Chamber and committees

We have agreed that CoSLA will take the lead in promoting exchange of ideas and best practice as part of Best Value. Wendy Alexander recently announced the provision of £100,000 to CoSLA for the development of a website to allow the exchange of ideas, good practice and training across all Scottish councils.

In a recent study (Gilchrist and Hooke, 1997) conducted in Greenock prison 29% of prisoners reported that they were drinking over the safe limit for men as advised by the Inter-Departmental Working Group. In Cornton Vale Prison (Loucks, 1997) an estimated 10-15 % of women were found to be addicted to alcohol.

Around three quarters of prisoners are estimated by the SPS to have been on illicit drugs just before entering prison. Various elements the SPS drugs strategy together succeeded in reducing this so that interim results for 1999-2000 show that only 15% tested positive for drug misuse within the prison setting.

The extent and degree of mental illness or psychological disturbance is not known with any precision. Studies have ranged from 3% to 82% of the prison population.

The NHS in Scotland does not collect the information requested. It is for each NHS Trust to determine the number and type of staff required to deliver an appropriate level of service to meet local patient needs and to organise staff resources accordingly.

I and Scottish ministerial colleagues had a constructive meeting with local authority leaders and chief executives on 26 May at which we discussed a shared vision for using information and communications technology to deliver more convenient and efficient public services in Scotland. It is for authorities themselves to decide how to make progress, but I am sure that councils understand that integrating people, processes and technology can make a major contribution to internal efficiency and to better services to the public.

The Scottish Executive is keen to enhance the community leadership role of councils through the continuing development of community planning. Our commitment to the community planning process will be further demonstrated by the establishment of our Community Planning Task Force and by the wider package of post-McIntosh measures which we are progressing.

Openness, transparency and accountability are among the key criteria on which the Leadership Advisory Panel are assessing councils self-reviews of their policy development and decision-making processes. The panel and individual councils, working together, will ensure more open and accountable processes are developed across the country.

It is the responsibility of each of the local authorities, as employers, to ensure that they motivate and manage staff and manage the process of change in the best way possible. The Leadership Advisory Panel, which the Executive appointed to oversee the modernisation of council structures, is working with councils to help them prepare effectively for the effects of changes on staff.

No action is planned as a result of the report. With the exception of local government elections in Scotland, elections are a reserved issue under the Scotland Act. The Renewing Local Democracy working group, which the Executive appointed last summer, is looking at a range of issues relating to local government democracy including the electoral system. We look forward to receiving the group's report and considering its recommendations.

Wendy Alexander will be making a statement on the Executive's plans for Best Value on 8 June.

We have agreed that CoSLA will take the lead in promoting organisational learning as part of the development of Best Value.

The Executive has allocated £2.856 million of New Housing Partnership funding to Glasgow City Council in connection with the development of its stock transfer proposal, £1.01 million of this is for consultation with tenants. The council has submitted a further bid for NHP funding which is being assessed by the New Housing Partnership Steering Group.