Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government fund the Child Poverty Action Group Scotland a total of £997,481 over 2008-11 to deliver second tier tax credit and benefit advice training to frontline workers.

Under the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005, to meet the charity test, a body must be established only for charitable purposes and demonstrate it provides, or intend to provides, public benefit. When determining whether a body provides public benefit the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) must have regard to how the benefit to the public compares to any private benefit or any disbenefit that may result from the activities of the particular body. OSCR must also have regard to whether there are unduly restrictive conditions, including fees or charges, on obtaining the benefit the body provides.

The interpretation of these statutory provisions in the discharge of its regulatory duty is entirely a matter for OSCR, as an independent regulator. OSCR has produced guidance on Meeting the Charity Test which includes information on how they will assess public benefit. This is available on their website www.oscr.org.uk.

The 2009 School Meals Survey, which took place in January/February 2009, recorded that 12.9% of secondary school pupils were entitled to a free school lunch.

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/06/22104701/0 .

Since August 2009, when we extended entitlement to a further category of tax credit recipients, approximately an additional 44,000 pupils (secondary and primary combined) are now entitled to a nutritious healthy free school lunch. This brings the total number of pupils eligible to 147,000 which represents an increase of 42%.

The 2009 School Meals Survey, which took place in January/February 2009, recorded that 17.4% of primary school pupils were entitled to a free school lunch.

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/06/22104701/0.

Since August 2009, when we extended entitlement to a further category of tax credit recipients, approximately an additional 44,000 pupils (secondary and primary combined) are now entitled to a nutritious healthy free school lunch. This brings the total number of pupils eligible to 147,000 which represents an increase of 42%.

The 2007 School Meals Survey, which took place in January/February 2007, recorded that 18.6% of primary school pupils were entitled to a free school lunch.

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2007/06/04134749/0.

Since August 2009, when we extended entitlement to a further category of tax credit recipients, approximately an additional 44,000 pupils (secondary and primary combined) are now entitled to a nutritious healthy free school lunch. This brings the total number of pupils eligible to 147,000 which represents an increase of 42%.

The 2007 School Meals Survey, which took place in January/February 2007, recorded that 14.2% of secondary school pupils were entitled to a free school lunch.

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2007/06/04134749/0.

Since August 2009, when we extended entitlement to a further category of tax credit recipients, approximately an additional 44,000 pupils (secondary and primary combined) are now entitled to a nutritious healthy free school lunch. This brings the total number of pupils eligible to 147,000 which represents an increase of 42%.

The Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds was last discussed by Scottish ministers in April 2008 prior to the publication of the latest version of the guide.

The Scottish Ambulance Service offered comments in September 2007 during the last review of the Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds. These were fed into the review process through the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-33017 on 23 April 2010. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

The Scottish Ambulance Service recruits and trains to allow for traditional accident and emergency ambulances to be staffed by a paramedic and a technician. In circumstances where this is not possible, due for example to sickness absence, the emergence medical dispatch centre (EMDC) will endeavour to provide paramedic support by sending a backup paramedic response unit to appropriate cases or by providing professional advice or support from the paramedic advisor in the EMDC.