FIRST MINISTER Alex Salmond will tomorrow scrap the title Scottish Executive and replace it with his preferred term, the Scottish government.

The SNP say the move, which is not unexpected, will cost £100,000. Early changes will involve replacing the signage of the six main Scottish government buildings, including St Andrew's House and Victoria Quay.

The SNP leader believes the Executive term is confusing and misleading for voters. His decision is perhaps the worst-kept secret in Scottish politics, as he has regularly used the word "government" to describe his team of ministers and civil servants.

His announcement won the backing of former first minister Henry McLeish who said: "We're revisiting history because Tom McCabe talked about the Scottish government in 2001. When I talked with Tony Blair when he was prime minister, he was happy to talk about a devolved Scottish government.

"It's a sensible change. I don't think anyone should take issue with it. If I had remained in power I would have done exactly the same thing.

"Wendy Alexander understands the need for renewal in the Scottish Labour Party. Labour have nothing to fear from this change in title and I hope they would embrace it."

A spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives said: "What the government does is far more important than what it calls itself. We don't have any problem with a name change, but £100,000 seems a bit steep and we would want to look into the cost of a re-branding exercise."

A spokesman for Salmond said: "This is not a big bang re-branding - Monday is the day when we unveil our new identity, not when everything changes straightaway. We will ensure a cost-effective roll-out of the new identity.

"The total net cost represents some 0.2% of savings already achieved by the Scottish government."

The spokesman added: "The research clearly shows that the term Scottish Executive is confusing or meaningless to people, which undermines the business of good government in Scotland."

Later this week, Salmond will back sweeping changes to laws on rape as part of a wide-ranging legislative programme.

The SNP leader will support standalone legislation to define "consent" in order to bring the law into the 21st century. The bill will also produce a "gender neutral" definition of rape, and include new categories of sexual offences.

Salmond's intentions will be explained on Wednesday when he unveils his "Programme for Scotland", an announcement that will include around 10 bills as well as several non-legislative initiatives.

He will back legislation to scrap the graduate endowment fee paid by students after they complete a university course, and confirm a bill to abolish tolls on the Tay and Forth road bridges. He will also commit to introducing a culture bill, which will set up a new government agency to promote the arts, as well as legislation to support Glasgow's bid for the 2014 Commonwealth Games. In addition, he will back a bill on firearms, and announce consultations on patient rights and climate change legislation.

But it is the dedicated justice bill on rape that is likely to attract much of the attention when he unveils his priorities for the coming year.

Scotland has one of the worst conviction rates for rape in Europe, as only 3.9% of recorded rapes were successfully prosecuted in the past year. Recent figures also show there were 209 assaults with intent to rape, as well as 1597 reported cases of indecent assault, of which 6% resulted in a conviction.

Ministers will attempt to address these figures with a bill to reform the law on rape, which will reflect the proposals outlined in a Scottish Law Commission report last year on sexual offences.

Tory MSP Bill Aitken said: "Clearly we have to look at this issue, as rape is a brutal crime, sometimes accompanied by extreme physical violence. It's not an easy question to resolve, however, but we will look at this as sympathetically and constructively as possible."

Labour shadow justice minister Margaret Curran said: "The rates of prosecution and conviction in rape cases is appallingly low and any moves to improve this are welcome."