Chamber and committees

The review of guidance on children's services plans will commence in April 2003 and be concluded later in 2003. The Scottish Executive Education Department will lead on the review but a range of other departments will also have an interest.

We have committed record investment in health spending, rising from £4.9 billion in 1999-2000 to £8.6 billion in 2005-06. This is sufficient to allow the employment of more in-house nurses and fewer agency nurses.

Membership details are listed in the Scottish Executive National Special Educational Needs Advisory Forum website at www.scotland.gov.uk/senaf.

Up until 1992, student nurses received a salary. Following a major review of nurse training in 1992, it was agreed that student nurses and midwives should no longer be regarded as employees but that they should have full student status like all other health profession students.Nursing and midwifery students receive funding for training through the Nursing and Midwifery Student Bursary (NMSB) scheme. A non-repayable bursary of £5,430 (for students under 26 at the start of the course) or £6,115 (for students over 26) is awarded to cover day-to-day living costs. The bursary has increased by 21% since 1998 and is supplemented by other allowances including single parents allowance (currently £1,100); an income assessed allowance for dependant children; excess costs of travel to placement, and Disabled Students Allowance. In addition, for courses commencing academic year 2003-04, students will be able to claim up to £1,025 child care allowance.We are providing £1 million over the next two years to encourage up to 600 nurses, midwives and health visitors to return to NHS practice. Funding for each individual for a Return to Practice (RTP) programme is linked to an offer of employment in NHSScotland, either in a permanent post or on the nursing bank with regular hours of work required. The funding available is £1,500 per returner, which includes course fees, travel expenses, child care and payment for the period of supervised practice.

We are making available £11.9 million over four years through the Youth Crime Prevention Fund. Thirty-four voluntary sector projects will be funded, widening the range of crime prevention activities tackling youth crime increasing the support available to victims and families. The Intensive Support Fund will invest £9.2 million in 21 projects to enable local authorities and voluntary organisations to increase community-based supervision of young offenders and improve the transition back to the community from secure accommodation.£580,000 over three years has been allocated to Young Scot for a project which will strengthen links between young people and the police. The police themselves will receive £1 million to provide for a Scottish-wide application of restorative cautions and for the establishment of a central database of vulnerable children in Strathclyde.Significant additional resources have also been provided to local authorities to help them strengthen and expand local youth justice activity.

As the largest provider of lifelong learning in Scotland, the further education sector has a vital role in helping to deliver many of the Executive's policy priorities, including those to re-establish Scotland's entrepreneurial drive and to increase the number of new businesses and growing businesses. In considering matters of demand and supply, including the provision of skills to people wanting to set up their own business, the Scottish Executive encourages colleges to be vibrant and responsive.The Scottish Executive does not fund further education colleges directly. That is the responsibility of the Scottish Further Education Funding Council (SFEFC). Under the terms of the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 1992, colleges of further education are independent bodies responsible for determining, among other things, their own curriculum. Whether a course of a specific type is available at a particular college is therefore a matter for the board of management of the college concerned. In addition, general support is available to individuals wishing to start a business from the enterprise networks.

All the functions and duties required of the teaching profession are encompassed in the agreement A Teaching Profession for the 21st Century. The agreement does not affect the existing arrangements for the management of work experience for pupils.

The Scottish Executive already does so through the block grant-in-aid allocation to Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

The required information is set out in the table. Information is not available for any decommissioning schemes run prior to 1993.

SchemeYear	Total No. UK VesselsDecommissioned	No. Scottish VesselsDecommissioned	Gross Tonnage Removed	Engine Power (kW) Removed
1993	135	45	4755.35 GRT	22446
1994	162	50	5269.83 GRT	27786
1995	139	37	4206.24 GRT	23142
1996	142	45	3380.95 GRT	19129.9
1997	104	19	4215.09 GRT	23249
2001	157	98	17453.10 GT*	45495.67**

Notes:*Tonnages removed by the 1993-97 and the 2001 schemes are not necessarily directly comparable.The method of measuring the tonnage of fishing vessels changed during the late 1990s following the phased introduction of tonnage measurements to standards agreed under the International Tonnage Convention of 1969 and implemented under EU Regulations.**Figure does not include vessels decommissioned under the Northern Irish scheme for which engine power data is not available.

My officials meet representatives of the rail industry in Scotland including EWS on a regular basis, to discuss a wide range of issues. The date of their next meeting with EWS has not yet been set.