The criteria applied to the funding available through sportscotland are the Policies and Procedures of the Scottish Lottery Fund Football Academy Strand. These criteria are based on the proposals drawn up and endorsed by the Scottish Football Partnership established by the Scottish Executive. Criteria for other sources of funding have yet to be established.

Awards of financial assistance will be determined by assessment of applications received. It is not possible, therefore, to say which clubs will benefit and to what extent. I do expect, however, to be able to announce shortly the first sportscotland awards for football academies.

Although responsibility for policy on energy pricing is a reserved matter, the Scottish Executive is in regular contact with Scottish Gas on a range of issues, including concerns about fuel poverty in Scotland. The current rise of 4.7% in the price of gas must be seen in the context of a fall in gas prices over the last five years of around 20% in real terms. The effect of the rise on domestic consumers will be to cause a marginal increase in fuel poverty, but this will be mitigated by a number of programmes across Government aimed at helping low-income households.

The Millan Committee, in its report New Directions, which was published on 25 January, recommends the introduction of a community order, where a patient meets the criteria for compulsory measures. The Executive is considering the report and proposes to publish a policy statement in the summer, setting out, as promised in Our National Health: A plan for action, a plan for change, proposals for a modern legislative framework to meet the needs of people with a mental illness who require care and support, both in hospital and the community.

The core telecommunications networks in Scotland provided by operators such as BT, Thus and Energis, all are engineered as Integrated Digital Networks. The fibre backbone extends from Wick in the Highlands, through central Scotland and into Galashiels in the South of Scotland. The principle challenge is to ensure that advanced digital services are extended out to individual customers - the so-called "last mile" problem. The Scottish Executive is working to promote conditions for the most rapid and comprehensive provision of such services.

The position in Scotland regarding retention of organs following post-mortem examination is set out in detail in the Report of the independent Review Group on the Retention of Organs at Post-Mortem published on 6 February 2001.The Executive is seeking urgent changes to the law to make it clear that parents' consent must be sought to the retention of children's organs at post-mortem, and to make it an offence to retain organs without such consent.

The sum of Scottish Departmental Expenditure Limits and Non-Domestic Rate Income, as a proportion of UK GDP, is set out in the table. Over the period, DEL + NDRI has grown by 15.5% in real terms.

	Scottish DEL + NDRI as a proportion of UK GDP %	UK GDP at market prices £ million	Scottish DEL + NDRI at market prices £ million
1994-95	2.03	677,594	13,730
1995-96	1.95	713,980	13,920
1996-97	1.87	756,058	14,168
1997-98	1.76	805,402	14,157
1998-99	1.73	851,654	14,704
1999-2000	1.74	891,583	15,510
2000-01	1.76	936,697	16,514
2001-02	1.81	984,117	17,797
2002-03	1.83	1,033,941	18,941
2003-04	1.84	1,086,283	20,023

* Figures for 2000-01 to 2003-04 are based on projections.Due to the conversion to resource accounting, the sum of DEL (Departmental Expenditure Limits) and NDRI (Non-Domestic Rate Income) is the most robust basis on which to make this comparison.

I understand that South Lanarkshire Council have lodged an appeal in relation to this decision. It would therefore be inappropriate to comment in the meantime.

These issues are of prime concern to the Scottish Executive, Scottish Enterprise Glasgow and Glasgow City Council.In terms of provision of quality modern office space, tenant demand in the city centre is strong, with the vacancy rate at 5% and a good level of enquiries. Currently available stock amounts to around 20,000 square metres in three buildings. A further 22,000 square metres will come on the market during this year.There has, as a result, been an increase in investor interest in the city. At Pacific Quay, one of the city's Strategic Sites, a developer has applied for planning permission for a speculative office development of 6,000 square metres while SE Glasgow has plans for 22,000 square metres of space at that location for digital media companies. On the north bank of the river, a developer has proposals to develop office accommodation on the former Daily Record site and is being encouraged to proceed by SE Glasgow and the City Council.

At the junction of George Street and High Street, SE Glasgow has applied for planning permission to develop, in partnership with the private sector, a business park of some 50,000 square metres of space aimed at technology, software and science-based companies.With regards to steps that are being taken to ensure the provision of trained service sector office staff, this provision is being met through various Scottish Executive training schemes.

The provision of business space within the city of Glasgow is one of the key priorities of the City Council, Scottish Enterprise Glasgow (SEG) and the Glasgow Alliance, and a great deal of activity is being undertaken in this field.Current developments include:Proposals for developers to construct two advance factory units, one of 2,787 square metres and one of 4,645 square metres at Robroyston Business Park, to the north of the city. Proposals by developers for two speculative business units at Cardonald Park, one of 2,414 square metres the other of around 3,251 square metres.Discussions regarding the construction of a speculative unit extending to 929 square metres at the West of Scotland Science Park.The need to enhance the physical business infrastructure of the city has also been recognised by the Scottish Executive, which has recently allocated an additional £2 million to SEG specifically to support Glasgow's Strategic Business and Industrial Sites Programme.