Chamber and committees

There are no current plans to do so. However, the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland is in contact with the Association of Chief Police Officers in England and Wales and will be provided with updates on the Sussex project, particularly the planning, methods of public appeal, the progress of the system and the running and management of the programme. I shall wish to discuss developments with ACPOS when there has been adequate opportunity to consider the programme's progress.

None directly. The Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland is, however, being kept informed of developments associated with the project.

There are no current plans to do so. The Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS) is in contact with the Association of Chief Police Officers in England and Wales and will be provided with updates on the Sussex project, particularly the planning, methods of public appeal, the progress of the system and the running and management of the programme. I shall wish to discuss developments with ACPOS when there has been adequate opportunity to consider the programme's progress.

There are no current plans to do so. The Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS) is in contact with the Association of Chief Police Officers in England and Wales and will be provided with updates on the Sussex project, particularly the planning, methods of public appeal, the progress of the system and the running and management of the programme. I shall wish to discuss developments with ACPOS when there has been adequate opportunity to consider the programme's progress.

From April 2003 to April 2006, HM Inspectorate of Education and the Care Commission will jointly inspect all EA nursery schools and classes, independent school nursery classes, and voluntary and private pre-school centres which are in funded partnership with their education authority.

Independent consultants carried out the analysis of the responses to this consultation paper and I have today placed the analysis report in the Parliament's Reference Centre. The report will also be available on the Scottish Executive website. Sixty-eight organisations and individuals, representing a wide variety of interests responded to the consultation. The proposals put forward in the paper were, as a whole, extremely well received and supported by those who responded. After considering the analysis, it is intended to bring forward legislation to implement wide-ranging reform of the enforcement system as a whole. I shall, however, be looking at the responses to one point of the consultation as a matter of urgency. This is the part that asks for views on how a statutory national debt arrangement scheme should be taken forward. The framework of the scheme, including power to make regulations, is contained in the Debt Arrangement and Attachment (Scotland) Bill currently before the Parliament. Now that an analysis of the responses is available, the Executive will be looking to bring forward regulations to implement the scheme as quickly as possible taking due account of the consultation results.

The Executive's formal response, Implementing the recommendations of the MMR Expert Group, has been published today. Copies have been placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre. The report is also available on the Scottish Executive website.

Copies of report into a review of the work, policies and structures of the administration are being laid in the Parliament today. The review was the first for SCRA under the five-yearly examinations of non-domestic public bodies (NDPBs). The report concluded that despite the recognised resource pressures from SCRA's inception and an increase in referrals, SCRA has established a core organisation which is sound in structure and process. The report identified various areas for improvement and these are detailed in the recommendations which affect both SCRA and the Scottish Executive. The Scottish Executive accepts all the recommendations which have the potential to improve outcomes from the hearings system. The Scottish Budget announced increases in resources to the hearings system to enable these recommendations to be taken forward.

Since 1999, a number of initiatives have been introduced to encourage young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to remain in education. These include the Education Maintenance Allowance pilot programme, the Young Student Retention Fund for Further Education Students and the Young Students Bursary Fund for Higher Education Students. The overall proportion of young people staying on at school beyond fourth year or going on to further or higher education has increased since 1999.

I can announce that a report on the outcomes of the first consultation paper, focussing on the past performance of the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council (SHEFC), is now available. This is being sent to all respondents, is available on the Scottish Executive website (www.scotland.gov.uk/who/elld/hereview.asp) and copies placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 23187). The written responses received by the Executive are also available on the Scottish Executive website.The general outcome of the review is positive with the SHEFC being perceived to have performed well and to have sound internal processes and procedures. The report also highlights where further improvements in the operation of SHEFC can be made.This marks the completion of the Quinquennial Review of SHEFC and of stage one of the Higher Education Review process looking at the past performance of SHEFC. We are currently concluding the second stage of consultation based on the document Shaping Our Future which was issued at the end of April 2002.