Chamber and committees

The information requested is shown in the following table.

Percentage of People Registered with an NHS Dentist; by Age Group in East Ayrshire¹ and South Ayrshire¹ at 31 December 2007

	Age Group
	0-2	3-5	6-12	13-17	18-24	25-34	35-44	45-54	55-64	65-74	75+	Total
East Ayrshire	41.2	61.9	70.4	66.5	46.2	39.4	38.9	36.0	31.2	31.5	27.5	41.8
South Ayrshire	56.7	99.2	104.5	99.1	88.6	93.2	90.2	86.1	78.2	69.7	53.2	83.3

Source: ISD Scotland.

Note: 1. Registrations are based on the postcode of the practice as opposed to the postcode of the patient. The percentage is calculated by dividing the number of registrations by the resident population for the particular area/age group etc. This has led to percentages greater than 100.

There is no such definition in legislation. However, in a Scottish Executive Education Department Circular (No.7 of 2003), a copy of which is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 29135), it was made clear that ministers expect authorities to keep under review their criteria for providing school transport in light of a range of safety considerations, for instance including volume and speed of traffic, availability of safe crossings, sufficiency of pavements, footpaths and subways, built-up and wooded areas and adequacy of street lighting. This remains the position.

Under the new Concordat with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and the local government finance settlement for 2008-11 set out in Finance Circular No.1 2008, copies of which are available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 45732), the government has issued local authorities with increased levels of funding which are not earmarked or hypothecated to individual services.

Alongside that increase in funding, the government has also devolved significant controls and flexibilities to local government in how councils deploy those resources. It is the responsibility of each council to allocate the total financial resources available to them on the basis of their local needs and priorities such as for the provision of school transport.

The Scottish Government’s School Transport: Survey of Good Practice, published last year, a copy of which is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 45729) emphasised how many of the examples cited involved consultation with both pupils and parents at the planning stages and that this good practice should be borne in mind.

No. The relevant legislation makes it clear that local authorities may make arrangements as they consider necessary for the provision of travel to school. However, one factor the local authorities must take into consideration when making such considerations, is the safety of the pupils and in doing so may consider that in certain specific circumstances, they will provide transport for children living less than two miles from their designated school.

We plan to bring affordable broadband to all eligible households and businesses in Scotland who notified us of access problems, essentially related to distance from their exchange. This is being achieved through our £3.4 million broadband reach procurement exercise and should increase access within Scottish communities. We now have a preferred supplier and expect to award a contract in June with delivery to be completed within a year.

The Straiton exchange was initially upgraded for broadband under a Scottish Government contract with BT. This exchange has a broadband product called Exchange Activate which has a limit on take-up. The government has recently become aware of a capacity problem experienced at the Straiton exchange. We are therefore in discussion with BT as to how and when this issue could be resolved

Compensation totalling £6,247 was awarded to nine Scottish credit unions that met the eligibility criteria for loans up to the value of £400 made to Farepak customers. This included a payment made to Glasgow City Council for liabilities incurred under the similar scheme it operated for eight Glasgow credit unions.

Boards are responsible for deciding on their priorities for spending, within global financial totals and subject to policy guidelines and frameworks set out by the Scottish Government. In a small number of exceptional cases where I believed earlier decisions were not supportable I asked boards to review them. These cases have been debated in the Parliament.

Reliance Secure Task Management provides transportation for the sentenced children and young people placed in units by Scottish ministers.

Transportation matters relating to children and young people placed in secure accommodation by Children’s Panels is the responsibility of the relevant local authority.