Chamber and committees

This data is unavailable at regional level. At Scotland level, the percentage of 16- to 19-year-olds not in education, training or employment is 14%. However, this data should be available at local authority level from the boosted annual 2003 Labour Force Survey from which data will be analysed in autumn 2004.

A number of initiatives are under way, including:Careers Scotland Inclusiveness projectsPre-vocational programmesWork EnablersGet Ready for WorkNew Deal for Young PeopleNew Futures Fund projectsThe Renfrewshire Inclusiveness project, Positive Futures, aims to develop a strategic approach to improving outcomes for a range of young people 16 to 24 with additional support needs. Central to the project is the development of dedicated key-worker support with a strong commitment to the assessment of needs, tracking and sustainability.

Statistics on the number of children in workless households in Scotland come from the Office for National Statistics' Labour Force Survey (LFS). Disaggregation by local authority is not available at present.Estimates of persons in low income households come from the Department for Work and Pensions' Households Below Average Income (HBAI) analysis. The sample size in HBAI is not large enough to allow analysis below Scotland level.

Renfrewshire Council is taking forward a schools Public Private Partnership (PPP) project. In terms of funding support for this project, the council was awarded £245,000 in February 2001 to assist them with the cost of early investigation and feasibility study of a possible future schools PPP development. In December 2001, the council submitted a Outline Business Case in line with Scottish Executive Enterprise Department Circular 8/2001, and in July 2002 they were made an indicative offer of revenue support, capped at £7.45 million per annum over 25 years. This represents some 80% of the capital cost elements in the project. This offer is conditional upon approval of a final business case when the procurement reaches financial close.In terms of other support, the Scottish Executive has taken steps to assist councils undertaking schools PPP projects to become "informed clients". This has taken the form of a series of three seminars on relevant issues, with more planned. Also, face to face training aimed at members of project teams will be rolled out in the New Year.In addition, the Executive has commissioned Partnerships UK to undertake a Key Stage Review of each of the schools PPP projects. This will occur at two stages within the project and is intended to assure both the education authority and the Scottish Executive that the project is sufficiently well prepared at each stage to proceed through the procurement. The "pre Invitation to Negotiate" review for Renfrewshire has already been completed and proved useful in support of the project.

While it is for NHS boards and trusts to effectively manage local services, the Scottish Executive remains committed to putting the policy frameworks in place and providing the resources to ensure that waiting times are kept to a minimum at each stage of the patient's journey. The National Waiting Times Unit is working with NHSScotland to reduce delays for patients. Since April this year, the unit has funded approximately 50 initiatives across in-patient, out-patient and day case activity to support the drive towards achieving local out-patient and national in-patient/day case targets. To date, the unit has allocated £459,000 to NHS Argyll and Clyde with further funding to be agreed. This initial allocation has facilitated the transfer of 154 patients to the National Waiting Times Centre for cardiology and orthopaedics treatment; the transfer of 72 patients to the private sector for general surgery and ENT treatment, and the recruitment of an orthopaedics consultant who will perform an additional 100 elective operations a year. There are also currently 29 One-Stop Clinics operated by NHS Argyll and Clyde providing services for patients for a wide range of conditions including diabetes, breast cancer and chest pain.

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.

People of working age in Renfrewshire Council area will continue to benefit from recent changes in tax and benefits. The UK Government is helping to make work pay through tax credits and the National Minimum Wage.Working in partnership, the UK Government and the Scottish Executive offer a range of welfare to work initiatives to help people of working age. Across Scotland, the New Deals are helping more unemployed people on benefits to find work. As set out in Smart, Successful, Scotland the Scottish Executive's enterprise strategy places an emphasis on improving learning and skills which will help improve the earning potential of working age people on low income. Local projects such as the community-based partnership Buddies for Learning Project, which provides literacy and numeracy support to adults in the social inclusion partnership areas in Renfrewshire, are helping local people to remove the barriers to employment.In addition, the Scottish Budget for 2003-06 as announced by the Executive will further help working people on low incomes through funding increases in areas such as skills and learning and entrepreneurship.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-31572 on 27 November 2002. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.

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.

The Executive has no initiatives directed specifically at the Renfrewshire Council area. Over the whole of Scotland, we have taken the following action:(a) On smoking:Following publication of the White Paper Smoking Kills in 1998 in which young people were identified as a priority group for action, Health Education Board for Scotland (HEBS) has been allocated an additional £3.4 million over three years (2001-04) from the Health Improvement Fund to target young people and smoking. This is in addition to their current anti-smoking budget.Since 1997 the HEBS has promoted non-smoking messages to young people, including 12- to 15-year-olds through their highly successful Think About It mass media campaign.In addition, within the schools sector, the 5-14 Health Education Guidelines developed in conjunction with HEBS address the issue of tobacco education, while the Health Promoting Schools approach focuses on the development of smoking policies in local authorities which includes schools.The Argyle and Clyde NHS Board appointed a Tobacco Co-ordinator in February 2000, overseeing a range of cessation services.(b) On teenage pregnancy:A Headline Target was set in the White Paper Towards a Healthier Scotland published in February 1999 of a 20% reduction in the rate of pregnancy among 13- to 15-year-olds for the period 1995-2010.In November 2000, the £3 million Healthy Respect project, one of four National Health Demonstration Projects which were proposed in the White Paper, was launched in Lothian and is still running. It aims to radically transform teenage attitudes to sexual health and sexual relationships, reduce the level of teenage pregnancies and prevent the spread of sexually transmitted infections. The lessons learned will be applied across Scotland.In April 2000 a grant of £150,000 was made to Brook in Scotland (subsequently renamed Caledonia Youth) for start-up costs for four new drop-in centres in Aberdeen, Dundee, Glasgow and Falkirk. The Executive is also committed to a substantial contribution to running costs. The centre, in Glasgow, was opened by in May 2002 and will be accessible by young people from Renfrewshire.The Scottish Executive has announced its plans to develop a national sexual health strategy for Scotland. One of the strategy's main aims is to tackle the high level of unwanted teenage pregnancies in Scotland. An expert group has been established to assist in the development of the strategy, by harnessing the expertise of respected practitioners at both local and national level.(c) On suicides:On 2 December 2002, the Scottish Executive published a National Strategy and Action Plan to Prevent Suicide in Scotland, which highlights risk factors related to suicide, identifies priority groups (including young people) and sets out appropriate actions at both national and local levels.