Chamber and committees

NHS boards are currently developing action plans for hearing aid services modernisation, which will include provision of digital hearing aids when this is the most clinically effective option. These plans will then be considered by the Audiology Modernisation Project Board. Progress will be monitored through the project board and the performance assessment framework for NHS Scotland.

The Housing Improvement Task Force final report, published in March 2003, contained a recommendation that the Executive should support a pilot of the single survey. At that time I announced the intention to adopt that recommendation, a decision that is reflected in the A Partnership for a Better Scotland agreement, which includes a commitment to introduce a single seller survey.Work on developing that pilot is under way, with the intention of robustly testing the single survey approach recommended by the task force, including gauging professional and consumer reaction to it, and identifying the best approach to making it work.

It is hoped that the regulations will be laid before Parliament this year and, subject to the approval of the Parliament, will come into effect 21 days after they are laid.

Establishment of a Scottish Human Rights Commission remains an Executive priority and as such is reflected in the Partnership Agreement. The Executive has a very full programme of legislation and it has been necessary to prioritise issues to be dealt with in the first year of the session. The second consultation exercise closed on 6 June and we are giving thorough consideration to the views we have received. Once we finalise our proposals we will be able to progress to a draft bill.

This is a matter for Scottish Enterprise. I understand that Robert Crawford, Chief Executive of Scottish Enterprise, has responded to you direct and a copy of his response has been placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre.

Student loans have been a key part of an affordable student support system since their introduction in 1990. Where a student is undertaking full-time higher education and has at least one brother or sister, the assessed parental contribution towards his or her living cost support is reduced by £160 for each additional child in the household and the balance is split equally between each student being supported.

There is no statutory national curriculum in Scotland. It is therefore for education authorities and schools to decide on the course options they provide.

The initiatives to increase the number of skilled workers in the construction industry in Glasgow are being handled by Scottish Enterprise.

Under the student support arrangements, all students undertaking an eligible course (with the exception of those who have defaulted on a previous student loan agreement) are entitled to receive a minimum level of a means tested student loan regardless of their family income.We are currently conducting a review of funding of learners which will look at all aspects of financial support available to learners through further and higher education student support, educational maintenance allowances and the new individual learning accounts.We are also assessing a number of issues in the Department for Education and Skills white paper including a proposal to increase the student loan repayment threshold from £10,000 to £15,000 with effect from 2005-06.

The Demos report, although claiming to describe the situation in libraries across the UK, deals solely with the library service in England. Libraries are a devolved responsibility of the Scottish Parliament. Scotland's public libraries provide a high level of service to our communities in a number of ways and are already delivering some of the suggestions for improvement outlined in the Demos report.