Chamber and committees

Employment policy is reserved to the UK Government which takes the lead on funding and delivery of the New Deal throughout Great Britain, although in close consultation with its partners, including the Scottish Executive. Many partner organisations at local level also provide New Deal services under contract or provide funds and other resources, including training funds to enhance the quality of New Deal in their areas. The public and voluntary sector organisations, which contribute in this way fall within the remit of the Scottish Executive.

The following table shows figures for current participation and cumulative starts for over 50 year olds on New Deal 25plus by Local Enterprise Company (LEC) area at end-March 2000.

LEC Area	Aged 50+ Current participation	Aged 50+ Cumulative starts
Ayrshire	262	909
Borders	39	92
Dunbartonshire	157	470
Dumfries & Galloway	148	377
Fife	123	475
Forth Valley	31	83
Glasgow	485	1,259
Grampian	69	260
Lanarkshire	208	727
Lothian & Edinburgh	234	726
Renfrewshire	174	557
Tayside	220	753
Argyll & Bute	64	188
Caithness & Sutherland	66	176
Inverness & Nairn	38	116
Lochaber	12	30
Moray & Badenoch	34	122
Orkney	20	58
Ross & Cromarty	29	96
Shetland	5	29
Skye & Lochalsh	14	35
Western Isles	9	27
Totals	2,506	7,667

The New Deal 50 plus was introduced on 5 April 2000 to provide further help for people aged over 50 in their search for work.

Detailed management information is not yet available for New Deal 50plus.

Responsibility for international aid and for the Government's relationship with British voluntary organisations that work overseas lies with the Department for International Development. I recently met with George Foulkes MP at DfID's offices in East Kilbride on 5 June to discuss our common interest in the voluntary sector in Scotland.

A number of international aid/development agencies are based in Scotland. The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO), which receives support from the Scottish Executive, is assisting them to interface with DfID and to link with each other.

In the case of registered social landlords this will be undertaken by Scottish Homes through its performance management system. In the case of local authorities, the Best Value regime provides a monitoring framework for the review of services in consultation with tenants.

The table below sets out the information which is recorded on the number of arrestments which were executed in Scotland in each of the past three years.

	Earnings Arrestments Executed	Non-Earnings Arrestments Executed	Other Arrestments
1997	88,152	89,641	4,917
1998	74,200	96,707	4,584
1999	73,464	98,613	4,612

The Scottish Executive provides direct financial assistance to businesses under its SMART scheme and through Regional Selective Assistance (RSA). A total of £1.1 million was awarded in grants under SMART in the financial year 1998-99, £1.6 million in 1999-2000 and £0.3 million in the period 1 April 2000 to 31 May 2000. These grants were made, in the main, to new start up and very early stage businesses.A further £1 million was provided to new businesses under the Scottish Executive's SPUR Programme in 1998-99, £1.5 million in 1999-2000 and £0.2 million in the first two months of the current financial year.

Financial assistance under the RSA scheme is available to both new start and established businesses. Data on assistance offered under RSA, however, is not collated on the basis of the date of formation of the companies applying for grant.

Financial assistance for new start up businesses from local enterprise companies and their agents is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise and I have asked the chairmen of both organisations to reply to the member. A copy of the reply will be placed in SPICe.

The latest available data on forestry exports from Scotland are provided in the tables below:

			Exports to the rest of the UK £ million	Exports to the rest of the world £ million
Forestry Harvesting		1996	75.5	14.2
		1995	52.8	7.7
		1994	27.2	2.3

Source: Scottish Input-Output Tables and Multipliers 1996, 1995, 1994; Table 3.

I have asked Scottish Natural Heritage to provide formal advice to me on the recommendations in the UK Raptor Working Group report by spring 2001 and suggested they consult widely with interested organisations. The Scottish Executive will give careful consideration to the SNH response, and any other relevant material, before responding to the report.

Between 1995-99 29 cases of this infection were reported to the Scottish Centre for Infection and Environmental Health. The centre received no reports of fatalities as a result of this infection. The age profiles of those affected shown by health boards are detailed in the table below:

Year	Health Board	Age Group	Total
1995	Ayrshire & Arran	35-39, 40-44, 65+	3
	Grampian	65+	1
	Lanarkshire	15-19	1
	Lothian	55-59	1 (6)
1996	Ayrshire & Arran	55-59	1
	Argyll & Clyde	0-4	1
	Greater Glasgow	65+	1
	Lanarkshire	40-44	1
	Lothian	65+	1 (5)
1997	Ayrshire & Arran	65+	1
	Greater Glasgow	55-59	1
	Highland	0-4	1
	Lanarkshire	65+, 65+	2
	Lothian	60-64	1 (6)
1998	Ayrshire & Arran	60-64	1
	Forth Valley	age unknown	2
	Greater Glasgow	50-54, 65+	2
	Lanarkshire	65+	1 (6)
1999	Greater Glasgow	0-4, 0-4, 60-64, 65+	4
	Lothian	0-4, 65+	2 6
			Total (29)

The information requested on redundancies in the forestry and related industries is not held centrally.

Supporting Active Communities in Scotland, the draft strategy prepared by the Scottish Active Communities Working Group, was published for consultation on 31 January. Over 120 responses have been received and are currently being analysed. These will inform the Scottish Executive's response to the recommendations contained in the working group's report, which we hope to be able to announce soon.