Chamber and committees

A Scottish Executive News Release (SE1410/2001) on 13 June 2001, referred to an investment of £18.5 million for Personal Medical Services. This additional investment was announced on 19 February 2001. At the same time boards were informed of their indicative allocations by letter, which included guidance on the application and funding arrangements in relation to Personal Medical Service pilot schemes. Updated, comprehensive guidance was published by the Scottish Executive Health Department in May 2001.

The Scottish Executive recognises the importance of affordable water charges. That is why it introduced the current transitional relief scheme. Considerable further work is needed on the affordability of water and sewerage charges in the longer term. I have therefore accepted the Water Industry Commissioner's (WIC's) recommendation for further research in this area. Further details of the WIC's work can be found in chapter 24 of his Strategic Review of Charges published earlier this month.

Around 34,000 staff are employed in the range of public services covered by the Scottish Executive's relocation policy; around two-thirds of these are already located outwith Edinburgh. Two objectives govern relocation decisions. First, the location of organisations should promote efficiency and effectiveness. Second, subject to the first objective, the work of the Scottish Executive and related bodies should be close to the communities they serve. When relocation is being considered, no parts of the country are targeted, nor are any ruled out. Each relocation decision is viewed on its own merits and a decision is taken about where each organisation should be situated, based on the relevant factors in each case.

Local economic conditions, such as levels of unemployment, are included in the range of factors taken into account when relocation decisions are taken. No one factor has primacy over others; the relocation of each organisation is considered on its own merits.

The Scottish Executive and local agencies are committed to securing sustainable employment opportunities for North Ayrshire. In recognition of the challenges facing the area, Scottish Enterprise Ayrshire has been awarded an additional £4.7 million over the past two years to implement their "Ayrshire Strategy for Jobs". In the past year, the creation of some 450 jobs in the area have been announced by companies which have worked closely with local and national agencies.

We have made good progress. The Education and Lifelong Learning Department is now wholly located in Glasgow, the Food Standards Agency has been set up in Aberdeen and the Public Guardian's Office has been set up in Falkirk. Following my announcement of 1 December last year on the forward programme, the First Minister announced on 6 March that the National Office of the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care and the offices of the Scottish Social Services Council will be located in Dundee. The commission's regional office for the area will also be located in the Dundee HQ. Locations under consideration for the other five regional offices are Inverness, Aberdeen, Paisley, Hamilton/East Kilbride and East Lothian. I announced on 17 July that the Scottish Public Pensions Agency will be located in the Galashiels area.In line with my statement of 1 December last year, the following organisations are in the programme of relocation reviews - the Health Education Board for Scotland, the Common Services Agency of the National Health Service in Scotland, sportscotland and the Scottish Arts Council and Registers of Scotland.Rolling the relocation programme forward, I can announce today that we will examine relocation options for Scottish Natural Heritage which has a forthcoming lease break in a property in Edinburgh. A decision on this will be made by mid 2002.Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education has been restructured as an Executive Agency, and its locations will be examined with a decision by mid 2003. These organisations will be examined on a case-by-case basis, with the aim of finding the best location for each organisation, within the context of the relocation policy. The position of staff will be a consideration, as will the costs and benefits of moves. As part of the process, the organisations concerned will continue to consider how most efficiently to conduct their work in line with the most up to date practices and use of technology. There will be opportunities for representations to be made about different locations and full consultation with the organisations concerned and with the relevant trade unions.We have also been examining where to locate the headquarters of the new body, Scottish Water, in the light of our relocation policy. We expect to take a decision on this shortly.

Relocation decisions are based on a range of issues including costs, quality and efficiency of service, economic factors such as unemployment, availability and suitability of property and staff, transport issues, and the position of staff concerned. Further criteria to be taken into account will depend on the organisation itself and the nature of the work in question.

The unemployment rate in North Ayrshire has been reduced by 7.2% over the last year.

The Executive considers reports of the Scottish Law Commission as a whole. As I have previously explained, the report recommended that it was not necessary to introduce legislation either to reform or restate the existing law on boundary walls. The Executive supports this view and does not plan to take any action in this area.

The Executive agrees fully with the UK Government on this matter. We strongly disapprove of the Common Agricultural Policy support scheme for tobacco. We argue that the Community should progressively disengage from support for tobacco production, on grounds of health and cost.