Plenary, 20 Apr 2006

Meeting date: Thursday, April 20, 2006

Official Report 708KB pdf

---

Question Time

---

SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE

---

Education and Young People, Tourism, Culture and Sport

---

Schools (Biomass Heating)

To ask the Scottish Executive how many new schools being built under public-private partnership contracts are installing biomass heating systems. (S2O-9581)

Currently none is, but we are aware of several authorities that are considering employing such systems.

I thank the minister for that answer, although it does not take us any further forward. There is a real sense of urgency about the issue because the schools that are being built in Scotland now will be around for 20, 30 or even 40 years. If we cannot reduce emissions from those schools, how will we tackle climate change and make our contribution? I know that the Executive will have produced a biomass action plan by the end of this year, but that will be no use because many of the PPP contracts will be finalised in the meantime.

What action will the minister take to uphold the conclusions of the recent parliamentary inquiry into biomass, which recommended

"that the Executive ensure that as many as possible of the PPP contracts which have been specified but not yet delivered can also still consider biomass systems"?

The Executive is strongly committed to moving in that direction but, at the end of the day, local authorities have ultimate responsibility under PPPs for progressing the schemes. As the member is aware, there are projects in Perth and Kinross, the City of Edinburgh and the Scottish Borders, all of which are at an advanced stage and in which the question of biomass is being actively considered.

I think that I am right in saying that Perth and Kinross Council recently approved a preferred bidder. Following that approval, the Scottish Executive asked the Energy Savings Trust to undertake a technical and financial assessment of the biomass element of the project. For reasons of commercial confidentiality, that could get under way only once the preferred bidder was in place. That assessment will guide the direction of travel and allow us to make informed decisions about how we can continue to support such elements during the development of PPP projects.

The minister will be aware that I have raised with him on numerous occasions the installation of a biomass project at the new Breadalbane academy, which is one of the schools in the Perth and Kinross project to which he just referred. Will the minister share with Parliament further details of the process and the Energy Savings Trust project that he has just announced? How long will that process take? What work is being reviewed? When is the Energy Savings Trust likely to report? Is the assessment likely to have any impact on the decisions that Perth and Kinross Council must make if it is to make progress on the issue in a very short space of time?

I think that I am right in saying that the decision on the preferred bidder was taken by Perth and Kinross Council as recently as 7 April. I mentioned that the Energy Savings Trust arrangement could not proceed until that had been done, and discussions are currently under way on how to progress that matter. The Energy Savings Trust will be able to carry out the project. It is difficult to be certain about timescales because some aspects are quite unpredictable, but it is hoped that Perth and Kinross Council will be able to go on to the next stage of the process during the latter part of this year.

---

Commonwealth Games (2014 Bid)

To ask the Scottish Executive what key lessons have been learned from the Commonwealth games in Melbourne in developing Glasgow's bid for the 2014 Commonwealth games. (S2O-9518)

The 2006 Commonwealth games in Melbourne were a great example of how to showcase our country to the rest of the world, and in many respects the event acted as further inspiration to bring the event to Scotland. Our experience of the games has confirmed that we are on the right path, but we cannot be complacent about our bid. We need to continue the good work that we have started and ensure that a successful bid to host the games in Glasgow in 2014 will provide benefits for the whole of Scotland.

I am sure that the minister will welcome the fact that Glasgow's bid has been endorsed and is being supported the length and breadth of Scotland, no doubt encouraged by the success of the Scottish team in Melbourne. Did the minister glean anything from the Melbourne experience about how other parts of Victoria and Australia were able to take advantage of the games' being held in Melbourne, rather than in those other areas, so that if Glasgow is successful—as we hope it will be—all parts of Scotland might share in the benefits?

The answer is quite simply, "Yes." In welcoming the support that has been evident throughout Scotland, I very much took to heart the need to respond to that support. Our experience of Melbourne proves that it is possible to spread the benefits around the country.

From the assessments that have been carried out, we know that the net economic impact for Scotland could be as much as £81 million. Obviously, that would be good, but we want to maximise that and use every opportunity to ensure that Scotland benefits from the games. The benefits will not be only economic. Although we hope that our economy and tourism industry will benefit, we also want to ensure that the health, sporting and confidence-building benefits that come from the Commonwealth games are spread around Scotland.

On a practical level, I was very much aware that the Scottish team at the recent games was based at a holding camp that was more than two hours from Melbourne. Other teams had similar experiences—they, too, occupied facilities around the country. Obviously, we will look for opportunities to spread that kind of impact around Scotland.

The minister mentioned the

"health, sporting and confidence-building benefits"

that could accrue from the games. Is she aware that last week the Republic of the Marshall Islands became an Olympic nation, despite their being little more than an American protectorate and having a population of only 60,400? Is she aware of the proposals for Greenland and the Faroe Islands to have their own teams and that the proposals have been supported by the Danish Government? Will she now add her support to the growing campaign for Scotland to have its own Olympic team in 2012?

My focus is on ensuring that Scotland benefits from the 2012 Olympic Games in London and that we secure and benefit from the 2014 Commonwealth Games. I take the view of our athletes—especially those who compete alongside others—who say that their best opportunity for succeeding is to participate in a successful Great Britain team. We have seen many of our athletes succeed in that way in the past. We want to ensure that, come 2012, as many Scots as possible can stand on the podium.

---

Scottish Tourism Forum

To ask the Scottish Executive when it last met the Scottish Tourism Forum and what issues were discussed. (S2O-9578)

I and my officials are in frequent contact with the Scottish Tourism Forum on a number of matters. Those range from policy issues, such as the forum's view on our recently launched tourism framework for change, to tactical matters such as communications with the industry. Recently, a member of the Scottish Executive's tourism unit was seconded to the forum to assist with the organisation of the successful Scottish tourism week.

When the minister next meets the Scottish Tourism Forum, will she ask it for its views on how VisitScotland's niche-market initiatives are progressing and whether the forum believes that VisitScotland is taking enough advantage of the historical context in which we live? I, for one, have been disappointed with the promotion of Robert the Bruce in the events over the past year, but a number of other opportunities are coming up. I commend to the minister the opportunities that will be presented by a number of forthcoming significant scientific anniversaries. We could encourage our universities to organise conferences on, for example, the discoveries of James Clerk Maxwell, the invention of penicillin or the development of magnetic resonance imaging scanners. All those opportunities should be used to promote Scottish tourism, even to niche markets such as scientists.

At a time when we have so many conferences and events coming to Scotland, it is interesting that Mr Adam is so negative about the available opportunities. I point out to him that VisitScotland is very much involved in promoting the kinds of niche markets that he mentioned. Along with colleagues in EventScotland, VisitScotland will be very much involved in promoting events that are connected with the year of Highland culture next year and the Burns year of homecoming in 2009. This year, VisitScotland has been involved in marketing—successfully so far, although it is early days—Scotland and Edinburgh as part of the special campaign that it has put together for the movie "The Da Vinci Code". It is fair to say that VisitScotland takes every marketing opportunity to attract people to Scotland.

Is the minister aware of the continued unhappiness in the tourism sector about the centralising of power to VisitScotland and the corresponding loss of local control? Will she give a commitment to revisit the Tourist Boards (Scotland) Bill with a view to reforming VisitScotland so that it becomes a genuinely bottom-up organisation that can allow communities to exercise at least as much power over tourism in their areas as they were able to exercise under the old area tourist boards?

The simple answer to Mr McGrigor's question is, "No." To expand on that, I point out that the reorganisation of VisitScotland and the tourist boards that constitute it happened very much in response to the industry's wish to change and to move forward into the present day. I do not accept that there has been centralisation. Some 98 per cent of VisitScotland staff are based outwith Edinburgh, where its headquarters is located. The picture that Mr McGrigor paints is not fair and is not supported by the industry as a whole.

---

National Veterans Day

To ask the Scottish Executive what cultural events it plans to hold to celebrate national veterans day on 27 June 2006. (S2O-9513)

We are keen to ensure that the first national veterans day properly acknowledges and celebrates in Scotland the valuable contribution that is made to our society by all veterans. We are therefore currently in discussion with Scottish veterans organisations, the Ministry of Defence and the Veterans Agency about how the day can best be marked in Scotland.

The focus of the day in Scotland is likely to be in Dundee, where the Dundee Combined Ex-servicemen's Association is planning a parade and concert. We expect a number of other local events to take place. The Ministry of Defence is running a national art competition for schoolchildren and has written with details to all primary schools in the country. I encourage all primary schools in Scotland to consider how their pupils can participate.

Veterans day is 11 Downing Street's latest ploy, as it pushes Gordon Brown's premiership plans. Does the minister agree that the proposed participation of the population in the project is a pathetic pretence at popularising and promoting to the post of Prime Minister a person who perpetuates penury and poverty among pensioners, who picks pockets every pay day through the pay-as-you-earn system, and who has presented these picked veterans and their peers with a princely 25p per week pension plus-up on their 80th birthday?

I will try to rise to the challenge of working out what that has to do with the cultural events that may be planned and to which Mr Swinburne's original question referred. However, I congratulate him on his creativity in his supplementary question.

I do not accept that national veterans day is meant somehow to diminish the contribution of veterans. It is a day on which we will have the opportunity properly to recognise the contribution that they have made. It is one of a number of initiatives that the United Kingdom Government has taken in recent times to ensure that our veterans are properly recognised. As Mr Swinburne knows, war pensions, like other pensions, are reserved to Westminster. The Scottish Executive is tackling pensioner poverty in partnership with the UK Government. Of course, pensioners have the right to live in dignity. Since 1996-97, 120,000 pensioners have been lifted out of relative low-income categories, with three quarters of pensioners being lifted out of absolute low-income categories. If we add that to the work that is being done on central heating, free travel and free personal and nursing care in Scotland, it is clear that we are going in the right direction to ensure that our veterans are properly recognised and given the kind of gratitude that they definitely deserve from this country.

---

Young People in Care

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on the average age of young people leaving care from (a) foster care, (b) residential units and (c) children's units. (S2O-9554)

The average age at which a young person beyond minimum school-leaving age leaves foster care is 16. The same is true for residential accommodation. Children and young people can cease to be looked after at a variety of ages up to their 18th birthday, depending on their circumstances. However, children who cease to be looked after beyond school-leaving age continue to be eligible for aftercare support.

I would welcome further discussion with the minister on the matter. In the meantime, will he outline how he anticipates that the figures will change in coming years and will he say what steps the Executive will take to achieve such changes?

Janis Hughes's question raises a fundamental issue, which is close to my heart and to other ministers' hearts. How we give looked-after children a better start in life has been an extremely challenging issue to take forward. The throughcare and aftercare regulations, which came into force a while ago, were designed to try to take forward the support that young people in the age group that we are talking about need, against a background in which different kinds of barriers exist. Sometimes young people want out of the system and want to get away from statutory organisations because they feel that they have been in the system for too long. At other times, there are difficulties with placements and background issues or there are problems to do with settling people in accommodation and employment, of which Janis Hughes is aware. Often the underlying problem is a lack of coping and life skills and qualifications to enable matters to be taken forward.

In consequence of all that, we recently set up a looked-after children group under the chairmanship of the Minister for Education and Young People, Peter Peacock. The group has had several meetings and has done much valuable work to try to home in on what we can usefully do to improve outputs for such young people. For members' information, 12,185 children were looked after by local authorities as at 31 March last year—the figure is going up slightly. Some 57 per cent of those children were looked after at home with their parents or with family or friends, which helps to put into perspective the nature of the challenge that we face in that regard.

I welcome the minister's reply, but does he agree that care leavers require support to access accommodation, further education and training, and the jobs market? The statutory regulations to which he referred require local authorities to assess care leavers' support needs, to develop a pathway plan to be reviewed every six months, to appoint a pathway co-ordinator and to provide financial assistance and accommodation. Will the minister make certain that those requirements are adhered to in every case?

I am grateful to Lord James Douglas-Hamilton for his question. There is no question but that the throughcare and aftercare regulations and the structures around the regulations are central to securing a better deal for the young people whom we are considering. Obviously, the system is operated in practice not by the Executive but locally, but it is the endeavour of the Executive and other bodies that are involved in the system to ensure that people do not fall through the net and that they are given the support that they want and, in many cases, need. The problem that we face is complex and we must deal with a number of barriers. Central to the work of the looked-after children group is the attempt to ensure that there is a better outcome for young care leavers than has traditionally been the case.

---

Tourism (American Visitors)

To ask the Scottish Executive how many American tourists visited Scotland during the past year. (S2O-9587)

Last year, the number of visitors who came to Scotland from North America as a whole was estimated to be in the region of 543,000. A breakdown of the number of visitors from the United States is not yet available.

Figures from the previous year indicate that there has been a fall of 11,000 in the number of visitors from the US, although the Executive's expenditure on tartan week has risen significantly during a short period. Will the minister undertake to complete a detailed evaluation before next year's tartan week programme is finalised, to ensure that we do not fail to take advantage of the resources that are made available? Will she admit that such expenditure has so far simply had the effect of attracting more visitors to New York than to Scotland?

I do not accept the premise of Mr Johnstone's latter question. He is correct in saying that visitor numbers from North America appeared to be down by about 2 per cent last year, but we are not yet aware of the reasons for that. The figure should be offset against the 31 per cent increase in visitors from overseas in general. The marketing of Scotland that we do abroad is working particularly well.

Mr Johnstone's view of tartan week is a little disappointing to those of us who have seen tartan week and tartan day develop and become a focus for Scotland and Scotland's ambitions abroad. For example, it is estimated that the £600,000 that VisitScotland spent on last year's tartan week generated about £2.4 million-worth of public relations, which resulted in our message about Scotland reaching about 39 million Americans. The money that the Executive, VisitScotland and other agencies have spent has been well spent. As we constantly review and evaluate our work, we will evaluate our work on tartan week. We intend to produce the information that Mr Johnstone asked for, so we will ensure that he gets a copy when it is available.

---

School Leavers

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any plans to improve the tracking by local education authorities of the final educational destination of school leavers. (S2O-9551)

Education authorities monitor the progress of their pupils in a way that most appropriately meets local needs. Careers Scotland, working with education authorities and schools, collects information on the destinations of young people after they leave school. The Executive will soon publish a strategy to reduce the proportion of young people who are not in education, employment or training—the NEET group—in Scotland. The strategy will acknowledge the importance of having detailed information on young people's post-school destinations, and will recommend a number of actions to enhance the information that is available.

I thank the minister for that detailed response. The minister will be aware of the excellent links between Dundee City Council's education department and Dundee College, a further education establishment, and the resulting high transfer to higher education rate. Does he agree that further education is an appropriate route to higher education and that movement through the sectors should be monitored and encouraged? Does he also agree that all the successful career paths of young people, including into apprenticeships, should be measured and publicly acknowledged?

I recognise immediately that there are several paths into higher education, one of which—an important one—Marlyn Glen referred to. It is important that young people who do not make it to higher education the first time round through the main route should have on-going opportunities to get in. The NEET group covers the 16 to 19 age group. I readily accept that difficulties arise in analysing the composition of that group, which includes people who are doing gap years and various others who are not really at risk. Difficulties also arise with the longitudinal or longer-scale approach of getting information on young people's situation later in life. We are trying to get a better handle on the information that is available in following people through. That is tricky and requires a lot of input, but we hope that over time and through the NEET group strategy, we will improve our understanding of that matter.

The problematic people with whom we are concerned are those who have a sustained status of being not in education, employment or training and those who move in and out of that situation over time. We are not necessarily concerned with those who follow other routes or who take time out for other reasons.

---

Finance and Public Services and Communities

Question 1 was not lodged.

---

Supporting People Initiative

To ask the Scottish Executive when it last met the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities to discuss the issue of budgets for the supporting people initiative. (S2O-9549)

Ministers had several meetings with COSLA in October and November 2004 to discuss supporting people budgets prior to the revised allocations that were announced on 23 December 2004. COSLA is represented on the officials group that assesses the impact of the budget changes on services, providers, service users and jobs, which met in April, July and December 2005. Scottish Executive officials regularly attend COSLA's meetings of supporting people lead officers.

Will the minister meet again with me and other Fife members to discuss the impact of the review? He may be aware that, at the Public Petitions Committee meeting on 22 February, the committee heard from representatives of CRAG—the Citizen's Rights Action Group—who impressed on the committee their deep dismay at the impact of the review. Is he aware that, outside Glasgow, Fife has the greatest deprivation, which is illustrated in the publication of the data zones? Finally, is he aware that Fife has one of the highest populations of elderly people in Scotland and that that will be compounded by the steep increase of about 22 per cent in the number of elderly supporting people clients between 2004 and 2009, from 5,840 to 7,125?

In addition to the meetings with COSLA to which I referred, I met Fife Council some time ago about that. However, I would be more than pleased to meet Helen Eadie and her colleagues to discuss it further. I followed with close interest developments in the supporting people programme and we submitted a report to the Communities Committee about that a week or two ago. I am advised that there have not yet been any service reductions in Fife; indeed, next year's budget will be the same as this year's. Helen Eadie will want to raise those issues in more detail with me. I look forward to that.

---

Local Government Pensions

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made in resolving the local government pensions dispute. (S2O-9542)

We are continuing to work with the tripartite Scottish local government pension advisory group, consisting of the unions, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and the Scottish Public Pensions Agency, to identify a legal and affordable solution. The next meeting of the group takes place tomorrow.

I am conscious that that issue was substantially discussed this morning. While pensions policy is reserved, I am delighted that the Executive is committed to negotiations to reach an amicable solution. Will the minister consider the principle of protection of the rights of existing local government pensioners?

I can give the member an absolute assurance that that is exactly what we will consider. It is not as simple a matter as replacing that condition for those who could currently access it. In order to avoid transgressing the directive in another fashion the application has to be wider. We are determined to try to ensure that those people who have been disadvantaged through the introduction of the directive are adequately compensated.

---

Public Services (Reform)

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made on the reform of public services. (S2O-9530)

The historically high levels of investment in Scotland's public services since 1999, together with the measures that we have put in place continuously to improve performance, accountability and efficiency, have delivered good progress to date on the reform of Scotland's public services. Significant progress continues to be made in developing options to widen the scope, expand the scale and accelerate the pace of public service reform to deliver improvements to the lives of the people of Scotland.

Following the minister's recent remarks to the conference of the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities—albeit by videolink from Washington, which must have been a rare pleasure for everyone—in which he said that he was concerned that his promised think-piece document might allow people

"to defend their own space … and cloud the important debate that we need to have."

Can the minister say how a debate can be had if people are not able to defend their own space if that is what they choose to do? Is it not the case that the postponement of the publication of the paper owes much to the need not to rock the boat before next year's local government elections?

I can assure Mr Morgan that I have every intention of rocking the boat, if that is how he sees it. We intend to publish that paper. I received a warm letter from the president of COSLA, who seemed to appreciate my address from Washington to the COSLA conference. I do not know whether Mr Morgan is getting a peek at my correspondence, but I am glad that he supports the view that the president holds. I assured COSLA that we want to engender a debate in Scotland that is as open as possible and that convinces people that this is a genuine attempt to seek the views of politicians and professionals. That is what we will do. We will facilitate that with the document, but we will do it at the right time and in the right way.

---

Revenue Support Grant

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to review the formula whereby revenue support grant funding is redistributed in favour of areas of deprivation. (S2O-9553)

The grant distribution formula is kept under constant review and, in that context, we will consider carefully the recently published findings of the Scottish Parliament's Finance Committee report on deprivation.

I hope that we can all accept the case for transferring resources to help areas of multiple deprivation, provided that the money is used to tackle problems of deprivation by the councils that benefit from that formula. Will the minister give me one good reason why the Lothian and Lanarkshire areas, which include deprived communities, should lose £3.8 million and £3.3 million respectively of revenue grant this year to contribute towards a council tax freeze in Glasgow? Surely, if Glasgow City Council is not using its resources to tackle poverty as intended, that tranche of revenue grant should go back to areas such as the minister's constituency and mine. If Glasgow wants to freeze its council tax, that is fine—but let it do it from its own resources and not on the backs of other communities in Scotland.

Councils in the Lothians and in Lanarkshire have the opportunity to discuss such matters within the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities. I have made it clear on many occasions that I am keen to discuss the distribution formula with COSLA. I reassure the member that, in discussions with the leader of Glasgow City Council, I have been left in no doubt whatsoever about that city's determination to tackle poverty and deprivation and to ensure that its spending is appropriate. How Glasgow decides to use its resources to meet its aims is a matter for the council.

The minister referred to the Finance Committee report that was published last week, which called for a comprehensive review of the revenue support grant system. It also highlighted certain interim steps that could be taken to target money more effectively towards dealing with deprivation—including consideration of areas in education and justice that currently are not deprivation-linked but should be, and consideration of how resources are clawed back from areas that suffer from the population loss that is often associated with multiple deprivation, as has happened in Glasgow, South Lanarkshire, West Dunbartonshire and other areas. The Executive does not immediately lose money because of population loss, but local authorities do. A better safety net arrangement could be considered.

I agree with much of what the member has said and I have made it clear that I am willing to engage with COSLA in a review of the distribution formula. Of course, many people before me have tried to do the same and have failed; but I consider myself a fairly dogged individual and I assure the member that I will continue to raise such matters with COSLA.

I, too, want to refer to the splendid report by the Finance Committee on funding for areas of deprivation. Paragraph 5 states:

"The bureaucracy involved in the allocation of Community Regeneration Fund (CRF) monies is massively disproportionate, especially for those local authority areas which receive small sums from the Fund".

Does the minister agree?

I certainly agree that we have committed ourselves on various occasions to considering the burdens of reporting and of overseeing different grant streams that are given to local government and to other public sector organisations. From conversations with both politicians and professionals in local government throughout Scotland, I know that they feel that the burden of reporting and producing plans is onerous and that some of the things that they have to do in order to qualify for certain funding streams are disproportionate. We are determined to continue to examine that, just as we are determined to examine a whole series of bureaucratic measures that we believe may be cramping professional expertise and width and therefore preventing people from serving the general public as well as they can.

I assure the member that, wherever there is unnecessary bureaucracy, we are determined to examine it in detail, along with the people who deliver the services at the front line, and to do all that we can to eliminate it.

---

Public-private Partnership and Private Finance Initiative Contracts

To ask the Scottish Executive how much it has already allocated, and how much it will allocate, to fund PPP/PFI schools and hospital contracts. (S2O-9535)

The Executive has allocated £6 billion towards some 30 years of schools PPP projects. This forms a significant proportion of the funding for 39 schools PPP projects undertaken in partnership between the Executive and local education authorities. This allocation underpins our commitment to refurbish or renew 300 schools by 2009—the largest-ever school building programme in Scotland's history. Further financial support for school building projects is a matter for the next spending review.

NHS boards are not given specific allocations to fund PPP or PFI contracts. The revenue costs associated with unitary payments to service providers are met from within NHS board formula-based revenue allocations.

A lot of public money is being put into private hands. Has any action been taken on a value-for-money study of PPP projects? Has the Executive built into the contracts any clauses that will restrict the ability of the private companies involved to engage in refinancing deals? Does the Executive intend to put in place any clawback arrangements for windfall profits that are made from the refinancing of such contracts?

Local authorities are required to use a public sector comparator to assess any PPP proposals and to ensure that they would deliver value for money before they go ahead with such a project. In relation to what the contracts say about refinancing, I know that the PFI model that Argyll and Bute Council uses is non-profit making. All profits that are made by the special vehicle that has been set up to build and operate schools in that area are returned to the schools, so that contract provides exceedingly good value for money.

---

Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Meetings)

To ask the Scottish Executive when it last met the president of COSLA and what issues were discussed. (S2O-9586)

I last met the president of COSLA on 19 April to discuss a range of issues. My previous meeting with the COSLA president was on 23 March when, along with representatives of the trade unions, we discussed issues relating to the local government pension scheme in Scotland. In addition, on 6 April I contributed to the convention's annual conference through a videolink, which involved a debate with the COSLA president. Other ministerial colleagues and officials from across the Scottish Executive hold regular meetings with the convention on a range of issues.

When the minister next meets the president of COSLA, will he raise the issue of the levels of council tax that will be required under next year's settlement? What advice will he give to COSLA and what expectations does he have about the size of any increases?

I do not know whether we will discuss future council tax levels at our next meeting, but I fully expect that we will do so at some point in the near future, as has been the practice in the past. I am hopeful that local authorities throughout Scotland will be as mindful of the advice that we gave last year in the year to come.

I am sure that Mr Davidson will know that the council tax increases for 2005-06 were the lowest since devolution. We are pleased about that and would like to think that such progress can continue to be made so that the people of Scotland will benefit further from council tax levels that are substantially lower than they are in other parts of the United Kingdom.

---

Musselburgh Racecourse

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will call in the proposal for the development at Musselburgh racecourse. (S2O-9585)

We called in that planning application on 7 April.

I am sure that the community in Musselburgh will be very pleased that the application has been called in.

As the Planning etc (Scotland) Bill progresses, will the Executive pay close attention to further conversations about common land, consultation rights for communities and the possibility of a limited right of appeal for communities?

I think that the member will be aware of the Executive's position on granting a limited right of appeal. We are clear about our commitment to engage with communities at an early stage through the development plan. We have a strong interest in the role of local government in providing democratic accountability, especially in cases such as that to which the member refers, which is an example of a local authority interest case, in which we recognise that a fine balance needs to be struck.

We are proud of our package of proposals on planning and I assure Robin Harper that, through engagement with the Communities Committee and with other members, we will ensure that we have a planning process that not only satisfies the needs of local communities, but allows the progression of those developments that are necessary if we are to have vibrant and healthy communities.

---

Community Councils

To ask the Scottish Executive whether, learning from the English experience with parish councils, it will discuss with community councils and other community groups an increase in the powers, resources and opportunities of community councils. (S2O-9514)

We are currently reviewing the operational framework for community councils and, in support of that work, we issued a discussion paper entitled "What can we do to help community councils fulfil their role?" in November 2005. The closing date for responses to that paper passed recently. Once we have evaluated the responses, we will have a clearer idea of the obstacles that need to be overcome to assist community councils in becoming more operationally effective.

My concern is that the consultation did not fully allow for views to be taken on an extension of the powers of and opportunities for community councils. I have two suggestions for the minister. First, community councils could become a statutory partner in the planning system, rather than simply a body to consult. Secondly, if we are serious about promoting community industries, social enterprise and so on, we should look to the community councils, which offer a good basis for such work. I hope that the minister will consider the further opportunities that exist for community councils. They should play an important part in our lives, whereas people tend to view them as peripheral at present.

On the first point, the Planning (Scotland) Bill gives greater opportunities for community involvement in the planning process. Mr Gorrie has a strong interest in community councils. I am sure that the ideas that he is promoting could form part of the wider discussion on public sector reform, which Mr McCabe mentioned in answer to an earlier question. The appropriate place for those discussions is the debate on public sector reform. When we come forward with a paper on public sector reform, Mr Gorrie should feed his thoughts on the matter into that debate.

That ends questions to ministers. I will allow a pause for members to enter and leave the chamber.