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Five forces were involved in the operation to police the Scotland against England football match on Saturday 13 November. The operation lasted from Friday 12 November through to Sunday 14 November and the costs incurred were:

£
Dumfries & Galloway Constabulary	6,500
Fife Constabulary	1,000
Lothian & Borders Police	20,000
Strathclyde Police	300,000
Tayside Police	2,500
Total	330,000

Approximately £60,000 will be recovered from the Scottish Football Association by Strathclyde Police, under the normal charges for the services of police officers at football matches. The balance will be met from forces' operational budgets for the current year.

The table below indicates the main reasons cited by higher education students, or presumed by their institution, for not continuing their education. Information is not available centrally on the cost of students leaving their course early. Comparable information about the further education sector is not available.

Table: Reasons given by students in Higher Education Institutions in Scotland for not continuing their education

1996-97	No.	1997-98	No.	1998-99	No.
Other personal reasons	2,752	Other personal reasons	2,085	Other personal reasons	2,173
Academic failure/left in bad standing/not permitted to progress	1,324	Other	2,061	Other	2,043
Other	827	Academic failure/left in bad standing/not permitted to progress	1,569	Academic failure/left in bad standing/not permitted to progress	1,586
Written off after a lapse of time	776	Unknown	961	Unknown	1,110
Unknown	776	Written off after a lapse of time	499	Health reasons	414
Health reasons	440	Health reasons	442	Written off after a lapse of time	315
Course result unknown	285	Financial reasons	328	Financial reasons	278
Financial reasons	282	Gone into employment	255	Course result unknown	272
Gone into employment	264	Course result unknown	101	Gone into employment	231
Death	50	Death	44	Death	35
Exclusion	15	Exclusion	23	Exclusion	19

Excludes those who successfully completed their course, those who continued into the next year, and those who transferred to another institution.

Following the recent publication of the Performance Indicators report for the whole of the UK higher education sector, the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council are currently reviewing the figures, including those for non-completion, with a view to taking steps and will liaise with the Executive in this regard. A full copy of the Performance Indicators in Higher Education 1996-97, 1997-98 report is available through the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.

It is the responsibility of health boards to assess local needs for patients with hepatitis C, and arrange provision of appropriate treatment and care services. Last year, the Scottish Office commissioned the Scottish Needs Assessment Programme to establish a working group to consider all aspects of Hepatitis C including epidemiology, prevention, investigations, and treatment, and to estimate future implications for the Scottish population and for service needs. This working group is expected to report early in 2000.

The Scottish Health Purchasing Information Centre (SHPIC) published a report on hepatitis C in September 1998. This report was updated to include recommendations on the use of combination treatment with interferon alfa and ribavirin and disseminated to the NHS in Scotland in February 1999. The working group set up under The Scottish Needs Assessment Programme will be further considering interferon alfa and ribavirin treatment. The National Institute for Clinical Excellence in England is also to consider the issue of antiviral combination treatment for hepatitis C early in 2000. The conclusions of these bodies will help to inform decisions about the provision of this treatment within the NHS in Scotland.

There are no plans at present to introduce national guidelines. It is for health boards to assess the local needs for patients with hepatitis C, and many health boards have developed local treatment guidelines and protocols.

The appraisal of the M74 Northern Extension carried out for the Strategic Roads Review indicated that the scheme would have negative effects on a range of environmental indicators, namely noise and vibration, water quality and drainage, ecology, visual impacts, heritage and landscape character. The appraisal indicated that 20 listed buildings would be adversely effected by the scheme.

The information contained in this report confirms the scale of the work that needs to be done in tackling poverty and social exclusion in Glasgow. In recent years, Glasgow has made tremendous strides - population decline has been halted, there is net job growth in the city and Glasgow has been voted third most desirable business location in Europe. The challenge is to ensure that all of Glasgow's citizens benefit from its economic development. There are no quick fixes to the cycle of disadvantage that includes unemployment, low skills and poverty, but through its participation in the Glasgow Alliance and its support for the city's Social Inclusion Partnerships, the Executive is committed to a long term programme of concerted action. This includes action to promote economic development, to tackle low educational achievement, to expand childcare, to address homelessness, drug misuse and poor health and a radical solution to Glasgow's acute housing problems. By joining up and delivering on these policies, we aim to create a framework within which all Glaswegians have a decent quality of life and the opportunity to prosper.

The Special Deprivation Payment is being treated as a special allowance outwith Grant Aided Expenditure; the resources are not hypothecated and are intended to apply for one year only, pending the completion of a joint review with CoSLA of the account taken of deprivation and poverty within the local government finance distribution formula.

The establishment of the Scottish Parliament has created an additional workload on the staff of the Executive. Around 170 additional members of staff have been recruited to assist with the general increase in workload including, but not specifically, written Parliamentary Questions.