Chamber and committees

The Scottish Executive is partof PILOT - a joint industry/government initiative established in 2000 to securea long term future for the oil and gas sector in the UK.

PILOT,through the Industry Leadership Team, has recently introduced the Accelerate programmeto attract new entrants to the industry and to manage the transfer of skilled techniciansfrom different backgrounds into the industry.

Oneelement of this programme is the Technician Training (Modern Apprenticeship) scheme.This addresses the current shortage of skilled engineers by providing training fornew entrants. One hundred new entrants are starting courses this month in Scotland.

The Industry Leadership Teamhas also commissioned a study of the longer term supply and demand workforce issueswhich will inform future programmes of work to address skills shortages in the industry.

Money recovered under the Proceedsof Crime Act 2002 in any one year is available for reinvestment the following year.The funding available in 2003-04 and 2004-05was used for the national Drug Dealers Don’t Care campaign in early 2005. Apart from the funding for this national campaign, theresources made available through the act have not been allocated on a local authoritybasis. In 2006, it was decided to test the impact of using these resources to investin visible community initiatives. Due to the limited funds available the decisionwas made to concentrate on the six areas in Scotland which are hardest hit byviolent crime. The six local authorities(Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire, Renfrewshire and West Dunbartonshire) will benefit from roughly £2 million of reinvestment this year. This includesprovision of Twilight Basketball and a localised Drug Dealers Don’t Care, Do You?campaign. The individual local authorities can get funding up to £250,000 if theycome forward with meaningful proposals under four core themes of sports initiativesin the evening and weekend; vehicle related packages such as CCTV and graffiti clearup vans or community transport; school packages which could include after hoursclubs or youth outreach work, and localised Drug Dealers Don’t Care, Do You? campaign.

I shall reply to the member as soon as possible.

This information is not heldby local authority area, but by reporting agency. These figures are collated internallyby the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. These figures do not includethe value of the amount of property and money under restraint under the Proceedsof Crime Act 2002.

(a) Table A shows the amountof Criminal Confiscation Orders made by reporting agency area, since the Proceedsof Crime Act 2002 came into force.

(b) Table B shows the amountof cash seized, under Chapter 3 of Part 5 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 in eachreporting agency area, since the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 came into force.

(c) Table C shows the amountof cash forfeited under section 298 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 in each reportingagency area, since the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 came into force.

(d) Table D shows the value ofproperty recovered under Part 5 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 in each reportingagency area, since the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 came into force.

(e) Figures from the first halfof 2006 will be published at the end of October 2006.

Table A

Year	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Central	£1,500	£10,040	£153,517.03
Dumfries and Galloway	£18,205.47	£54,687.79	£125,730.72
Fife	£11,098.97	£104,831.44	£113,902.77
Grampian	£186,071.51	£319,059.58	£441,699.97
Lothian and Borders	£438,200.34	£107,916.84	£384,669.28
Northern Constabulary	£64,699.62	£17,545.84	£1,031,354.39
Strathclyde	£383,181.43	£521,175.91	£596,898.60
Tayside	£51,438.16	£37,029.80	£66,644.15
HMRC	£93,577.52	£87,017.63	£177,000
SDEA	£236,822.83	£88,294.19	£375,322.57
Total	£1,484,795.85	£1,347,599.02	£3,466,739.48

 

Table B

Year	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Central	£0	£278,690.75	£43,421
Dumfries and Galloway	£338,347.54	£247,379.16	£168,845
Fife	£10,000	£9,353.51	£21,632.24
Grampian	£101,834.35	£24,500	£38,348.29
Lothian and Borders	£60,722.66	£69,978.40	£92,321.04
Northern Constabulary	£0	£7,000	£6,200
Strathclyde	£582,520.76	£505,132.53	£622,373.23
Tayside	£25,975	£149,816.77	£31,199.17
HMRC	£311,289.21	£390,472.36	£230,140
SDEA	£0	£6,396.28	£13,280
Total	£1,430,689.52	£1,688,719.76	£1,267,759.97

 

Table C

Year	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Central	£0	£226,090.75	£25,283.50
Dumfries and Galloway	£254,380	£143,991.99	£91,660
Fife	£0	£8,500	£0
Grampian	£108,494	£10,000	£0
Lothian and Borders	£35,362.66	£0	£33,688.40
Northern Constabulary	£0	£7,000	£6,200
Strathclyde	£145,359.04	£272,115.23	£324,041.32
Tayside	£0	£53,660	£75,644.66
HMRC	£117.355	£65,806.75	£15,170
SDEA	£0	£0	£12,280
Total	£660,950.70	£787,164.72	£583,967.88

 

Table D

Year	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Central
Dumfries and Galloway		£167,488.84
Fife
Grampian	£23,986.29
Lothian and Borders		£35,919.09
Northern Constabulary
Strathclyde			£88,602.23
Tayside
HMRC			£673,000
SDEA
Total	£23,986.29	£203,407.93	£761,602.23

 

Ministers are responsible forsetting the strategic direction for Scottish Enterprise. In turn, Scottish Enterpriseagrees with ministers an annual Operating Plan which contains budget allocationsfor key activities, although amendments may be agreed in the course of the year.The Operating Plan for 2006-09 was published on 29 June 2006. Detailed budgetallocations for each local enterprise company are an operational matter for ScottishEnterprise.

Fuel poverty programmes providefor loft, tank and pipe insulation for houses which cannot benefit from cavity wallinsulation.

Responsibility for improvementof private houses lies primarily with the owner. The provision of adequate insulationis an improvement that falls within the eligibility criteria for housing improvementand repair grants, but it is for local authorities to determine priorities for availablefunding.

Thereare 11 hospitals that charge for car parking.

NHS Grampian

Royal Infirmary, Aberdeen

Aberdeen Maternity Hospital

Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde

Glasgow Royal Infirmary

NHS Lothian

Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh

Western General, Edinburgh

Royal Victoria, Edinburgh

St John’s, Livingston

NHS Tayside

Perth Royal Infirmary

Ninewells Hospital, Dundee

Perth Royal Infirmary.

The Scottish Executive has received18 written enquiries about the restrictions on the provision, by charities, of trusteeindemnity insurance under the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act2005. The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) has received over 30 writtenenquiries about the issue.

The standard reply that has beensent to the majority of the enquirers who wrote to the Scottish Executive is asfollows:

“Section 67 of the Charitiesand Trustee Investment (Scotland) 2005 Act, as passed by Parliament, allows the provisionof trustee indemnity insurance by the charity as long as less than half of the totalnumber of trustees (or those connected under section 68) receive remuneration. Charitieswhich have a constitution with an authorising provision before 15 November 2004,or those with entitlements set out in an order made by the Court of Session or anyenactment can continue to remunerate trustees (including providing them with indemnityinsurance) according to these provisions.

Concern about the restrictionson the provision of trustee indemnity insurance by charities has been raised withthe Scottish Executive by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) anda range of other bodies.

We are looking into this issueand considering the options available to us to address it. If it is felt that thisrestriction on providing trustees with indemnity insurance from charity funds isproblematic then we will take measures to resolve the issue.”

The Scottish Executive is awareof the concerns of the voluntary sector about the restrictions on the provisionof trustee indemnity insurance from charity funds under the Charities and TrusteeInvestment (Scotland) Act 2005. We are looking into this issue and consideringthe options available to us to address it. If it is felt that these restrictionsare problematic then we will take measures to resolve the issue.

Details about training contractsor funding awarded by Scottish Enterprise to Scottish Meat Training in the lastthree years is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise. This information isnot held centrally.