Chamber and committees

Twenty-nine local authorities submitted an expression of interest by the closing date, 30 November 2001. These were:

Aberdeen City	East Lothian	North Lanarkshire
Aberdeenshire	Edinburgh	Orkney
Angus	Falkirk	Perth & Kinross
Argyll & Bute	Fife	Renfrewshire
Borders	Glasgow	Shetland
Clackmannanshire	Highland	Stirling
Dumfries & Galloway	Inverclyde	West Dunbartonshire
Dundee	Moray	West Lothian
East Ayrshire	Midlothian	Western Isles
East Dunbartonshire	North Ayrshire

Following careful consideration, six have been shortlisted for the next stage of the selection process. These are:Falkirk (Dawson)Renfrewshire (Foxbar, Paisley)West Dunbarton (Bellsmyre)Argyll & Bute (North Argyll Islands)Dumfries & Galloway (South Machars)East Ayrshire (Muirkirk)We expect to select one urban and one rural community at the end of March.

This is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise. The information requested is not held centrally.

My officials have been in discussion with BNFL, the owners of Chapelcross Power Station, and with Scottish Enterprise Dumfries and Galloway about the company's closure plans. These discussions are continuing.

Section 6(b)(iv) of the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill excludes from access rights sufficient land which is associated with, or adjacent to, a house to enable persons living there to have reasonable measures of privacy and undisturbed enjoyment of the whole. The reference to "associated land" does not necessarily mean that the garden ground is immediately adjacent to the house as long as there is some connection between the use of the land and the particular house. Furthermore, section 6 (c) provides that where the land forms part of a common garden, it will also be excluded from access rights. Section 7(4) further provides factors which can be used to determine the extent of the exclusion, such as the location and other characteristics of the house. Whether a defined garden area that is not adjacent to a house would be excluded from access rights by virtue of these provisions, would depend on the facts and circumstances of the particular case.

I am personally committed to the promotion of Burns both at home and abroad and I welcome the wide range of events that takes place throughout Scotland to celebrate Robert Burns a literary genius.The Executive is playing its part - supporting last week's Children's Opera "the Tale o' Tam" and funding A Tam O Shanter CD Project to be distributed free to all primary and secondary schools in Scotland.Burns is not just appreciated by Scots and the "Burns an'a that" Festival in May provides an opportunity to promote the life and works of Robert Burns, drawing people to his homeland.

The Scottish Executive notes the launch of the South of Scotland Alliance and will continue to engage in dialogue with local partners.

In recognition of the on-going nature of the impacts, the Economic Impact Assessment Group continue their work. They last met in November and have maintained a regular dialogue since. Their next meeting will coincide with the availability of the results of their case studies into the economic and social impacts on communities and key sectors.The next stage of their work will involve a full ex-post assessment of the outbreak. It will be taken forward in collaboration with the other Devolved Administrations and Whitehall Departments; the Impact Assessment Group will be represented on the steering group by SEERAD officials. The project is currently out to tender and will publish in the summer.

SFEFC is working to implement this recommendation through a range of initiatives set out in its information and communications technology (ICT) strategy. For example, the council is funding eight strategic projects which are piloting a range of innovative activities relating to the use of ICT in a further education context. The projects were scheduled to conclude in March 2002 but some may now be extended beyond that date, with a focus on dissemination of project outcomes.The council has also awarded a contract for ICT advisory services for staff development to the Scottish Further Education Unit and another for content development to Learning and Teaching Scotland. These are both designed to identify and promote good practice in the use of ICT in a further education context.

Peter Peacock, as Deputy Minister for Finance and Public Services, is designated e-Minister with day-to-day responsibility for e-government matters including electronic service delivery. Within the Cabinet, I take overall responsibility for e-government and broadband procurement; the Minister for Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning is responsible for e-business; and the Minister for Social Justice is responsible for digital inclusion. Each of the Ministers of the Executive is also responsible for oversight of modernisation and digital issues within his or her own portfolios.

The Executive's Digital Inclusion strategy Connecting Scotland's people, which was published in September 2001, set out the key themes that we believe are important for Digital Inclusion. They are raising awareness, increasing access, developing support, building skills, developing content and involving communities. The development of good practice is an on-going process. The Executive's Digital Champions initiative and the National Grid for Learning communities channel are capturing and sharing good practice. The Executive is also developing proposals to improve the provision of web-based information and the exchange of good practice on digital inclusion for practitioners in this field.