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The recruitment, direction and monitoring of civilian support staff in Scottish police forces is a matter for chief constables. There are presently 4725 civilian support staff employed by the eight forces. This is a 36% increase since 1992 and support staff now represent 24% of police service personnel. The Scottish Executive supports all initiatives which enable police officers to be released for front line policing duties.

The Scottish Executive are proposing to fund a bid by the charity Epilepsy Bereaved to extend the national sentinel audit they are undertaking into epilepsy deaths in England, to cover cases of epilepsy-related deaths in Scotland.

The Scottish Transport White Paper gave a commitment to ensure that our transport policies fit with our priorities in combating social exclusion. A number of public transport operators already offer discounted travel for participants in the New Deal programme. We shall explore with operators whether these principles can be applied more widely to other low income and unemployed people. We shall legislate to encourage the introduction of simpler fare structures and better through ticketing arrangements, so as to improve the overall effectiveness of bus services. The Government will also be seeking to ensure there are affordable air and sea links to Scotland's islands communities.At present, under legislation concerning concessionary fares schemes, each Scottish local authority can decide the discount offered to the different eligible groups set out in statute. We will, however, encourage the improvement and integration of concessionary fares schemes for pensioners and those with special needs.

The Government's Preliminary Guidance on Local Transport Strategies encouraged local authorities to set out their plans for park and ride in their interim strategies which were due to be submitted in July 1999. The Scottish Executive's Public Transport Fund encourages local authorities to develop projects promoting the use of public transport such as the establishment of park and ride sites and associated bus priority measures. In the first round of the Fund, 3 projects involving new park and ride sites were successful in securing additional capital allocations. Applications to the second round of the Fund are currently being considered.

The Scottish Executive will bring forward to the Scottish Parliament, later this session, a Transport Bill proposing changes to the way bus services are organised. We wish to provide local authorities with powers and duties to ensure that proper timetable information is available in their areas for the benefit of bus passengers.In addition we are committed to working with transport operators, local authorities and user groups to develop a practical and effective Scottish National Public Transport Timetable. We envisage that this will include all internal Scottish bus, coach, rail, air and ferry services and will help promote the better integration of public transport services.

The participation of young people on 1 July was the responsibility of Unique Events, working under contract to the Scottish Office. The request for an escort of young people to the civic procession was made late in the day. The Scottish School of Music and Drama was approached because it offered a group of young people drawn from all over Scotland. Additional young people were required and the organisers approached the Secretary to the Modern Studies Association. It is recognised that the outcome of these approaches, adopted under pressure of time, had shortcomings.In relation to the children's parade, all 32 local authorities were approached in order to select schools from their areas to participate in the parade on 1July. Each local authority undertook its own selection process and accordingly the information sought is not available centrally.

The participation of young people on 1 July was the responsibility of Unique Events, working under contract to the Scottish Office. The request for an escort of young people to the civic procession was made late in the day. The Scottish School of Music and Drama was approached because it offered a group of young people drawn from all over Scotland. Additional young people were required and the organisers approached the Secretary to the Modern Studies Association. It is recognised that the outcome of these approaches, adopted under pressure of time, had shortcomings.In relation to the children's parade, all 32 local authorities were approached in order to select schools from their areas to participate in the parade on 1July. Each local authority undertook its own selection process and accordingly the information sought is not available centrally.

The participation of young people on 1 July was the responsibility of Unique Events, working under contract to the Scottish Office. The request for an escort of young people to the civic procession was made late in the day. The Scottish School of Music and Drama was approached because it offered a group of young people drawn from all over Scotland. Additional young people were required and the organisers approached the Secretary to the Modern Studies Association. It is recognised that the outcome of these approaches, adopted under pressure of time, had shortcomings.In relation to the children's parade, all 32 local authorities were approached in order to select schools from their areas to participate in the parade on 1July. Each local authority undertook its own selection process and accordingly the information sought is not available centrally.

There is no fixed complement of temporary Sheriffs and numbers are kept under regular review. Vacancies for permanent Sheriffs are advertised and filled from the field who apply. The numbers of Permanent Sheriffs are also kept under review in consultation with Sheriffs Principal.

During the most recent year for which the requested information is available (April 1998 - March 1999) 13.8 per cent of the total reports received by Procurators Fiscal were marked "no proceedings".