Chamber and committees

Local authorities do not receive support from the Innovation Fund. The InnovationFund, run by the Waste and Resources Action Programme, is to help retailers minimise waste from packaging and products.

The Executive will publish a consultation document on the implementation of the EU Environmental Noise Directive within the next few weeks; this will be sent to all relevant stakeholders including, among others, local authorities, transport organisations and professional bodies.

By 2 February 2005, only one local authority, the City of Edinburgh Council, had formally submitted a copy of their resolution to Scottish ministers to apply the noise control provisions to all of its area, as required under section 41(5)(b)(i) of the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004.

A total of twenty two local authorities have, however, applied to the Scottish Executive for funding to assist in the discharge of the noise provisions of the act. These provisions have not yet commenced as supporting regulations to the act – the Antisocial Behaviour (Noise control) Regulations 2005 – have still to come into force.

Preparation of the scheme is running to schedule. I am, however, very concerned that the issues surrounding the Camphill/Newton Dee community need to be fully addressed. To this end I have commissioned further work on possible alternative routes. It is anticipated that any delay will be recovered in the course of the future development of the scheme.

The Price Waterhouse Coopers report on the analysis of funding arrangements for Supporting People is available under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and can be found on the Supporting People website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/housing/supportingpeople/new.asp.

The Price Waterhouse Coopers report identified wide variations across the country on unit costs and service provision. It confirmed the view emerging from reviews in England that significant efficiency savings were possible, particularly as unit costs are higher in Scotland. The wide variations in per capita funding across Scotland emerging in the report also reinforced the need to move towards a fairer distribution of resources across Scotland. Funding is now redistributed on a more objective basis using a new formula.

The Price Waterhouse Coopers report on the analysis of funding arrangements for Supporting People is available on the Supporting People website at:http://www.scotland.gov.uk/housing/supportingpeople/new.asp.

The Executive has no plans to reduce from 100 years the exemption in the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 applying to access to individuals’ census records. The Executive's view is that the recent act reflects the most satisfactory balance between the undertakings given to people responding to successive censuses, that their individual details would remain confidential, and the importance to family historians of access to the individual census records.

The Scottish Executive does not currently provide any support to the Grampian Japan Trust.

Scottish Development International (and predecessor organisations) have maintained an office in Japan since the 1980’s. SDI currently fields a staff of four officials, who are active in assisting Scottish companies seeking to establish and develop commercial opportunities and partnerships in Japan; seeking out potential inward investors to Scotland, developing their knowledge of opportunities for trade and partnership with Scottish companies; disseminating information on Scottish industry’s strengths, and assisting the developmentof the globalscot network in Japan.

SDI Japan assist Scottish companies (individually or as part of trade missions) by identifying potential partner/customer companies, arranging meetings and when requested attending meetings in support of company officials. Recent activities have supported Scottish companies from a range of sectors, including textiles, food and drink, energy, computer software, educational provision and aerospace.

I visited Japan in October 2003 and saw at first hand the valuable work being undertaken by SDI there.