Chamber and committees

No specificallocations will be made to particular types of events. Instead, eventsorganisers are being asked by the Homecoming Scotland project team to putforward proposals for funding support, and these will then be assessedaccording to the project criteria of driving tourism growth while linking tothe themes of Homecoming Scotland. These are Burns, ancestral tourism, golf,whisky and the Enlightenment. There is a fund of £1 million available tosupport such events, and the results of that assessment will be known in April2008.

No. Current draftguidance on food and fluid provision in hospitals and standards and guidance onmeals and snacks in schools are broadly in line with the World Cancer ResearchFund recommendations.

The World Cancer ResearchFund advice on meat goes further than current Food Standards Agency advice and theagency is aware of the evidence on the relationship between meat consumption andcancer. The potential impact of a recommendation to consumers to reduce meat consumptionis being considered by the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) aspart of a review of iron and health which is due to be made available for publiccomment in 2008.

ScottishGovernment ministers and officials have been meeting frequently withEventScotland to discuss plans for Homecoming Scotland.

No specificallocations will be made to particular themes within the overall HomecomingScotland framework. Instead, events organisers are being asked by theHomecoming Scotland project team to put forward proposals for funding support,and these will then be assessed according to the project criteria of drivingtourism growth while linking to the themes of Homecoming Scotland, includingBurns. The results of that assessment will be known in April 2008. The projectteam is working with the World Burns Federation whichis being consulted on any Burns-related event plans.

Therecommendations of the World Cancer Research Fund report are in keeping withcurrent advice from the Scottish Government, Food Standards Agency Scotland and NHS Health Scotland on healthy eating, healthy weight and physical activity. This advice isdesigned to promote the maintenance of overall health, and prevention of arange of chronic diseases, including cancer.

The HomecomingScotland project team are currently finalising plans for raising awarenesswithin Scotland through a PR and media campaign and inother ways. A prerequisite is to have a developed programme of events to use asa platform for this campaign.

The ScottishGovernment’s physical activity strategy Let’s Make Scotland more Active,published in 2003, recognises that physical activity can be protective againstcertain cancers, in line with the recommendations of the World Cancer ResearchFund report. Our strategy makes recommendations for the minimum levels ofphysical activity required to reduce the risk of these cancers and otherdiseases, and sets targets and a strategic framework to support the majority of the population achieving these levels by 2022.

VisitScotlandbegan introducing Homecoming Scotland into its international PR, consumer marketingand trade activity in April 2007. It will prioritise Homecoming Scotland as thelead message in its long-haul market programmes beginning in spring 2008 andthrough into 2009.

I refer themember to the answer to question S3W-4699 on 12 October 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions areavailable on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can befound at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.