- Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 10 December 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 10 January 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive why no social enterprises were invited to the recent meeting on commercial opportunities offered by the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Answer
This event was hosted by theGlasgow Chamber of Commerce. The Scottish Government had no input into invitations.
- Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 10 December 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 10 January 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how social enterprises can be included on the lists of small suppliers bidding for contracts under £140,000 for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Answer
Procurement for the Glasgow 2014Commonwealth Games will be a matter for the Games Organising Company.
The Scottish Government is committedto launching a consultation on how to secure benefits from the Glasgow 2014 CommonwealthGames within 100 days of the announcement that the bid was successful. This willinclude consultation on how best to ensure that social enterprises and businessesin Scotland can benefit from the commercial opportunities offeredby the games.
- Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 10 December 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 10 January 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how members of the procurement business panel for the 2014 Commonwealth Games will be nominated and appointed and how social enterprise will be represented on the panel.
Answer
Procurement for the Glasgow 2014Commonwealth Games will be undertaken by the Games Organising Company and will followboth European law and Scottish Public Procurement guidelines.
- Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 10 December 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 10 January 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there will be any ring-fencing of contracts for the 2014 Commonwealth Games for community businesses.
Answer
Procurement for the Glasgow 2014Commonwealth Games will be a matter for the Games Organising Company.
The Scottish Government is committedto launching a consultation on how to secure benefits from the Glasgow 2014 CommonwealthGames within 100 days of the announcement that the bid was successful. This willinclude consultation on how best to ensure that social enterprises and businessesin Scotland can benefit from the commercial opportunities offered by the games.
- Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 26 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 11 December 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what funding is being given to supporting volunteers as a result of the strategic spending review.
Answer
Our decisions in the Scottish Budget recognise the existing contribution of third sector organisations,including voluntary and volunteer-involving organisations, and the potential fortheir entrepreneurial dynamism to contribute to transformational change across the Scottish Government’s five strategic objectives. We fully recognise the vital roleof individual volunteers. Over £93 million is being invested in the third sectorduring the Spending Period and discussions on how organisations will be able toaccess these funds will begin shortly.
- Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 December 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 11 December 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been provided to the Cities Growth Fund in each year since its inception and how much has been transferred to each local authority for each of the next three years.
Answer
The following tabledetails how much has been provided from the Cities Growth Fund in each yearsince its inception:
| Annual allocation (£000) | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | Total allocation 2003-08 |
| Aberdeen City | 2,556 | 3,883 | 5,111 | 5,292 | 5,467 | 22,259 |
| Dundee City | 2,067 | 3,100 | 4,133 | 4,208 | 4,315 | 17,823 |
| City of Edinburgh | 5,378 | 8,067 | 10,755 | 11,195 | 11,506 | 46,901 |
| Glasgow City | 8,888 | 13,334 | 17,878 | 18,030 | 18,405 | 76,535 |
| Highland | 689 | 1,033 | 1,378 | 1,407 | 1,442 | 5,949 |
| Stirling | 422 | 633 | 845 | 868 | 890 | 3,658 |
| Total | 20,000 | 30,000 | 40,100 | 41,000 | 42,025 | 173,125 |
Under the concordat agreed between Scottish ministersand COSLA, the ring fence around the Cities Growth Fund will be removed from 1 April2008, with the funding being absorbed into the main local governmentsettlement.
The ScottishGovernment will be providing local government in Scotland with record levels of funding over the period covered by the spendingreview 2008-11. The vast majority of the funding, including the funding previouslyprovided from the Cities Growth Fund, will be provided by means of a blockgrant. It is the responsibility of each local authority to allocate the totalfinancial resources available to it on the basis of local needs and priorities,having first fulfilled its statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set ofnational and local priorities including the Scottish Government’s key strategicobjectives and manifesto commitments.
- Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 10 December 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it proposes to take in response to the RNIB Scotland’s report, Make it count, on the election experiences of people with sight loss.
Answer
I welcome the RNIBreport into the experiences of blind and partially sighted people at the 2007 Scottishelections. The recommendations made in the report, in respect to the Scottish localgovernment elections, will be considered and taken forward alongside the recommendationsmade in the Gould Report.
- Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 15 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Linda Fabiani on 7 December 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to make RNIB talking books and similar products available free of charge through libraries on the same basis as normal books.
Answer
The provisionof library services is the responsibility of local authorities and the ScottishGovernment has no locus in the matter. However, the Scottish Government expectslocal authorities to make appropriate arrangements under the Disability DiscriminationAct 1995 and the Local Government in Scotland Act 2003.
- Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 26 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 6 December 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide support to national youth work organisations to replace any volunteering input lost as a result of the termination of funding for Project Scotland.
Answer
The Scottish Governmentwill continue to work towards the aims set out in the youth work strategy and willcontinue to support the national voluntary organisations in achieving this. the Scottish Government recently launched Volunteering in the Youth Work Sector:An Action Plan,which was developed in collaborationwith the national voluntary youth organisations. This supports volunteering in theyouth work sector through a series of measures to promote volunteering and delivera lasting positive impact.
- Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 26 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 6 December 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-5502 by Stewart Stevenson on 19 November 2007, what funding has been provided under the Bus Route Development Grant in each year since its inception and how much has been allowed for in the local government finance settlement to enable local authorities to support new bus services in their area for three years from 2008-09.
Answer
In 2005-06, £15,783,393and in 2006-07 £11,256,026 was allocated under the Bus Route Development Grant schemeto provide funding for projects over the three year period 2005-06 to 2007-08. Thefinal funding allocations were made in March 2007.
In financial years2005-06 and 2006-07 payments in respect of the above allocations amounting to £9,783,727.61were made. In the current financial year we estimate further expenditure of around£6.5 million.
Under the Concordatagreed between Scottish ministers and COSLA, the ring fence around the Bus RouteDevelopment Grant will be removed from 1 April 2008, with the funding being absorbedinto the main local government settlement.
The Scottish Governmentwill be providing local government in Scotland with recordlevels of funding over the period covered by the spending review 2008-11. The vastmajority of the funding, including the funding for implementation of the Bus RouteDevelopment Grant, will be provided by means of a block grant. It is the responsibilityof each local authority to allocate the total financial resources available to iton the basis of local needs and priorities having first fulfilled its statutoryobligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities includingthe Scottish Government’s key strategic objectives and manifesto commitments.
