- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 11 December 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 19 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what additional measures it will now take to end child poverty in Scotland.
Answer
The Executive is committed to tackling child poverty and is making progress in doing so.
The best route out of poverty is through work. The Executive will continue to invest in policiesthat support employment opportunity for all and increase household income throughprogrammes like education maintenance allowances, which will be rolled outnationally from 2004-05, Modern Apprenticeships and Training for Work.
I recentlyannounced the allocations of the £20 million Working for Families Fund, whichwill help those in the most disadvantaged areas by providing affordable,flexible child care to enable parents to enter training or employment.
There areother examples of Executive initiatives which help tackle child poverty. Forexample, funding for Sure Start Scotland, which supports vulnerable children and families throughout Scotland, has been significantly increasedand will rise to £50 million in 2006.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 December 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 18 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what the reasons are for the (a) 7% reduction in the budget for regional selective assistance between 2003-04 and 2004-05 and (b) 20% rise in that budget between 2004-05 and 2005-06 and what impact these changes will have on overall levels of business investment.
Answer
Regional selective assistance(RSA) is a demand-led scheme rather than planned expenditure. Demand isgenerally determined by prevailing economic conditions and by the progress madeby individual firms in implementing grant-assisted projects. The RSA budget isbased on forecast expenditure arising both from existing commitments and theexpected future flow of new investment projects.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 December 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 18 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive when its review of higher education will report in respect of any consequences of the proposed introduction of top-up fees in English universities.
Answer
I expect to receive thereport from the Phase 3 Higher Education Review Steering Group by the end ofFebruary 2004.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 December 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 18 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of the budget of its department dealing with enterprise, and the department's agencies, was spent on management and administration in each of the last three years and how much will be spent in each of the next three years.
Answer
The percentage of ScottishEnterprise’s budget spent on management and administration was 18.8% in2000-01, 17.3% in 2001-02 and 30.3% in 2002-03. The increase in 2002-03 was dueto the integration of Careers Scotland into the enterprise networks and thecosts associated with provision of its services.
For 2003-04, the estimatedexpenditure for management and administration is £83 million, as stated inScottish Enterprise’s operating plan for this year, but excluding the costs ofCareers Scotland, which are estimated at £43 million. The figure of £43 millionincludes expenditure previously classified as programme expenditure, since itis now recognised that Careers Scotland activity is for the most part, staff based.
For 2004-05 and 2005-06, theadministration budget figures are £92 million in each year, as contained in the Scottish Executive publication Draft Budget 2004-05. Thesefigures are provisional until firmed up as part of Scottish Enterprise’s operatingplan process for each of the year’s concerned. They again exclude the costs ofCareers Scotland. However, budget publications next year will see the estimatesfor Scottish Enterprise’s administration budget adjusted to include CareersScotland costs.
It should also be rememberedthat in addition to Scottish Enterprise’s administration budget including coreand support staff costs for the entire network, it also includes costs ofpermanent staff employed in delivering business activity.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 December 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 17 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what the reasons are for the 4% reduction in the planned budget of Scottish Enterprise between 2003-04 and 2005-06 and what budgets will be affected by this reduction.
Answer
The 2002 spending reviewprovided for an increase in funding to Scottish Enterprise. This involved anincrease towards the end of the period to be allocated to skills and learning(although that portion relating to individual learning accounts hassubsequently been removed). However, subsequent adjustments have included anumber of one-off and short-term items in the first and second years.
The table shows the netskills and learning increase, the short-term items and the resulting ScottishEnterprise budget baseline when these adjustments are taken into account.
| £ Million | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 |
| Skills and Learning | 4.5 | 9.0 | 9.0 |
| Broadband | 18.0 | - | - |
| Scottish Co-Investment Fund | 6.0 | 8.0 | - |
| Proof of Concept | 1.0 | - | - |
| Current Spending Plans | 461.2 | 448.7 | 440.7 |
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 December 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 17 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will review the planned allocations by Scottish Enterprise to Forth Valley Enterprise from 2004-05 to 2006-07.
Answer
This is an operationalmatter for Scottish Enterprise.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 17 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-3412 by Cathy Jamieson on 12 November 2003, whether it was the initial identification of the scene of crime mark or a subsequent verification that was made on less than the standard of 16 points.
Answer
Both the initialidentification of the scene of crime mark and the subsequent verification weremade on less than the standard of 16 points. As indicated in the answer toquestion S2W-3412 on 12 November 2003, because of this, the case was referred to the qualityassurance manager who confirmed the identification. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility forwhich can be found at:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 17 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-3412 by Cathy Jamieson on 12 November 2003, who the two experts were who verified the initial identification made by the fingerprint expert at the Glasgow bureau.
Answer
The bureau submits theverified identification into evidence with details of the experts involved. Inthe interests of an individual’s right to privacy, however, it is not thepractice of the bureau to release publicly the names of individual expertsinvolved in the identification/verification process.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 December 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 17 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how much it, and each of its agencies, have committed to the implementation of the Falkirk Action Plan in (a) 2002, (b) 2003 and (c) each of the next three years.
Answer
The Scottish Executive does not directly fund the Falkirk Action Plan. The Falkirk Action Planwas launched in December 2002 with three principal partners: Scottish Enterprise Forth Valley,Falkirk Council and BP. The detail of Scottish Enterprise’s involvement is anoperational matter for that organisation.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 December 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 17 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to objective 4, target 6 of the Enterprise and Lifelong Learning chapter of its Draft Budget 2004-05, which quartile of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries Scotland's gap in unemployment rates between the worst 10% of areas and the average falls into; what these gaps are, and how the gaps have changed in each of the last three years for which figures are available.
Answer
1. It is not possible tomake an international comparison on this measure.
2. Difference inunemployment rates between the worst 10% of areas and the Scottish average overthe last three years is:
| Year | Gap in Unemployment Between Worst 10% and the Scottish Average | Change in Gap from Previous Year |
| 2000 | 5% | -2% |
| 2001 | 5% | 0% |
| 2002 | 5% | 0% |
Note: 2002 is the mostrecent year this data is available.
