Chamber and committees

Our 2011-12 Budget makes clear that the capital value of the modernisation of the Glasgow College Estate is estimated at around £200 million. This is subject to the conclusion of a robust and affordable business case for the City of Glasgow College project, and a successful procurement through the Non Profit Distributing model. While the College has yet to submit its business case to the Scottish Funding Council, it is widely known that City of Glasgow College is committed to developing a world-class campus which matches its ambitions as Scotland''s largest college.

Our 2011-12 Budget makes clear that the Scottish Government will deliver through the non-profit distributing model, modernisation of the Glasgow college estate, subject to the conclusion of a robust and affordable business case. Consideration of the business case will be undertaken by the Scottish Funding Council in partnership with the Scottish Futures Trust once it is received to determine whether the project is ready to proceed to procurement.

While City of Glasgow College is the owner of its estates development project, the College will be supported by both the Scottish Funding Council and by the Scottish Futures Trust, as the bodies delivering the pipeline of NPD infrastructure projects in the college sector on behalf of the Scottish Government.

The design for the new children''s hospital has been in development since June 2006, and at every stage there has been involvement and communication between the project team for the new children''s hospital and all staff at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, including the paediatric consultants.

A statement on the severe weather conditions was made to the Parliament on 8 December 2010 and a copy of this can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/officialReports/meetingsParliament/or-10/sor1208-02.htm#Col31271.

In addition, following a debate on winter resilience held in the Parliament on 16 December 2010, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth wrote to all MSPs on 20 December 2010 to update them on the situation.

I have asked Transport Scotland to provide a further update and a briefing note will shortly be lodged in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 52423).

The Scottish Government is not aware that any existing guidance related to Community Pharmacy in Scotland issued by the Scottish Government including through the NHS is inconsistent with the provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.

The Achieving Fair Access guidance was issued in October 2006, to help NHS Scotland meet the needs of disabled people.

Health Facilities Scotland issued in August 2007 a non-binding guidance note SHPN 36-3 Community Pharmacy Premises in Scotland for those planning new premises or upgrades to existing community pharmacies.

The formal responsibility for registration and standards for pharmacies in the United Kingdom lies with the recently established General Pharmaceutical Council who have yet to issue formal guidance.

Glasgow City Council''s indicative revenue funding will be £1,391.8 million in 2011-12, a reduction of £51.5 million from 2010-11. Glasgow City Council''s total funding will remain the highest per head of any mainland local authority in Scotland.

The local government funding package agreed between the Scottish Government and COSLA''s Leadership resulted in an average reduction in revenue funding of 2.6% across Scotland. Once this total was distributed between all 32 local authorities using the relative needs-based distribution formula, which was inherited from the previous administration and also agreed between the Scottish Government COSLA and council leaders for the 2011-12 settlement, this resulted in a variation in year-on-year changes. The distribution formula produced a 3.6% reduction in revenue funding for Glasgow City Council''s as a result of this process.

The Scottish Government Resilience Room was activated on 25 November 2010 and has been liaising on a daily basis with the various agencies involved in responding to the consequences of the cold weather conditions, including the police forces. The resilience room remains active to co-ordinate the multi-agency effort to tackle the consequences of the weather conditions and is open 24/7.

The Cabinet Sub-Committee on Scottish Government Resilience (Severe Weather) (CSC-SGoR) has met and discussed the 2010-11 winter conditions daily since 24 November 2010. There have been 23 CSC-SGoR meetings from 24 November 2010 to 15 December 2010 (inclusive). There have also been 15 ministerial resilience meetings with external organisations during this time.

The CSC-SGoR meetings have been attended by ministers, officials and representatives of external organisations, representatives of Scotland''s police forces and the strategic co-ordinating groups established under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004.