Chamber and committees

The information requested is not available centrally.

The Centre for Confidence and Well-Being is an independent not for profit organisation which aims to improve confidence and well-being in the general population in Scotland.

In 2005-06 the Scottish Executive provided funding to the Centre for Confidence and Well-Being: £60,000 to support the delivery of action research training on confidence-focused interventions, and £52,000 to support the delivery of at least 10 one-day targeted networking events for key public sector workers. In addition to this, £30,000 has been offered to the Centre for Confidence and Well-Being to support its involvement in the Schools of Ambition project with school pupils. As with all projects that the Scottish Executive funds, delivery and effectiveness of the projects are monitored through the submission of six monthly progress reports.

We are in the process of completing a short consultation exercise on the Scottish Executive’s fuel poverty programmes and will consider increasing the maximum grant entitlement for the warm deal scheme as part of this process.

The introduction of the ban on bird gatherings was in response to a European Commission decision. Given the precautionary approach being taken to minimise the risk of avian influenza spreading across Europe and the timescale presented by EU deadlines, no assessment was made. We have been grateful for the support of the organisers of many events, particularly the number of people who took voluntary decisions to cancel forthcoming events in advance of the legislation coming into force.

Traffic surveys may be carried out as part of the design for a specific scheme or to determine if certain improvements are required on the network, for example, to improve road safety.

The Scottish Executive is monitoring traffic speeds on the A77 south of the SPECS speed enforcement camera system area. The Scottish Road Traffic Database traffic counters at Bennane Shore and Glen App are being used to assess the impact of SPECS south of the enforcement zone.

NHS Dumfries and Galloway made no application to the Executive to be included in the first tranche of placements of dentists from Poland.

It is anticipated that the third tranche of dentists from abroad will be taken up by NHS boards covering remote and rural areas. The Executive have asked all NHS boards to identify their needs. As yet, there has been no request made to the Executive from NHS Dumfries and Galloway to employ dentists from Poland.

Boards were asked to indicate to the Executive the number of dentists which they could accommodate, provided they had the appropriate facilities and support staff. The Executive allocated dentists to NHS boards after these requests were submitted.

The Forestry Commission has identified scope for increased efficiencies in its Human Resources Division, by combining the roles of two units: the Change Management team and Forestry Training Services, given the changing nature of learning and development. The business case points to savings and the benefits of closer integration with the rest of their human resource colleagues who work in Edinburgh.

Less than ten per cent of Forestry Commission Scotland staff are based in Edinburgh, and the headquarters and supporting office for Forest Enterprise Scotland are located in Inverness and Dumfries respectively. This relocation of staff from Ae to the Commission's Silvan House in Edinburgh is not against the policy of the Scottish Executive. The offices at Silvan House include employees who are providing central services like Human Resources, for staff in England, Wales and Scotland. This relocation ensures that jobs are kept in Scotland which could otherwise be located in other parts of Britain, whilst delivering savings which may provide for an increased ability of Forestry Commission Scotland to put more staff in the front line.