Chamber and committees

<>There are nearly 1,800 children and young people engaging regularly with the three established Sistema Scotland Big Noise centres. Big Noise Raploch works with almost 500 children and young people on a regular basis, Big Noise Govanhill works with almost 800 children and Big Noise Torry works with almost 500 children and young people. In addition to the Big Noise orchestras attended by children, Sistema Scotland run Baby Noise and Adult Noise programmes which enable the Sistema Scotland programme to reach across the communities where they are based.

In 2016-17 the Scottish Government is providing grant funding of £3.96 million to the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) based in Glasgow and £1.99 million to the Scottish Chamber Orchestra based in Edinburgh, two of the five Scottish Government-funded national performing companies who both perform regularly throughout Scotland, the UK and internationally. In addition, the orchestras have received capital funding allocations, most notably £9.2 million for the new RSNO home at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall which opened in 2015.

The Scottish Government also support Sistema Scotland which has three Big Noise centres in Raploch, Govanhill and Torry and our recently announced £2.5 million four-year funding package will enable the youth orchestra programme to sustain and build on its work to enhance the health, wellbeing and prospects of young people in the communities of Stirling, Glasgow and Aberdeen.

In addition the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestras of Scotland (NYOS) both receive Regular Funding from Creative Scotland who also support various orchestral activities through project funding including:-

Support for recording projects – an award to the RSNO and NYOS to record the symphonic music of Sally Beamish

Support for new commissions – an award to voluntary group Peebles Orchestra for commission from Esther Swift

Support for sector development and research – an award to Association of British Orchestras for research into youth ensembles

The Scottish Government has regular discussions on a wide range of subjects with Creative Scotland but has not recently discussed specific support for contemporary musicians. Occasionally musicians write to the Scottish Government about opportunities for support for them and they are directed to Creative Scotland's advice service.

<>The Scottish Government does not intend to introduce a fee for homeowners to apply to the Homeowner Housing Panel.

The Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011 requires Scottish Ministers, when determining whether a property factor is fit and proper, to consider whether the factor, or any relevant person connected with the factor:

has been convicted of any offence involving fraud or other dishonesty, violence or drugs;

has any court or tribunal judgments against them under the Equalities Act 2010, the Equal Pay Act 1970, the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, the Race Relations Act 1976, the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, the Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003 and the Employment Equality (Religion Or Belief) Regulations 2003;

has contravened any provision of the law relating to tenements, property or debt.

As the Act does not give Scottish Ministers specific investigatory powers their ability to monitor the effectiveness of the fit and proper test is limited. Within those limits, Scottish Ministers consider any relevant information provided by the property factor or a third party and will take steps to review an entry on the register if they have reasonable grounds to suspect that information provided is, or has become, inaccurate. They may also require the person to provide a criminal conviction certificate as evidence to support the information provided in the application.

<>The Homeowner Housing Panel (HoHP) is an independent tribunal established under the Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011 (the Act) to deal with disputes between homeowners and property factors. The Act came into force on 1 October 2012.

Information on the number of property factor enforcement orders issued each year by the HoHP is included in its annual report which is laid before the Scottish Parliament. The reports are published at: https://hohp.scotland.gov.uk/who-we-are-hohp/annual-reports.

As part of numerous industry forums, both current (Rutherglen junction) and planned (Carstairs junction) enhancements to the west coast main line are regularly discussed with operators.

Indeed, the working group and board of the Scotland route study, at which both transport Scotland and cross-border train operating companies are represented, has regularly looked at future demand projections and potential investment for each of the main corridors in Scotland, including the west coast main line.

The data-sharing arrangements entered into by the Police Service of Scotland and its partners, is an operational matter for the parties concerned.

The Scottish Government receives reports on occasion in connection with the warrants that are authorised by the Scottish Ministers under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000.

This is an operational matter for the Police Service of Scotland.