Chamber and committees

The Spending Reviewdocument confirmed that policies and initiatives across all portfolios will takefull account of our ambitions for a Greener Scotland, and that we are committedto introduce carbon impact assessments for policy options.

Measures taken forwardunder the rural affairs and the environment programme will be consistent with this,and carbon impact assessments will be developed over time. The exact allocation of monies to each authorityfor flood defence and coastal protection is under discussion with COSLA.

Existing measuresexpected to result in carbon savings by 2011 build on the devolved policy measuresdetailed in Annex E of Scotland’s Climate Change Programme, a copy of whichis available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 39288).The outcome of the Spending Review strengthens the package of existing measuresavailable to deliver carbon savings.

The Scottish BudgetSpending Review 2007 sets out our Transport investment plans including our commitmentto invest in public transport, providing £840 million/£917 million/£897 millionon rail and tram services and projects in Scotland, £3 million a year on travelinformation, £57.2 million a year to support bus services and £11 million a yearon direct support for sustainable and active travel. This, along with support tolocal authorities will support sustainable places by reducing car dependency andincreasing the proportion of people walking and cycling.

We have not estimatedthe impact on carbon emissions of our full transport programme in each year to 2010-11because the detailed programme has not been finalised, there are difficult methodologicalissues in making calculations, and some of the programme is demand-led, thus thefull impacts cannot be known. However, estimates are being made for some elementsof the programme where this is technically feasible. In the longer term, thegovernment is developing a transport carbon balance sheet which will contributeto this process.

Our spending reviewensures that public spending across portfolios contributes to the action neededto help mitigate climate change so that we meet the measurable statutory targetsto be set through a Scottish Climate Change Bill.

There are a numberof specific measures that are expected to produce carbon savings by 2011 including our commitment to a Zero Waste fund that will supporta number of measures such as waste prevention, community sector recycling, wasteawareness and provision of advice and support for local authority recycling initiatives,and the significant additional funding for community renewables and microgeneration.More generally, our commitmentto introduce carbon impact assessments for policy options will enable identificationand quantification of specific carbon savings, and timescales, from a range of ScottishGovernment policies.

Around £5 milliona year is allocated within the administration budget for maintenance and developmentof the Scottish Government estate. Measures to reduce the carbon footprint of the Scottish Government estate will be met from this budget.

Decisions have yetto be taken on changes to the programme of maintenance and development of the ScottishGovernment estate following the spending review, and we are not able to estimatecarbon savings at this time. However, a number of initiatives are being taken toimprove the environmental performance of the Scottish Government as detailed inour annual Environmental Report. The report covering the year 2006-07 will be issuedin December.

The Scottish Budget:Spending Review 2007 sets out our intention to invest £1.44 billion in increasingthe supply of good quality, sustainable housing over the period 2008-11. The detailswill be published in due course. Communities Scotland is commissioning research to establish thebaseline costs of energy efficiency measures for social housing and then to explorethe financial implications of CO₂ reductions at specific levels.

All the new homesto be provided will be built to the high environmental standards set by the relevantplanning requirements and building standards applicable at that time. Current Scottish building regulations, publishedin 2007, require that the energy performance of new homes should reduce CO₂emissions from new housing by an average of 23% beyond the previous standards. ScottishPlanning Policy on Renewables (SPP6), which was also introduced in 2007, requiresthat any developments of 500m² or more should include low and zero carbonequipment to reduce carbon emissions by at least a further 15%.

As outlined in the Scottish Budget Spending Review document, the zero waste budget will be used toassist implementation of the National Waste Plan. This will include support forprogrammes to develop markets for recyclate, waste minimisation, waste awareness,support for community recycling, provision of waste infrastructure, and supportfor Keep Scotland Beautiful, which carries out anti-litter and anti-flytipping campaignsand promotes environmental education.

The Scottish BudgetSpending Review document also outlines that the ring fence around the StrategicWaste Fund (SWF) will be removed from 1 April 2008, with the SWF being absorbed into the main local governmentsettlement. The recently published Concordat between the Scottish Government andCOSLA explains that all local authorities will be expected to agree to work towardsa Single Outcome Agreement based on the national outcomes and indicators listedin Annex A. Indicator 39 is about reducing to 1.32 million tonnes the amount ofwaste sent to landfill by 2010. This relates to Scotland’s share of the 2010 targetset by the EU Landfill Directive on reducing the amount of biodegradable municipalwaste sent to landfill.

Final decisions onhow the overall local government settlement will be distributed between local authoritieswill be taken following consultation with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities.The provisional allocations for 2008‑09 will be confirmed at the time of theLocal Government Finance settlement announcement in mid-December.

Energy usage and conservationis a key concern of the agency, activity in this area includes:

working to sourcea new electricity supplier for the trunk road network  (21% of the energy suppliedto the network from March 2008 will be provided from green power sources),

publishing a guidancenote on Controlling Light Pollution and Reducing Lighting Energy Consumption,

planning to engagea consultant to assist in a review of trunk road energy usage,

being an active participantin the Rail Sustainable Steering and Development Group.

preparing its inauguralTravel Plan, one of the first to take a “carbon focused” approach which will attemptto achieve a 35,000kg reduction in CO₂ emissions from staff travel overthe next two years.

its headquarters occupyinga small proportion of a large, leased premises which has been refurbished to modernstandards of energy efficiency.

I am encouraged bythe progress that West Dunbartonshire Council has made in addressing illiteracythrough early intervention. I know through the work Learningand Teaching Scotland have undertaken that there is a lot of good practice out therewhich they are helping to disseminate. It is for individual schools and educationauthorities to decide what approach is best for them.

Curriculum for Excellence identifies literacy skills as a key themeacross the curriculum with all teachers having a role in promoting languageand literacy development.

Patterns ofemployment will not be available until the General Teaching Council forScotland (GTCS) have conducted their annual survey of newly qualified teachersin October and the results of the 2007 teacher census are published in March2008. GTCS research last yearinto employment post probation suggested that 54.6% of probationers were infull-time posts by October 2006 and 91.8% of probationers were employed asteachers.

Recruitment willcarry on throughout the school year with vacancies continuing to arise with the normal turnover of staff and theneed for supply cover.