Chamber and committees

The Scottish Executive has longsupported and encouraged public involvement in the regeneration of architecturallyimportant buildings throughout Scotland. Through Historic Scotland the Executive funds the Buildingsat Risk Register which provides information to the public on historic buildingsin need of rescue with a view to encouraging people to buy them and find new usesfor them. Since the Buildings at Risk initiative was started in 1990, some 650 historicbuildings have been saved in Scotland.

Most public involvement in buildingregeneration projects, however, is channelled through the work of Building PreservationTrusts (BPTs) in rescuing historic buildings which have suffered from long-termneglect. At a local level, Historic Scotland gives priority to BPT projects in awardingrepair grants. Moreover, Historic Scotland provides revenue grant to the ScottishAreas Committee of the Association of Building Preservation Trusts to assist intheir work of promoting and supporting the work of BPTs in Scotland.

Information on uptake of instrumentaltuition in schools is not collected centrally.

the Scottish Arts Council’s audit of youth music provision in Scotland, publishedin February 2003, highlighted that the provision of instrumental instruction variedacross local authorities.

The Scottish Executive is usinga variety of methods to increase participation in instrumental tuition through theprovision of additional funding of £17.5 million over this and the next two yearsfor youth music tuition announced by First Minister on 26 February 2003. The ScottishArts Council has been charged with administering funding for this initiative andwill encourage local authorities to offer a diverse spread of provision in a rangeof styles and genres.

Whilst the Scottish Executive provides advice on the provision of music tuition in the classroom, primarily inthe form of curriculum guidelines, it is the responsibility of individual education authorities and headteachers to make decisions on how best to provide music educationin their schools.

Funding for the initiative isbeing allocated to local authorities through the Scottish Arts Council. It willbe for each local authority, working closely with the council, to prepare plansrelevant to its individual circumstances that will enable it to meet the target.

The Scottish Executive providesadvice on the provision of music tuition in the classroom, primarily in the formof curriculum guidelines. It is for local authorities and schools to make decisionson the various forms of music tuition that will be made available to pupils.

the Scottish Executive has produced further guidance for local authorities on good practicein the management of music tuition services and that encourages local authoritiesto offer tuition on contemporary and traditional instruments and support ensembleswhich perform contemporary and traditional styles of music.

The Scottish Arts Council hasbeen charged by the First Minister with administering £17.5 million over the nextthree years to assist education authorities in ensuring that every primary schoolpupil has the opportunity to have at least one year’s free music tuition beforethey reach primary six.

In exercising their functionsthe planning authority must act reasonably. Planning authorities have powers underplanning legislation to require further information in order for them to deal withan application and to require the production of evidence in respect of informationaccompanying a planning application.

The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the Home Office on matters related to UK immigrationpolicy, including the recent introduction of charges for applications to extendleave to remain in the UK.

The Prime Minister's Initiative(PMI), launched in June 1999, aims to attract more overseas students to the UK. The Scottish Executive is involved with the funding and development of this strategy in partnershipwith other devolved administrations, UK government departments, British Council and Trade PartnersUK. Measures to enhance overseas student recruitment as part of the PMI includea three-year branded global marketing campaign, expansion of the Chevening scholarshipscheme and streamlining work and visa regulations. A Scottish version of the brandlogo and marketing materials have been developed as part of the PMI strategy foruse by Scottish institutions and EducationUKScotland on their own promotional materials.In addition, EducationUKScotland(formerly Scottish Education and Training) is an initiative supported and fundedprimarily by the education sectors and also by British Council Scotland. The Scottish Executive has agreed to provide £50,000 per annum to support the activities of theorganisation in 2003-04 and 2004-05. In return for that investment, we expect theorganisation to take forward some of the recommendations related to overseas studentscontained in the Framework for HigherEducation in Scotland, in partnershipwith the sectors and other stakeholders. EducationUKScotland’s primary objectiveis to promote Scottish education effectively in overseas markets with the aim ofattracting more overseas students to Scottish institutions in all sectors.

In addition to the activitiesoutlined above, the Executive is also looking more broadly at ways of attractingand retaining fresh talent for Scotland’s longer term prosperity.

The financial arrangement referredto is not with Communities Scotland but Scottish Homes.

The financial arrangements enteredinto at the time of transfer were part of the overall sale agreement. However, Iunderstand that it is open to Cube Housing Association to explore with ScottishHomes the option of either re-financing the loan with an alternative financial institutionor re-scheduling the loan with Scottish Homes. This will be subject to any contractualobligations or relevant prescribed regulations.

The vast majority of witnessessubmit a claim in person at the local cashier’s office and receive payment for courtexpenses on the day they attend court. Where claims are submitted by post to theCrown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service Finance Section, the claimant can expect,on average, to receive reimbursement within five working days of receipt of theclaim by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service Finance Section.