Chamber and committees

The forthcoming Flooding Bill will task the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) with the assessment of flood risk across Scotland, from all types of flooding. This will be the basis for the national framework within which SEPA, local authorities, Scottish Water and others can make informed decisions on the management of flood risk, whatever the source.

The police have a duty to protect life and property and co-ordinate the multi-agency response by local authorities, emergency services and others to a catastrophic event. Through the Military Aid to the Civil Community Scheme, public authorities can request the assistance of the Services when appropriate. The Scottish Government provides emergency responders including the police with funding to enable them to deal with all types of civil emergencies, including flooding. Other relevant public agencies (for example health boards) also undertake, within the overall funding made available to them, emergency planning functions. The Scottish Government can in certain circumstances also offer financial support under the Bellwin Scheme to a council or councils incurring eligible costs in dealing with a large scale emergency. Requests for further financial assistance for public bodies faced with a material unexpected financial burden in dealing with such an incident would be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Scottish Government and local authorities are each responsible for managing the risks attaching to their own property and activities. Scottish Government itself is a sufficiently large body to be able to self insure its risks. As a result, it uses commercial insurance rarely, generally only where contractual commitments require such cover. Local government also uses a mix of commercial insurance and self insurance. The extent to which local authorities use insurance is a matter for them, and they will take into account the size and nature of any risk in relation to the resources of the authority in reaching a decision.

No target has been set to increase the proportion of wealth earned by the six lowest income deciles. The Government Economic Strategy does however contain the Solidarity Target, which is to increase overall income, and the proportion of income earned by the three lowest income deciles as a group by 2017. It is important to note that this includes all those experiencing relative poverty in Scotland. The Scottish Government''s Anti-Poverty Framework will set out later this year how we intend to deliver the Solidarity Target.

This is the first government to set a stretching national target to reduce income inequality in Scotland while at the same time making us wealthier per person. The Government Economic Strategy provides the strategic framework to achieve this target.

The decision to offer courses in any subject is a decision for individual universities to make based on demand for and perceived sustainability of the course.

We will continue to work with the Scottish Funding Council to ensure that its higher education funding methodology allows individual, autonomous higher education institutions to respond effectively to any change in demand for provision.

No. Decisions taken by the property insurance industry are a commercial matter for that industry and it would be inappropriate for the Scottish Government to underwrite any loss that may arise as a result of those decisions.

Although no minister has so far attended a meeting in Brussels to discuss such matters, the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning discussed a number of issues related to skills, including the importance of lifelong learning to economic growth and the European Qualifications Framework, with Commissioner Figel'' during his visit to Edinburgh on 28 June 2007.

No minister has yet attended meetings in Europe related to transport, but the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change intends to visit Brussels in the near future.

There have been no ministerial meetings in Europe since May 2007 to discuss health matters. However, we have good links with the Commission, and I will attend future Council meetings where there is a specific Scottish policy interest in the decisions to be taken.

I undertook a number of engagements related to culture during my visit to Brussels on 29 January 2008. I held meetings with Members of the European Parliament and with representatives of the British Council; hosted a seminar on the contribution of culture to the Lisbon Agenda for jobs and growth; opened an exhibition of photographs of Scottish entrepreneurs; introduced a talk given by Iain Banks as part of the Scottish Government EU Office''s Scottish Writers Series, and hosted a Burns supper for prominent members of the Scottish and Slovenian communities in Brussels.