Chamber and committees

Glasgow City Council has been allocated 4.35% of the additional £43 million which has been made available for social work in 2000-01. This is the sixth largest share.

The Scottish Executive is committed to the promotion of breastfeeding throughout Scotland. We support and fund the Scottish Breastfeeding Group and the National Breastfeeding Advisor to help achieve the target of 50% of women breastfeeding their babies at six weeks by 2005. The Health Education Board for Scotland, funded by the Scottish Executive, also plays a vital role in encouraging women to breastfeed and promoting a positive public attitude towards breastfeeding. HEBS' work includes a wide range of publications and promotion of Breastfeeding Awareness Week.This work at a national level to help increase breast feeding across Scotland is being taken up at a local level. For example, the Greater Glasgow Health Board has launched its local Breastfeeding Strategy in May last year, Glasgow maternity hospitals are implementing good practice through the UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative, and there are a number of community-based initiatives in Glasgow encouraging breastfeeding within their local area.

The Executive is addressing mental health on a broad front, including the development of services for those who need care and treatment; promoting mental wellbeing by improving life circumstances through our policies on social inclusion, education, employment, the environment and housing; and by modernising the legislative framework.As part of the policy development process, the Minister for Health and Community Care and I have arranged a meeting on 31 January of major interests in the field for an exchange of views on mental health issues.

In our efforts to strengthen the social economy in Glasgow and throughout Scotland we are encouraging Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise to offer enhanced support and advice to co-operatives and other social and community based enterprises as well as to mainstream business. Representatives of the Scottish Enterprise Network recently met to discuss support for co-operative businesses and are now considering what further role SEN and local enterprise companies could play in this area.

Funding for local women's aid groups is the responsibility of local authorities. The Scottish Executive has no plans at present to disburse funds directly to local groups. The Scottish Executive recognises that individual circumstances, often for reasons of safety, require women seeking refuge to be placed outwith their usual area of residence.

The formula for determining the allocation of GAE for each police force is primarily based on policing strengths. The formula is presently being reviewed. However, the 2000-01 GAE settlement took into account a needs assessment by individual forces.

Advertisements for vacancies to public bodies are placed in various publications depending on the nature of the body and the type of vacancy. In all cases establishing value for money for the taxpayer is a key criterion.

For general appointments, advertisements are placed in most of the main Scottish newspapers. For specialist and scientific appointments, advertisements are placed in scientific and academic journals and specialist magazines.The Executive will be consulting in the New Year on possible options for change to the current public appointment procedures. This will include looking at ways to broaden the pool of candidates through advertising and other means.

I recently announced that the Executive will embark on a wide-ranging consultation exercise early in the New Year which will invite views on the current public appointments system and on possible options for change.

The consultation paper will seek views as to whether the targets inherited from the Scottish Office for achieving greater representation of women and ethnic minorities in public appointments are relevant. Specifically, we will review how well our achievement levels are for each category of NDPB. The consultation paper will also explore what more can be done to encourage women, disabled people and people from ethnic minorities to apply for public appointments.Steps will be taken to ensure that the consultation exercise is widely publicised and that MSPs, public bodies and member of the public are able to make their views known before any final decisions on changes to the system are reached.

The specific criteria for each vacancy will vary according to the nature of the body, the job description and the key skills required to fill that post.

The procedures for filling public appointments are based on the Nolan principles of merit, independent scrutiny and openness which are enshrined in the Commissioner for Public Appointments' Code of Practice and Guidance. All appointments to public bodies in Scotland are carried out in accordance with the Code.

In practical terms this means that there is a presumption in favour of advertising for all paid and high profile posts; candidates are selected on merit and are assessed by an advisory panel containing an independent adviser.The Executive will be consulting in the New Year on possible options for change to the current public appointment procedures.

There are no national targets for the amount of land to be reclaimed for development in areas of high unemployment and deprivation. Relevant targets are instead set in terms of job creation outcomes. However Scottish Enterprise is currently developing a regeneration strategy which will ensure better linkages between land development and community regeneration.

Scottish Enterprise is also targeting specific infrastructure development work in Social Inclusion Partnership areas (SIPs) and other disadvantaged areas to create jobs and community regeneration. Some of the key targets proposed for 2000-01 are:

- an acceleration of the recycling of brownfield land by 150% of the 1999-2000 level;

- an increase in the take-up of brownfield land by 25% of the 1999-2000 level;

- infrastructure development in SIPs leading to 450 jobs, of which 225 will be for local people; and

- infrastructure development in other areas leading to 50 jobs, of which 25 will be for local people.