Chamber and committees

We have no plans for community support officers with police powers to undertake neighbourhood patrols along the lines proposed south of the border. However, the Executive has provided funding under the Better Neighbourhood Services Fund for a pilot to explore the use of neighbourhood wardens in part of Paisley. The role of these wardens, who will be employed by Renfrewshire Council and work closely with Strathclyde Police, will be to observe and report incidents with the aim of reducing vandalism and anti-social behaviour.

The Scottish Executive has provided funding under the Better Neighbourhood Services Fund for a pilot to explore the use of neighbourhood wardens in part of Paisley. Their principal function will be to observe and report incidents to local authority colleagues or the police, as appropriate, with the aim of reducing vandalism and anti-social behaviour. They will have no powers to arrest, stop or detain.

There are a range of steps being taken at Scottish and UK levels. The Scottish Executive's Childcare Strategy aims to provide affordable, accessible, good quality childcare to meet the needs of working parents. The Executive is providing £16.75 million of Childcare Strategy funding in 2002-03 and 2003-04 to local authorities which are responsible, with Childcare Partnerships, for its disbursement. Also, the Executive's Training for Work programme aims to help mothers who wish to return to work through the provision of appropriate training and structured work activity.At UK level, the New Deal for Lone Parents aims to provide lone parents, of whom over 90% are women, with the help they need to take up and remain in employment.Additionally, the Employment Bill introduces improvements to existing maternity rights from April 2003 and the introduction of the new Working Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit from April 2003 will have a positive impact for many families and individuals across Scotland.The Work-Life Balance campaign exists to raise awareness among employers of the benefits of implementing flexible working practices by establishing dialogue with businesses, trade unions and professional organisations to research and disseminate best practice examples in flexible working.

The Executive is committed to encouraging more women to apply to serve on the board of public bodies in order to reflect the social and cultural mix in the country. Our proposals for attracting a wider range of people to serve on Non-Departmental Public Bodies - including women - were published in Public Bodies: Proposals for Change on 21 June last year. Steps taken to encourage more women have included awareness-raising speeches, talks and presentations to women's interest groups. The new Scottish Commissioner for Public Appointments, once appointed, will have a specific remit to promote diversity in public appointments. We acknowledge that it will take some time before measures designed to generate more applications from women and other currently under-represented groups begin to bear fruit.The Scottish Executive is committed to encouraging more women into public life, not only through public appointments, but also through participation in all aspects of public life. For example, the Women in Scotland Consultative Forum meets as a national event at which representatives of women's organisations across Scotland meet to discuss policy concerns with ministers and policymakers. The forum encourages women to have a fuller more effective involvement in policy development and provides a valuable resource for the Scottish Executive on the policies affecting women and their communities.

Nineteen of the cases put out for a By Order hearing before Lord Mackay have settled before the hearing actually took place. A further 34 cases set down for hearings of evidence (proofs), on dates since 20 December 2001, have settled. Reparation actions frequently settle without any immediate intimation of such settlements to the court.Since Lord Mackay's appointment, only one case has been determined by judicial ruling, following the hearing of evidence at a proof.

Work is about to start on a detailed study to identify the impact and resource implications of the Working Time Regulations as they apply to all NHSScotland staff. In addition to this, the Scottish Executive Health Department is taking forward work on workforce planning to ensure that we can deal with the many complex areas surrounding the supply of trained staff to NHSScotland.

Candidates to become justices of the peace are nominated to ministers by local Justice of the Peace Advisory Committees (JPACs). JPACs are required to ensure firstly, that candidates are personally suitable in terms of character, integrity and understanding. They are also encouraged to nominate candidates from across the spectrum, so that the body of justices in the area is broadly representative of all sections of the community which they serve. The role and function of justices is to be considered as part of the wide-ranging review of summary justice being conducted by an independent committee chaired by Sheriff Principal McInnes:http://www.scotland.gov.uk/summaryjusticereview. There are no plans to alter the current system of appointments until the committee has submitted its recommendations to ministers, but I have no doubt the committee will welcome any comments on current appointment arrangements.

The Executive's Small Business Consultative Group met on 26 March 2002. The group discussed a number of issues of interest to the small business community including: the economic situation; regulation; venture capital funding and investor readiness; and small business research.

The Scottish Executive is working with the enterprise networks to stimulate the creation, competitiveness and growth of small businesses. It is doing so particularly through the Small Business Gateway, which is easing access to advice and improving the quality of business support in Scotland, including in the Inverclyde area. There has been an increase in the number of small businesses being supported in Inverclyde since the introduction of Small Business Gateway. The Small Business Gateway Information Centre handled 2,104 business enquiries from April 2001 to 25 March 2002 compared to 1,623 the previous year (through the Business Shop Inverclyde). The local Small Business Gateway advisers are also working with 116 small businesses carrying out Business Healthcheck reviews and helping on a one to one advisory capacity. During 2000-01 this figure was 77. A number of events have been held locally to encourage the take up of advisory support such as marketing clinics and Women into the Network events.

Future Skills Scotland has been established within the Enterprise Networks to co-ordinate and communicate current and future skills needs as part of the strategy to match skills supply with employer demand. The new unit is working closely with key stakeholders, such as employers, the careers service and education and training providers, to improve Scotland's skills base.