Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-26763 on 27 June 2002.

The total provision for Learning Disabilities Change Fund is £16 million in 2003-04, recurring thereafter. The resources are being allocated through the general local government settlement distribution - separate allocations for each authority have not been published, but are included within the settlement total each authority receives.

The total provision for Learning Disability Change Fund is £8 million in 2001-02, and £12 million in 2002-03. The resources are being allocated through the general local government settlement distribution - separate allocations for each authority have not been published, but are included within the settlement total each authority receives.

Scottish Enterprise plays an important part in achieving social justice objectives. The Executive was satisfied that the current operating plan includes outputs relating to inclusion across a range of activities including business starts and skills and learning. Scottish Enterprise reports to the Executive on performance against these targets. While no numerical target was set in the operating plan for 2002-03 for support to social economy organisations, Scottish Enterprise will provide business development and training support services to those who have reached or have the potential to reach a degree of commercial development and trading maturity.

The Management Statement issued by the Scottish Executive to Scottish Enterprise requires that they submit statements twice a year to the Executive showing performance against each of the key operating targets identified in their annual operating plan. In addition, on a quarterly basis, Scottish Enterprise prepares a statement of performance against operating plan targets for its board, which is copied to the Scottish Executive.

Business advice and support for women is delivered by Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise. The Scottish Executive acknowledge that these services should reflect the specific needs of current or potential women entrepreneurs. The need for a national centre for women's enterprise is currently under consideration.

Closing the opportunity gap for Scotland's children is a key policy for the Executive. Through Sure Start Scotland we provide resources to give every child the best possible start in life. This supports joint-agency integrated service provision, which is often provided through children's centres. The Changing Children's Services Fund is a further source of resources to act as a catalyst for better integration of health, education, social work and voluntary sector services to improve outcomes for vulnerable and deprived children. All these resources are weighted heavily by local authority area to reflect deprivation levels.

We will announce detailed spending plans for the three years 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06 in September.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-27751 on 15 August 2002.

We are currently in the process of developing an agenda to re-vitalise the Compact and its Good Practice Guides. A Compact Review Group was set up in November 2000, comprising Executive and voluntary sector officials to monitor implementation of the Compact and report to Scottish ministers. The last report on the Compact was published and debated in the Scottish Parliament on 26 September 2001. The review group has now been re-established to ensure the outcomes of the 2001 report are implemented. This group had its first meeting on 3 July 2002.