Chamber and committees

Payment to kinship carers looking after children who have a residence order is a matter for the local authority to determine. Local authorities have discretionary powers to make payments to families in need.

Once the Citizens Advice Scotland''s advice and information service for kinship carers is fully operational, it will provide help to all kinship carers to maximise the income to which they are entitled through the benefits and taxation systems.

The Scottish Government and COSLA have agreed that sufficient resources have been included within the total financial settlement for local authorities to meet this commitment to pay a weekly allowance to approved kinship carers of looked after children at the same rate as the allowance paid to the local authority''s foster carers with child benefit deduction.

Ministers have not yet had the opportunity to visit a child contact centre but discussions are on-going with Relationship Scotland to arrange a visit to their Eliburn centre in the near future.

In the financial year 2007-08, the Scottish Government invested a total of £0.405 million into affordable housing in the Linlithgow parliamentary constituency, from the Affordable Housing Investment Programme.

Local authorities'' and COSLA''s commitment to making school buildings available or better available for community use is already well documented. The recent Audit Scotland report Improving the school estate indicated that many schools are providing community access to facilities and new build schools are often designed with community use in mind. The report highlights good practice but also identifies areas for improvement and we will work with COSLA and the local authorities on how best to address this.

With Epilepsy Scotland, we have been encouraging the development of Managed Clinical Networks for epilepsy services. These provide the integration of services highlighted by Audit Scotland in its 2007 report on long-term conditions.

NHS Quality Improvement Scotland (QIS) is developing clinical standards for neurological conditions. These will include standards specific to epilepsy.

The Scottish Governmentfunds the National Library of Scotland and the Scottish Library and InformationCouncil by way of support for the library sector. Officials meet the National Librarianand the Director of the Scottish Library and Information Council regularly, withthe most recent meetings on 19 November 2007 and 16 January 2008 respectively. A range of financial and policy issueswere discussed, including projects being supported under the Public Library QualityImprovement Matrix supported by £500,000 per year from the Scottish Government.

No. The National Yearof Reading 2008 is an initiative in England funded by theDepartment for Children, Schools and Families and led by the National Literacy Trustand the Reading Agency. In Scotland, activities to promote reading and literacyare delivered through a wide range of partners, including the Scottish Book Trust,the Books, Reading and Writing (BRAW) project, Communities Scotland and Learningand Teaching Scotland as well as, of course, through public libraries.

None. Library provisionand education are devolved matters, including issues connected with reading andliteracy. The National Year of Reading 2008 is an initiative in England funded bythe Department for Children, Schools and Families and led by the National LiteracyTrust and the Reading Agency. In Scotland, activitiesto promote reading and literacy are delivered through a wide range of partners,including the Scottish Book Trust, the Books, Reading and Writing (BRAW) project, Communities Scotland and Learning and TeachingScotland as well of course through public libraries.

The management of school buildingsis the responsibility of the local authorities, shared, where appropriate, withother partners. The Scottish Government continues to encourage authorities to assessthe need and demand for community access to school facilities and to respond tothat, although it does not collect detailed information of the kind requested.