Chamber and committees

I apologise for not replying earlier to the member, and will write to him immediately.

The information is not yet available. The provisional local government settlement allocations to individual councils will be announced in December.

I have set learndirect scotland the following targets for the period from 16 October 2000 to 31 March 2002. I will be monitoring performance and will review the appropriateness of the performance measures and level of future targets in the light of experience. I will welcome views on future targets.

Strategic Objectives	Performance Measures	Key Targets
Demand: To stimulate participation in lifelong learning.	Number of enquiries to learndirect scotland information services. Number of hits on learndirect scotland website. Number of 'learndirect scotland' learners: -returners to learning   -new learners	Increase the average annual number of helpline calls from 26,000 (1998-99) to 120,000 by 2001-02. 300,000 average annual hits by 2001-02.   30,000 of which 15,000 in social inclusion areas and 5,000 in SMEs. 20,000 of which 8,000 in social inclusion areas and 4,000 in SMEs.
Information & Advice: To provide impartial, helpful and effective information and advice on learning.	Customer satisfaction.     Up to date, comprehensive learning opportunities database.	Overall quality of service rated good or very good by 90% of enquirers (1998-99 - 88%), by 2001-02. 95 % of entries reliable.
Learning: To facilitate provision of appropriate learning centres, materials and support.	Number and distribution of learndirect scotland branded learning centres. Gaps in ICT based learning materials addressed. Appropriate level of support for learners.	300 active branded centres for learning, of which 100 in social inclusion areas. By March 2002 appropriate packages available to address identified gaps. 90% of all learning centre facilitators with relevant level 3 or more qualifications, of which 25% of all with SVQ level 4 in supported learning.
Learning Technologies: To facilitate ICT based learning to improve access and experience.	Number of learners undertaking learndirect scotland supported ICT learning.	5,000 learners by March 2002.
Funding: Income generation.	Reduce dependency on public funding.	Plans in place to raise income for an increasing % of funding needs in 2002-03 onwards.

Definitions:

1. 'learndirect scotland learners' will include:

• registered learners who take advantage of the full learndirect scotland supported environment (tracking systems, learner support systems etc); and
• learners who are directly placed by learndirect scotland on appropriate courses which may be outwith the learndirect scotland supported environment.

2. 'new learners' are individuals who have not been involved in any formal learning since leaving school.

3. 'returners to learning' are individuals who have previously been involved in post-school learning.

The Electricity Works (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Scotland) Regulations have been laid before the Parliament and came into force today. Any application for consent under section 36 or 37 of the Electricity Act 1989 received by the Scottish Executive on, or after, today's date will be subject to these new Regulations. Further information, along with copies of the new Regulations and accompanying guidance, can be obtained from the Scottish Executive Energy Division. The Regulations have also been placed on the Scottish Executive website.

The attached note provides a summary of the responses to the consultation on Investing in You.

SUMMARY OF CONSULTATION RESPONSES ON INVESTING IN YOU

When the Annual Expenditure Report, Investing in You was published in April 2000, the Scottish Executive invited members of the public to respond with their views on the proposed budget for 2001-02. The result of that consultation is set out below. The Minister for Finance also visited four areas of Scotland to meet with an invited audience and hear their views on the proposed budget. The questions asked and the broad themes that emerged are also set out.

Written submissions

172 letters, postcards or e-mails were received during the consultation period. Of these, 134 (79%) were from members of the public. (Of these, 23 identified themselves as farmers, five as students, one as a general practitioner, one as a vet and one as an academic.) Seventeen responses were received from charities, societies and pressure groups, nine from public bodies, four from professional bodies, three from trade unions and two each from community councils and trade or representative bodies. Two responses were also received from members of the Scottish Parliament, one of which covered a petition from constituents.

A small number of responses (mostly from organisations) made comments on the layout and presentation of the consultation document. The vast majority, however, made comments about areas where additional expenditure should be devoted. Many of these were from a particular perspective and there appear to be four distinct campaigns for additional spending. There was no support for reduced spending.

In addition to a submission from Shelter (Scotland) we also received 26 postcards distributed by that organisation. In addition to the petition on behalf of improving roads in South Lanarkshire submitted a local MSP, a number of members of the public from Lanarkshire also wrote in support of additional road spending. Some 31 people, predominantly farmers and cattle societies, wrote in support of additional expenditure for biological and agricultural research in Scotland and predominantly for the Moredun Research Institute. Finally, we received a number of e-mails from university students in favour of better student support. In total, around 122 of the letters or communications were specific about areas that required additional spending.

The 10 most popular groups (including apparent campaigns mentioned above) that received support for additional public spending were:

Housing or homelessness (including Shelter postcards) 31% (37 responses)

The Scottish Agricultural and Biological Research

Institutes 25% (31 responses)

Improving roads and reducing fuel tax 13% (16 responses including 1 petition)

Education (including sports education and

School transport) 8% (10 responses)

Healthcare and additional treatments 7% (8 responses)

Improved rail transport and sustainable transport 7% (8 responses)

Improved student support and higher education 5% (6 responses)

Better provision for elderly care and for

Pensioners 4% (5 responses)

Improving rural affairs, forestry and

Sustainable environment 4% (5 responses)

Heritage (from Built Heritage through to

Musical heritage) 3% (4 responses)

The remaining responses included support for law and order, local government services, nursery nurses and parental care, victim support, the voluntary sector, small businesses, reduced water charges, reduced council tax, improving civic participation and assistance for Belarussian children.

The summary attempts to encapsulate the main responses that were contained in the correspondence. Many people, in addition to their particular point expressed a continuing support for investment in health and education.

Feedback from awaydays

The audiences for the awaydays were an invited group of local representatives including Councillors, and council officials, those from the communities, voluntary sector activists, the farming and fishing industries, enterprise and business, education, trades unions, the health services and social work.

The following issues were raised consistently by a number of questioners across all four venues.

Issues raised at Awaydays

Local Government funding - difficulties for rural areas in general and for services such as fire in particular

Older people - importance of social work and properly funding care in the community

Voluntary Sector - must ensure it is properly supported because of value added to public services

Transport - critical to economy, so must give more priority to roads and public transport

Drugs - much increase profile of drugs problems, also fund rehabilitation, increased policing essential

Health - NHS funding should be increased to improve services

Education - support front line services, reduce ring fencing, when respond to McCrone

Rural affairs - ensure modulation doesn't cut farm incomes, representations for farmers on National Park Boards, new fishing vessels

As promised in the Partnership Agreement and the Programme for Government, the Scottish Executive has confirmed, again, that it has no such plans.

Earlier today, I launched the Executive's wide-ranging plans for creating a Digital Scotland. I stressed that above all there must be digital inclusion to ensure that everyone in Scotland benefits. Much work is already underway: providing access to computers and the web in libraries and community cybercafes; 80% discounts on the costs of basic courses in computers; and learndirect scotland, to be launched next month, will make it easier to access learning for ICT skills.

For the financial year 2000-01 I have set the following targets:

Aerial surveillance
Per cent of hours flown on task	87%
Cost per flying hour on task	£1,045

Maine surveillance
Utilisation of available patrol days	96%
Cost per effective patrol day	£3,550

Sea Fisheries Inspectorate
Cost per catch inspection	£79
Landing declarations checked against actual catches	49%

Cases for Prosecution
Cases for prosecution to be reported within 6 weeks	85%
Within 8 weeks, of offences being detected	96%
Number of cases where court proceedings are taken or the imposition of a PF fine, as percentage of offences reported to prosecuting authorities	85%

Efficiency
Cash-releasing efficiency gain	1.5%

The Chief Executive will be directly accountable to me for the achievement of these targets, which will be reported in the Agency's Annual Report.

Statistics on the outcome of court proceedings in 1999 are expected to be available by November 2000.

As shown in the table below, 19 local authorities now have revised byelaws in place, nine have submitted byelaws for confirmation and four are engaged in local consultation.

UPDATE ON BYELAWS

Revised Byelaws In Place	Submitted For Confirmation	Engaged In Local Consultation
Perth and Kinross Highland South Lanarkshire Western Isles North Ayrshire Fife Glasgow City East Renfrewshire Shetland Isles West Dunbartonshire Angus Council Aberdeen City East Lothian Clackmannanshire Dumfries and Galloway South Ayrshire East Ayrshire Aberdeenshire Moray Council	Edinburgh City Stirling* East Dunbartonshire** Scottish Borders West Lothian Renfrewshire North Lanarkshire Midlothian Inverclyde	Falkirk City of Dundee Argyll and Bute Orkney

* Returned to LA for modification.

** Draft accepted for confirmation - final version awaited.