Chamber and committees

I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:

The responsibility for maintaining multi-storey blocks that are more than 35-years old rests with the landlord and it is for them to determine how best to deploy available resources taking account of local stock condition and housing needs.

Ministers have set 2015 as the target date for local authorities and registered social landlords to achieve the Scottish Housing Quality Standard (SHQS) and have asked these landlords to submit standard delivery plans for meeting the Standard to Communities Scotland by April 2005. The standard delivery plans must identify the current condition of the stock. Detailed guidance has been issued in relation to a range of criteria for the SHQS. Landlords are required to identify a programme of works in order to achieve the standard and set forth the level of investment required to carry out these works, including the source of the required revenue. The standard delivery plans will therefore identify landlords plans for multi-storey blocks more than 35-years old.

The need to replace such housing will be taken into account in determining the pattern of need for affordable housing. This will be done through local authorities’ local housing strategies which should ask a number of key questions, including whether the existing stock (public and private) is being managed to best effect, and whether there are management solutions, based on that stock, to existing or emerging housing problems. The strategies should then present actions on how this will be tackled.

The Scottish Executive does not hold data which could be used to track individual school leavers through further and higher education institutions.

However, the following table gives the percentages of school leavers from publicly funded schools in West Dunbartonshire entering full-time higher education for the years 1999-2000 to 2003-04 and the same percentages for Scotland as a whole.

Percentage of School Leavers Entering Full-Time Higher Education

Year	West Dunbartonshire	Scotland
1999-2000	30%	32%
2000-01	26%	32%
2001-02	29%	32%
2002-03	29%	31%
2003-04	24%	29%

Source: Careers Scotland.

The following table provides estimates of the numbers of young graduates (aged under 25) from higher education courses at higher education (HE) institutions and further education colleges in Scotland whose domicile was recorded as being in West Dunbartonshire and for those domiciled in Scotland. These estimates are for the years 1998-99 to 2002-03 (the latest year for which data are available at present).

Estimates of HE Graduates (Excluding Postgraduates) Aged Under 25 by Level of Study

	West Dunbartonshire		Scotland
	First Degree	Other HE	First Degree	Other HE
1998-99	130	230	13,039	13,058
1999-2000	198	235	14,726	13,418
2000-01	185	229	14,401	12,280
2001-02	183	177	13,965	10,597
2002-03	242	212	13,687	10,344

Sources: Higher Education Statistics Agency and Scottish Further Education Funding Council.

Note: Estimates prior to 2001-02 in the “Other HE” category differ from those from 2001-02 onwards due to improvements in the data collection for graduates from further education colleges. However, the 2001-02 and 2002-03 figures should still be regarded as estimates rather than actual numbers.

 

The Scottish Executive has adopted the OGC Gateway Review process and appliesit to a range of procurement, business change, construction, re-location, IT enabled, legislative and policy delivery projects. We are committed, in the light of the Holyrood Inquiry’s findings and recommendations, to expanding the application of Gateway Review and are currently working on proposals to achieve this.

In accordance with the Scottish Public Finance Manual, Project Sponsors and Project Managers are responsible for appraising, monitoring and evaluating their major investment projects, and are required to report progress to the projects’ senior responsible owner or similar authority on a regular basis.

All major projects are required to include a post project evaluation within their planning irrespective of the degree of innovation involved and in the case of projects subject to Gateway Review; the final review takes the form of a Benefits Evaluation.

The Parents’ Demand for and Access to Childcare in Scotland research published in 2004 found that 65% of parents did not pay for their child care. Of those who did pay, 72% found it easy to pay for their child care, 26% found it difficult to meet the costs, and 2% found it very difficult. Cost of child care for those on low to moderate income is being addressed through enhancements to the child care element of tax credits, with the maximum cost of child care eligible for tax credits increasing to £175 for one child and £300 for two or more from April 2005 (currently £135 and £200 respectively), and the maximum proportion of costs funded by the child care element increasing from 70% to 80% from April 2006. We are not currently considering the commissioning of further research.

The information requested is given in table 1.17 of Scottish Executive Statistics Publication Notice ISSN 1479-7569 Pre-school and Childcare Statistics 2004 published on July 21 2004 at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00346.pdf.

Immigration is a reserved issue and any review of managed migration is an issue for the Home Office. However, as part of the further development of the Fresh Talent Initiative, the Scottish Executive and Home Office are in regular discussions about managed migration and the implications for Scotland. This includes Scottish Executive staff attending occasional informal meetings where Home Office officials update other Government Departments on its work in this area. These meetings are for the exchange of information only and have no decision making powers.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

Information on the Scottish Prison Service’s (SPS) performance on targets set for 2002-03 and 2003-04 is covered by the SPS Publication Scheme and was published in the SPS Annual Report for 2003-04. This was laid before Parliamenton 14 October 2004 and is available on the SPS website (www.sps.gov.uk). Performance so far in 2004-05is similar to that in 2003-04.

Pay is a matter for local authorities. The Scottish Executive has been working to increase the pool of social workers. This has included a Social Work Fast Track Graduate Scheme which will produce up to 520 additional new social workers by 2008, with the first 97 trainees graduating over the coming months. The numbers of Fast Track and qualified undergraduates in social work are rising each year and, over the next three years, we expect there will be an additional 650 new social workers joining the labour force each year. We have established an Incentive Scheme to encourage newly-qualified graduates into areas of significant shortage.  There has also been an on-going recruitment media campaign since 2002 and promotion of the new social work degree. Figures show a 25% increase in qualifying social workers between 2002 and 2003 and a 25% increase in new social work students between 2003 and 2004. While recognising the need for a continuing commitment to the sector, significant progress has been made to address the need for social worker services across Scotland, including those areas with highest levels of deprivation.

These parts of the Directive have been transposed by the Landfill (Scotland) Regulations 2003, which came into force on 10 April 2003. Oversight of the engineering, operation and regulation of landfill sites is a matter for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.

The Executive made a commitment in our transport white paper, Scotland’s Transport Future, to carry out a two-phase review of the tolled bridges in Scotland. Phase One of the review, which included an examination of the effect that various changes in tolls on the Erskine Bridge would have, is complete and available on the Executive’s website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/enterprise/tobr-00.asp.Phase Two of the review is now underway. The terms of reference for Phase Twospecifically include an assessment of the impact that any change in tolls onthe Erskine Bridge would have on congestion and the local environment, in a way that achieves an optimum outcome without having a detrimental impact elsewhere in the local area.