- Asked by: Ms Wendy Alexander, MSP for Paisley North, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Iain Gray on 2 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding was allocated to the Renfrewshire Council area as a result of the creation of Careers Scotland in each year from its inception and what such funding was spent on.
Answer
On the establishment of Careers Scotland, the Executive made available to Scottish Enterprise (SEn) and Highlands and Islands Enterprise funding it had previously directed at a range of conjoining agencies. In the SEn area, this amounted to a total of some £30 million. The proportion of that total devoted to the Renfrewshire Council area and the manner in which it has been deployed are operational matters for Scottish Enterprise. That said, Careers Scotland's delivery is shaped by the targets the Executive has set. These address our economic development, social inclusion and education priorities and cover:increasing the number of disadvantaged young people continuing in post-compulsory education or training;increasing the proportion of school-leavers will a positive approach to the world of work;increasing the number of disengaged adults actively engaged in learning and training, andreducing the number of young people not in education, employment or training.
- Asked by: Ms Wendy Alexander, MSP for Paisley North, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Iain Gray on 2 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how many New Futures Fund projects have been funded in the Renfrewshire Council area and how much has been allocated to each such project since the inception of the fund.
Answer
There are four New Futures Fund projects in Renfrewshire. Of these, only Renfrewshire Association for Mental Health was funded from inception of the fund, with the others coming on stream during Phase 2. Details of the projects are as follows:
| Project | Contract Value (totals) |
| Phase 1 | Phase 2 |
| Inverclyde Community Development Trust | 0 | £200,000 |
| Renfrewshire Addiction Forum | 0 | £450,000 |
| NCH Scotland | 0 | £70,000 |
| Renfrewshire Association for Mental Health | £205,000 | £250,000 |
- Asked by: Ms Wendy Alexander, MSP for Paisley North, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 2 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what the percentage change has been in recorded crime levels in disadvantaged areas in the Renfrewshire Council area in each year since 1996.
Answer
The information requested is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Ms Wendy Alexander, MSP for Paisley North, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 2 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the #24 million child care package was allocated to the Renfrewshire Council area and how the money was distributed.
Answer
In July 2001, £24 million additional resources for child care were allocated through the child poverty package over 2001-04. The money was allocated as follows:
- £8.5 million was made available for child care grants for lone parents in full-time higher education to pay for child care. This grant is administered through the Students Awards Agency for Scotland. The Scottish Executive does not hold information on awards made by local area under this grant scheme.
- £7.5 million was made available to further education colleges throughout Scotland to widen child care provision, based on locally identified needs. Responsibility for administering this money lies with the Scottish Further Education Funding Council. Information on awards made by this body is not held centrally by the Executive.
£8 million was made available to local authorities to help stabilise and sustain out-of-school care projects, especially in disadvantaged areas. The money was allocated over a three-year period as £2 million in 2001-02, £3 million in 2002-03 and £3 million in 2003-04. Of this, Renfrewshire Council was allocated £48,600 in 2001-2 and £72,800 in 2002-03 and 2003-04. Allocation of this money within the Renfrewshire Council area is a matter for Renfrewshire Council as they have responsibility for the allocation of funds at a local level. The information requested is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Ms Wendy Alexander, MSP for Paisley North, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 2 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the #1 billion to rebuild and refurbish schools was made available in the Renfrewshire Council area.
Answer
We have offered financial support to 15 local authorities to enable them to take forward school PPP projects with a total capital investment value of £1.195 billion. Renfrewshire Council's share of that figure is £100 million.
- Asked by: Ms Wendy Alexander, MSP for Paisley North, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 2 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding has been allocated to the rough sleepers initiative (RSI) in the Renfrewshire Council area since the inception of the initiative and how successful the initiative has been.
Answer
Renfrewshire Council received a total of £438,400 in RSI grant in the years 1997-98 to 2001-02 for the provision of a team of outreach and resettlement staff, support staff for rough sleepers with mental health problems, and the reprovisioning of Paisley Social Christian Action Centre to provide self contained flats for people at risk. A further £103,181 per annum has been transferred to the council's Revenue Support Grant to ensure the continuation of services addressing the needs of rough sleepers in the area.In May 2001 the total number of people identified as sleeping rough in Renfrewshire in the two-week period covered by the study was 11. In the same two-week period in 2002 the number was seven. The weekly average number of people sleeping rough fell from two in May 2001 to one in May 2002.Renfrewshire Council is currently preparing its Homelessness Strategy, and revising its RSI local outcome agreement. In doing so, it has been asked in particular to address the apparent slight shortage of direct access accommodation available for rough sleepers and to consider how to improve access to existing available accommodation.
- Asked by: Ms Wendy Alexander, MSP for Paisley North, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 2 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what increases in the proportion of children that attain the appropriate levels in reading, writing and maths by the end of Primary 2 and Primary 7 there have been in the Renfrewshire Council area since 1996.
Answer
5-14 attainment data are available from 1998-99.Data on pupils' performance up to 2000-01 is already available in the 5-14 Attainment in Publicly Funded Schools News Releases (Bib. numbers 25343 and 18788). The data for 2001-02 will be published on 4 December 2002.
- Asked by: Ms Wendy Alexander, MSP for Paisley North, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 15 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 2 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how many people are expected to benefit from the free off-peak local bus travel scheme for elderly and disabled concessionary card holders in Paisley North.
Answer
The information requested is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Ms Wendy Alexander, MSP for Paisley North, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Iain Gray on 28 November 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to increase the employment rates of disadvantaged groups, such as lone parents and ethnic minorities, in the Renfrewshire Council area.
Answer
Employment policy is reserved to the UK Government which takes the lead on funding and delivery of the New Deal. In Scotland it does this in partnership with the Scottish Executive and contributing Scottish organisations.Both the New Deal for Disabled People and New Deal for Lone Parents are available on a voluntary basis in the Renfrewshire Council area. Additionally, people who face particular disadvantage may be granted early entry to other New Deal programmes without having to complete the qualifying period of unemployment.A new initiative, called progress2work, to help people with drugs problems will shortly be introduced by Jobcentre Plus into the Renfrewshire Council area. A further initiative along the same lines is being developed for other harder to help client groups.Early entry to the Training for Work programme is available to a wide range of groups who are particularly disadvantaged in the labour market, including lone parents, people with disabilities, those aged 50 and over and individuals resident in social inclusion partnership areas. Also there are individual New Futures Fund projects in Renfrewshire which help clients facing particular difficulties in entering the labour market.
- Asked by: Ms Wendy Alexander, MSP for Paisley North, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 28 November 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to reduce the number of households and, in particular, households with children living in temporary accommodation in the Renfrewshire Council area since 1997.
Answer
Renfrewshire Council was awarded £258,000 in 2000 to provide 18 housing units for temporary accommodation for small family groups or single parents to reduce the need to use inappropriate bed and breakfast accommodation to house homeless families. In carrying out an assessment of homelessness in Renfrewshire, and in the development of a homelessness strategy, the council will be considering whether there is a need for further temporary accommodation for families or other vulnerable groups. All councils are required to prepare homelessness strategies by March 2003.
