Chamber and committees

The information requested isprovided in the following table and reflects the position at the end each yearfrom 2002 to 2006. The most up-to-date figures available give the position atend April 2007.

Number and Percentage of PermanentStaff in the Scottish Executive Core Departments by Age Group

As at	Age 16 to 24		Age 25 to 34		Age 35 to 44		Age 45 to 54		Age 55 to 64
	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%
31-12-2002	346	8%	1,099	25%	1,288	29%	1,239	28%	433	10%
31-12-2003	280	6%	1,126	25%	1,373	30%	1,274	28%	509	11%
31-12-2004	234	5%	1,142	25%	1,402	30%	1,294	28%	552	12%
31-12-2005	188	4%	1,130	25%	1,391	30%	1,308	28%	584	13%
31-12-2006	139	3%	1,048	24%	1,358	31%	1,281	29%	594	13%
30-04-2007	122	3%	1,033	24%	1,346	31%	1,278	29%	596	14%

 

The official source of dataon the number of people employed in local government organisations is the QuarterlyPublic Sector Employment series. The Following table 1 shows the number ofpeople employed in local government organisations in each of the last fiveyears.

The Public Sector Employmentdata does not include information on the age of employees within localgovernment. However, the Labour Force Survey (LFS) does provide estimates byage of employee although it does not correspond exactly to the official measureof local government employment. For illustrative purposes the following table 2contains a breakdown of the proportion of people employed in local government ineach age group for each of the last five years based on the LFS.

Table 1 Total Employment inLocal Government Organisations Including Police, Fire and Related Services

Quarterly	Total Local Government Including Police, Fire and Related Services
Q2 2002	301,300
Q2 2003	307,700
Q2 2004	315,500
Q2 2005	321,200
Q2 2006	323,300

Source: Quarterly publicsector employment in Scotland.

Notes:

1. Data relates to Q2(March) each year.

2. Data are based on head counts.

Table 2 Proportion of LocalGovernment Employees Including Fire, Police and Related Services) by Age Group

Quarter	16-24	25-34	35-44	45-54	55-64
Spring 2002	6.5%	16.6%	31.2%	31.8%	14.0%
Spring 2003	4.9%	17.2%	30.5%	32.2%	15.2%
Spring 2004	6.1%	16.5%	31.7%	28.3%	17.4%
Spring 2005	6.6%	18.5%	30.3%	28.6%	16.0%
Spring 2006	6.1%	17.3%	31.2%	27.6%	17.9%

Source: Labour Force Survey.

Notes:

1. Data relates to the springquarter (March to May) each year.

2. Data are based on head counts.

3. Data are based on asample survey and therefore are subject to a degree of error.

The Gender Audit of Statistics will be published before the endof March 2007. The audit provides the most comprehensive review to date of currentlyavailable gender disaggregated statistics and sets out gendered differences andinequalities across a range of key areas of social and economic life in Scotland.It looks at the extent and nature of differences and inequalities as indicated bystatistical trends, and comments on changes over time. The audit has already informedthe development of our gender equality scheme and the individual action plans ofScottish Executive departments, which set out the corporate and departmental policyobjectives for implementing the requirements of the gender equality duty.

I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-32633 on 28 March 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’swebsite, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

The latest figuresfrom the Scottish Environment Protection Agency show that we recycled/composted24.4% of municipal waste in 2005-06. We are holding workshops with local authoritiesand others on how to improve our recycling and composting performance further andare committed to achieving 30% by 2008 and 55% by 2020.

The imposition of thegeneral duty is a reserved matter, but specific duties are a matter forScottish ministers. The list of devolved bodies subject to these duties isusually reviewed annually in liaison with Whitehall colleagues. What duties are appropriate for the Scottish Commission for Human Rights will be considered in due course and the commission willbe fully consulted.

The imposition of thegeneral duty is a reserved matter, but specific duties are a matter forScottish ministers. The list of devolved bodies subject to these duties isusually reviewed annually in liaison with Whitehall colleagues. What duties are appropriate for the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission will be considered in due course and the commission willbe fully consulted.

Between 1999 and 2003 around£870 million was invested in affordable housing from our Development Funding Programme.By 2006-07 total investment since 1999 had risen to over £2.4 billion.

Policy and legislation on drivingwhilst under the influence of drugs is reserved.

Home Office Scientific DevelopmentBranch (HOSDB) is developing a roadside screening device to detect drug drivers.Once that process is complete the device will require type approval by UK ministersbefore it can be used for enforcement purposes. The type approval process is overseenby the Home Office led Drink Drug Drive Working Group (DDDWG) at which Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland is represented.

The following table shows thenumber of employee jobs in 2003 and 2005 (latest data) and also the net change inlevels of employee jobs between 2003 and 2005 for the Angus, Gordon, West Aberdeenshireand Kincardine and Banff and Buchan parliamentary constituencies.

Table 1 Employee Jobs in 2003and 2005 for Selected Parliamentary Constituencies and the Change in EmployeeJobs Between 2003 and 2005

	2003	2005	Change between 2003 and 2005
Angus	28,700	29,500	800
Banff and Buchan	30,700	31,200	600
Gordon	54,200	57,600	3,500
West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine	28,700	27,800	-900

Source: Annual Business Inquiry.

Notes:

1. Figures have been roundedto the nearest hundred.

2. These figures are aggregatesbut do not include agriculture class 0100 (1992 SIC). The Scottish Executive iscurrently working on agricultural data at parliamentary constituency level as notedin the answer to question S2W-31371 by Ross Finnie on 5 February 2007.

3. These statistics are workplace based.

4. Parliamentary constituenciesbased on 2005 revision.