Chamber and committees

SmartWater is a property marking solution which has been privately developed for commercial purposes and is aimed primarily at organisations and companies with an interest in the prevention and detection of crime. I understand that Aberdeen City Council piloted the technology in several streets at the start of the year, the first authority in Scotland to do so. Due to the reduction in housebreaking in these areas, the council is now funding a roll-out of the scheme across the city with the assistance of neighbourhood and community wardens, many of whom are funded by the Executive. We therefore have a clear interest in the scheme and I have asked my officials to monitor and evaluate progress.

The Scottish Executive provided £3 million funding to the Scottish Police Information Strategy in 2005-06 to lead and drive the achievement of integrated IT systems for Scottish policing. When new applications and systems are being developed a high priority is attached to realising business benefits and efficiencies.

The information requested isnot collected routinely.

The advertising spend forthe Organ Donation campaign for 2003-2004 was £143,858.00 and for 2004-2005 was£121,012.00.

The Scottish Executiveprovides funding to the Scottish Road Safety Campaign for the development ofkey road safety education initiatives and publicity messages. Progress onimplementing the recommendations in Parental Attitudes to Road SafetyEducation has been delayed due to vacancies, which have now been filled, intwo key posts in the campaign.

In the current financialyear, the campaign will review the research and begin preparatory work ontaking the recommendations forward.

The most recent information that we have on antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs) is for 2003-04. This shows that the largest number of ASBOs were against those over 25 years of age. This age group accounted for 63% of ASBO applications and 59% of ASBOs granted. People aged 16 to 18 years account for 13% of applications and 16% of ASBOs granted. However, as a proportion of the population, ASBO applications and orders granted are highest within the 16 to 18-year-old age band.

Further information is given in section 6 of Use of Antisocial Behaviour Orders in Scotland published on the Scottish Executive website in April 2005. Copies are available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 36131).

Under the new clean hospitals campaign announced in March 2005, funding of £1.05 million was allocated to NHS boards for the provision of alcohol-based handrubs at every frontline bed. NHS boards have confirmed that these measures are in place. Allocations to individual NHS boards were based the Arbuthnott formula as follows:

Health Board	Allocation 2004-05 (£000)	Allocation 2005-06 (£000)
Argyll and Clyde	13	78
Ayrshire and Arran	12	70
Borders	3	20
Dumfries and Galloway	5	29
Fife	10	61
Forth Valley	8	47
Grampian	13	81
Greater Glasgow	28	165
Highland	7	42
Lanarkshire	16	97
Lothian	20	121
Orkney	1	4
Shetland	1	4
Tayside	12	72
Western Isles	1	7

 

The number of modern apprenticesbroken down by sector and geographical area is an operational matter for ScottishEnterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise. This information is not heldcentrally.

Men working in early years and child care ensures that children have role models of both sexes.

We want to have a workforce that better reflects the society we live in and to move away from the traditional image of early years and childcare as women’s work. The National Review of the Early Years and Childcare Workforce is examining these issues. I look forward to receiving their report later this year.

The Scottish Executive currently provides funding support to Men in Childcare, a voluntary organisation, which recruits men into childcare training. This work began in Edinburgh and is now expanding to other areas of the country.

Within the early years and child care workforce, 2% of staff, 650 workers, are male. This information is available publicly from the Scottish Executive National Statistics Publication – Pre-school and Childcare Workforce Statistics 2004 and is available on the Scottish Executive website.