Chamber and committees

A Consultation Paper on a draft Tenements (Scotland) Bill was published on 20 March and the consultation period concluded on 13 June. The paper recognised the difficulties of identifying and contacting owners and asked for suggestions as to how missing owners could be traced. The Executive will be considering the responses to the consultation paper and bringing forward proposals.

The Executive provides childcare strategy funding to support local authorities in developing local childcare strategies. Local authorities determine allocations at local level and may choose to support the provision of seasonal projects such as summer playschemes.Both the Scottish Executive and the New Opportunities Fund provide support to education authorities and schools for the provision of out of school hours learning activities. These may take the form of summer schools or camps offering a wide range of learning or adventurous outdoor experiences.As part of the local government settlement, £180 million of quality of life funding has been allocated to local authorities over the next three years. As part of this initiative £11 million has been allocated to the provision of skateboard and BMX bike parks, leisure access, sports, music and arts projects for children and young people.Under the Better Neighbourhood Services Fund a number of authorities are running pilot projects which provide year round free or low cost activities for children.Another possible source of such funding is through youth work budgets. The central purpose of youth work is educational and concerned with the personal and social development of young people. Activities, programmes and the processes through which youth workers engage with young people set the contexts within which these outcomes are achieved. Summer activities may be one of the means by which youth workers engage with young people. Executive support to local authorities for community learning and development, a component part of which is youth work, is £109.7 million in the current year, approximately half of which is estimated to go to youth work.A number of Social Inclusion Partnerships (SIPs) provide financial or in kind contributions to projects that promote summer activities for children at either no or low cost to the participants. Activities funded vary across SIPs.

The Scottish Childcare Strategy aims to provide affordable, accessible, good quality childcare for children aged 0-14 in all neighbourhoods. Local authorities are responsible, in conjunction with Childcare Partnerships, for identifying and addressing local childcare needs, which can include summer playschemes.The Executive provides local authorities with Childcare Strategy funding to support the aims of the strategy. Over the period of the Scottish Budget 2003-06 Childcare Strategy funding will increase significantly, as shown in the following table:

Financial Year	Amount of Funding
2003-04	£19.25 million
2004-05	£29.75 million
2005-06	£40.65 million

The Scottish Executive provided initial funding to the Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB) to pilot a CD-ROM based system, known as DAISY, which makes use of new digital technology to provide blind and partially sighted pupils with alternative ways to access curricular materials.Following further, external, funding and development work, an evaluation report is now available. The Royal National Institute of the Blind's wish to make the technology available throughout Scotland may have merit, but issues such as demand, costs and links to other groups, bodies and interested parties need careful consideration. Officials will meet representatives from RNIB in early August 2003 to discuss the evaluation, and possible outcomes of the project.

The provision of library services is a matter for local authorities. However, the Executive encourages local authorities to make appropriate arrangements under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and the new Local Government Act.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-1405. 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/webapp/search_wa.

This matter is being considered in light of the recommendations of the Housing Improvement Task Force and the consultation exercise on the draft Tenements (Scotland) Bill. The Executive will be considering the responses to the consultation paper and bringing forward proposals.

The Executive has no such plans, since the provision of library services is a matter for local authorities. However, the Executive encourages local authorities to make appropriate arrangements under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and the new Local Government Act.

A Consultation Paper on a draft Tenements (Scotland) Bill was published on 20 March and the consultation period concluded on 13 June. The paper sought views on the establishment of compulsory sinking funds. The Executive will be considering responses to the consultation paper and bringing forward proposals.

Children under 16 are entitled to a free NHS sight test at either six monthly or yearly intervals, depending on the extent of their visual condition, or earlier where there is a clinical reason.There is no national programme of universal vision screening for children in the UK. Arrangements for routine testing of children's eyesight vary across Scotland. All NHS boards undertake routine vision screening of children in their pre-school period, or on entry to primary school. Details of arrangements in each NHS board area are not held centrally.