Chamber and committees

The Scottish Executive currently provides training support under section 9 of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968. £31,827 has been awarded this financial year.A draft proposal from COSCA for continued funding is currently being considered by various departments in the Executive.Mr Magee, Chief Executive of COSCA is meeting with the Director of Policy Co-ordination in the Social Work Services Inspectorate to discuss future funding issues.

The Scottish Executive supports the aims of the Scottish Construction Licensing Executive to provide a framework for self-regulation of companies in the construction industry. We are represented as an observer on the Licensing Executive.The Scottish Executive is also facilitating a meeting between the Licensing Executive and the DTI to consider a joint approach between the Scottish Construction Licensing Executive scheme and the DTI's Quality Mark scheme.

I take the issue of anti-social behaviour on public transport very seriously. We are awaiting a report from the Scottish Business Crime Centre about crime on buses, which will make recommendations on the way forward.The Executive recently launched an action programme that identifies measures to reduce youth offending and build a safer Scotland. We are investing in community-based programmes to prevent and reduce re-offending. In addition to the £25.5 million we have committed since June 2000, we will be investing a further £15 million this year to implement the 10-point action plan to tackle youth crime and disorder. Youth justice investment will increase to £33 million in 2005-06.A great deal of behaviour which might be classified as anti-social (including assault and vandalism) is already covered by existing law. The Executive has no plans to introduce new legislation in this area but we will continue to encourage transport operators and the police to deal with incidents of anti-social behaviour, including vandalism and assault, with the utmost seriousness.

Visitscotland.com, the VisitScotland website, has been contracted out to eTourism Ltd, a joint venture company trading as visitscotland.com. Visitscotland.com is a commercial company and as such the Scottish Executive is not responsible for reporting on its performance. The information requested is therefore not held centrally and the question should be directed towards visitscotland.com.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-29960 today. 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

Local transport providers and police forces keep records of incidences of vandalism and assault. We have no plans to collect this information centrally.We continue to encourage public transport operators and the police to deal with incidents of anti-social behaviour, including vandalism and assault, with the utmost seriousness.

A number of individuals from a variety of clinical backgrounds and who have undertaken appropriate postgraduate training in cognitive therapy may use the title of cognitive therapist.We have recently launched Working for Health, the Workforce Development Action Plan for NHSScotland, which has set a critical path for creating a robust development function integrating workforce planning and service planning across all services in NHSScotland, including those providing psychological treatment through cognitive behaviour therapy.

Although the Scottish Schools Standard PPP contract contains provisions for community use of school facilities, it is for individual local authorities to consider the provision of appropriate levels of community access in the light of local circumstances.

eTourism Ltd is responsible for the operation and management of visitscotland.com. eTourism Ltd is a public private partnership between VisitScotland, the area tourist boards, Partnerships UK and Schlumberger Sema. Details of revenue received through the website and reinvested in visitscotland.com are an operational matter for eTourism Ltd.

This is an operational matter for eTourism Ltd.