Chamber and committees

A number of workplace training initiatives are undertaken by the enterprise network, funded from within the block grant-in-aid provided by the Scottish Executive to Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise. The details of the level of funding Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise allocate to these initiatives is being provided by these organisations to Mr MacAskill in response to his earlier questions. In addition, the Executive is also investing over £0.5 million this year in the new Scottish Union Learning Fund.

The Scottish Executive works closely with the enterprise network, employer-led National Training Organisations and trade unions to promote training opportunities that are closely related to the needs of the workplace. Record numbers of Modern Apprentices are now in training because we have promoted the benefits of the programme to employers and young people. We have also established a Scottish Union Learning Fund to support trade union projects to promote workplace learning.

Information on SQA's expenditure is available in the annual statement of accounts which it submits to the Scottish Ministers and the Comptroller and Auditor General and which are laid before the Parliament each year. Copies are available from the Parliament's Reference Centre. I have asked the Chair of SQA to reply to you directly on your more detailed points, and a copy of his reply will also be placed in the Parliaments Reference Centre.

It is not clear as to which announcement Mr MacAskill is referring. On 20 February we announced the allocation of £25 million of capital consent to police forces for 2001-02, of which £5.1 million was allocated to Lothian and Borders. I would be happy to provide further information to Mr MacAskill if he would like to write to me.

We are carefully monitoring the implementation of our tourism strategy published in February 2000. We have recently announced a review of the strategy in line with a commitment made at the time of publication. In addition, we are carefully monitoring the impact of foot and mouth disease on the tourism industry across Scotland, liasing closely with UK and Scottish Executive colleagues and with visitscotland, the British Tourist Authority and the industry.

The press release on 5 February 2001 noted that the Executive has already committed £250 million for digital initiatives including schools, hospitals and across the public sector.The table below details the programmes that funds have been allocated to and the timescale for this expenditure.

Initiative	1999-2000 (£ million)	2000-01 (£ million)	2001-02 (£ million)	2002-03 (£ million)	2003-04 (£ million)	Total (£ million)
Modernising Government Fund	-	13	13	-	-	26
Digital Champions	-	0.5	0.5	0.5	-	1.5
Community Cybercafes	-	0.6	0.5	0.5	-	1.6
National Grid for Learning (NGfL)	29.5	35.5	28.5	-	-	93.5
NGfL for FE colleges	5	10	14	-	-	29
New Opportunity Funds1						25.3
Electronic Health Services		7	23	20		50
Knowledge Economy - ICT Pervasiveness			5	5	5	15
E- Institutes			1.5	2	2	5.5
Knowledge Economy - Softer skills			2	2	2	6
Connected Voluntary Sector			0.5	0.5	0.5	1.5
Total						254.9

Notes:1. This entry relates to £23 million for the Community Access to Lifelong Learning (CALL) programme funded by the New Opportunities Fund (£11.5 million allocated for public libraries and £11.5 million for community bids) and also £2.3 million for public library training from the New Opportunity Fund ICT training programme.

It is expected that the new Renewables Obligation (Scotland), and equivalent obligations elsewhere, will eventually result in a market for renewables obligation certificates, which will be traded separately from the renewable electricity they will represent. But it will be for renewable energy generators, electricity suppliers and others involved in the energy markets to decide what form this certificate market will take and whether there should be a trading exchange.

Our proposal to set the same buy-out price under the Renewables Obligation (Scotland) (ROS) as for England and Wales will ensure that the UK market for renewable energy is not distorted. A lower Scottish buy-out price would make it difficult for Scottish electricity suppliers to meet our ROS targets, since renewables generators would tend to sell their Renewables Obligation Certificates to suppliers in the English market where prices would be higher. A higher Scottish buy-out price would place higher costs on all Scottish electricity consumers. The proposal to set the same buy-out price in Scotland as in England and Wales has been widely supported by respondents to our consultation on the ROS.The policy of setting the same buy-out price for all renewable technologies will allow the market to choose which technologies it wishes to use to meet the targets, but we are aware of the need to promote the development of longer-term technologies.

This is a matter for the Scottish Tourist Board. I will ask the Chairman to write to you.

The Scottish Executive estimates that 10% (7,024) of all young students will qualify for the maximum Young Students' Bursary of £2,000 a year irrespective of whether they live with their parents or away from home. This maximum amount will be available to students from families whose income is up to £10,000.

The amount of bursary will taper down to £1,170 a year at a family income of £15,000 and thereafter down to zero at a family income of around £25,500 a year.In total, we estimate that over 27.5% (27,100) of full-time students will get a bursary as part of their student support. This is around 40% of young students.