To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on the grant-in-aid to the Scottish Tourist Board in (a) 1996–97, (b) 1997–98 and (c) 1998–99. [33505]

The information is as follows:

Year	£million
1996–97	18.309
1997–98	19.309
1998–99	19.309

Grant-in-aid for 1997–98 included £300,000 one-off funding to assist STB's efforts to increase tourism from the USA following the Congress of the American Society of Travel Agents, held in Glasgow in September 1997.Grant-in-aid for 1998–99 represents an increase of £1 million over the planned provision which had been announced by the previous administration.