Chamber and committees

Dumfries and Galloway Council submitted information on buildings within Crichton Business Park in response to the invitation to submit properties for consideration as offices for the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care and the Scottish Social Services Council.

We have decided to lodge a regularly updated information note with the Parliament's Reference Centre. The first of these was submitted on Friday 30 March. The intention is to provide twice weekly updates. This will continue over Easter.

There is regular contact between those controlling and co-ordinating the Cumbria operation and those involved in Dumfries and Galloway.

The decision to locate the Headquarters of the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care and the Scottish Social Services Council in Dundee was made on the basis of the range and cost of suitable accommodation of the required size which was available, transport and labour market considerations.

As of 1 April 2001, 17 full-time veterinary staff and 53 temporary veterinary inspectors were operational on foot and mouth duties in Dumfries and Galloway.

My officials are in close and regular contact with colleagues in DfEE and the UK New Deal Task Force Secretariat regarding development of the Ambition: IT initiative.The Career Ambition strand of the initiative is a three-year pilot programme aiming to train 5,000 New Deal participants as ICT technicians in five city areas. The selection process for the final five areas has yet to be established although the shortlist of nine does include both Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Under the terms of the Animal Health Act (1981) the SE cleared the use of the site. Site suitability has been cleared by the SVS after advice from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA). SEPA has assessed the suitability of the site and is satisfied that the risks of pollution can be minimised. SEPA is also closely involved with the SE in developing plans for monitoring and the ongoing management of the site. Further advice has also been sought by SE from environmental consultants and this will be checked by SEPA so as to ensure that the risk of adverse environmental impacts will be minimised.

The Scottish Executive has not carried out any recent studies into the social and health benefits of providing equipped play areas for children.

The number of new staff employed by the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care and the Scottish Social Services Council will depend on the number of existing staff who choose to transfer to these bodies. However, we expect that the Commission will employ around 500 staff, approximately 50 - 70 of whom will be new and the council will employ 30 staff, at least 14 of whom will be new.

The £8 million investment package announced last month, which is being funded from the Capital Modernisation Fund, covers two major initiatives promoted by the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland. The first is to share intelligence information across the eight Scottish police forces and the Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency, in line with the National Intelligence Model. This will be facilitated through the Scottish Intelligence Database. The second is to implement a Management Information System that will facilitate the tracking of key performance indicators and decision-making in response to crime pattern analysis. Both of these initiatives will be implemented on a secure national computer network, also funded within this package. An implementation team is currently studying the requirements of individual forces and the SDEA. Whilst the breakdown by police force and project is an operational matter for chief constables, the Executive will seek confirmation on the business case so that best value in relation to each can be assessed and subsequent performance following implementation evaluated against an agreed specification.