Chamber and committees

The Executive's intention is to move to a position where all staff in centres providing childcare and early education for pre-school children either hold an appropriate qualification, are seeking accreditation of skills and experience, or are pursuing on-the-job-training. The Scottish Social Services Council will be responsible for taking much of this forward in due course.In the meantime, from 1 April 2002, the Commission for the Regulation of Care will be expected to require that all managers should be qualified in childcare, teaching or social work and as a minimum, at least half of the staff in any one facility should be qualified in childcare. "Qualified in childcare" is defined as holding any one of the qualifications mentioned in Working With Children.Within this context, staffing structures are a matter for employers.

Childcare services will be registered by the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care under the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001. As part of the registration process, childcare providers will be required to obtain a criminal record check on all new employees under Part V of the Police Act 1997. This check will be carried out by Disclosure Scotland (part of the Scottish Criminal Record Office) which will aim to issue the certificates within 10 days of receipt of applications.

Scottish University for Industry (SUfI) administers the Capital Modernisation Fund (CMF) support for learning centre development on behalf of the Executive. SUfI has made known the criteria used for assessing CMF in a variety of ways, including through promotional literature for the scheme, their website, speeches at public events, direct contact with applicants and in response to written/telephone enquiries.The assessment of bids for funding from the New Futures Fund, New Opportunities Fund and the National Lottery Funds are operational matters for the bodies concerned.

Scottish University for Industry (SUfI) administers the Capital Modernisation Fund (CMF) support for learning centre development on behalf of the Executive. SUfI and New Opportunities Fund (who offer funding to meet revenue costs) share information on applicants who have been offered/are being considered for funding. In addition, CMF applicants are asked to provide details of all other project funding that has been applied for or approved, enabling SUfI to build an overall picture of the funding position for every project.I have asked the organisations responsible for approving funding for the New Futures Fund and The National Lottery to write to you directly.

The Scottish University for Industry administers the Capital Modernisation Fund (CMF) support for learning centre development on behalf of the Executive. CMF applicants who are unsuccessful are advised in writing and given specific reasons. The scheme, which closed to new applicants last October, ends on 31 March 2002 and all remaining unsuccessful applicants will be given feedback by mid-April.The New Futures Fund is managed by Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Scottish Enterprise and feedback to unsuccessful applicants is an operational matter for them. I understand, however, that feedback will be given on request.Decisions on funding from the New Opportunity Fund and the National Lottery Fund are a matter for these organisations. I have asked them to write to you directly.

Scottish University for Industry administers the Capital Modernisation Fund (CMF) support for learning centre development on behalf of the Executive. There are no specific targets aimed at ensuring a diversity of organisations receive CMF. Individual applications are judged on their own merits in relation to the overall objectives of the scheme; these include geographic coverage, provision in socially excluded areas and addressing sectoral or other gaps. The scheme is promoted widely to a variety of organisations, including intermediaries, and all promotional literature makes it clear that any organisation is eligible to apply.The criteria for the selection of projects to be funded by the New Futures Fund are a matter for Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Scottish Enterprise within the broad guidelines set out by the Scottish Executive. With regard to projects funded through the New Opportunities Fund and the National Lottery these are matters for the organisations concerned.

The duty on local authorities to provide assistance to a child, does not depend on the identity of the child. We do not expect the absence of official documentation to prove a child's identity, to affect the child's access to local authority assistance.

None of Scottish Homes houses at any time transferred to Communities Scotland. All Scottish Homes tenants were supplied with a newsletter in September 2001, which explained the future for Scottish Homes and its remaining tenants. A copy of the newsletter has been put in the Parliament's Reference Centre.

The number of patients admitted to hospital in each of the last three years with a diagnosis related to a firearms¹ incident are shown in the table

	Year ending 31 Dec:
Treated in:	1999	2000	2001P
NHS Glasgow	30	36	42
NHS Scotland	140	138	136

^P Provisional.Notes:1. includes incidents involving handguns, rifles, air guns and unspecified.

The caries prevention scheme is open to all registered six- and seven-year-olds in Scotland. In the period April 2001 to January 2002 payments under the scheme amounted to £1.15 million; and it estimated that a further £250,000 will be paid in the remainder of the financial year. In the financial year 2002-03, the scheme is expected to cost around £1.5 million. The financial resources for the scheme are allocated through the General Dental Services budget.