Chamber and committees

The question is hypothetical. Her Majesty's Treasury has agreed to contribute to the costs of debt repayment only where local authorities transfer their entire housing stock into community ownership.

The Scottish Executive does not hold the information about individual pupils and their families that would be needed to answer this question.The Inland Revenue publishes statistical information about Working Families Tax Credit and the Department for Work and Pensions publishes statistical information about income support, housing benefit and council tax benefit. These publications are freely available on the relevant department's websites at:http://www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/wftc/index.htm;http://www.dss.gov.uk/asd/hbctb-q.pdf, and http://www.dss.gov.uk/asd/is_aug2001_pub.pdf.The information contained in these publications may be helpful, although it will not answer the detailed questions.

Social security benefits and policy on minimum incomes are reserved to the UK Government. The Executive will, however, continue to work closely with UK ministers on these and other issues in the pursuit of our social justice agenda.

The work on the review of the law of diligence is now complete. I am currently considering a draft consultation document. The Executive intends to publish it in April.

It is not possible to anticipate decisions about specific requests for information that would be made under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Bill, once enacted. Such considerations will be made on a case-by-case basis. The Bill provides a right of appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner, who would be able to determine whether information should be disclosed in the public interest.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-22872.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-22872.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-22872.

As announced by the Deputy First Minister and Minister for Justice, in the answer given to question S1W-21207 on 19 December 2001, an additional £3 million per annum will be made available for the provision of money advice. This additional funding is intended to enhance local availability of money advice. It will be targeted on improving front-line services.It is envisaged that this money will be made available through local authorities. As local authorities currently provide the majority of funding for local money advice provision, this has the advantage of building on existing structures and is the best way of ensuring that resources are available quickly. We will consult COSLA on the distribution of additional resources between all local authorities, taking account of relevant factors such as additional outcomes to be secured. The decision on allocations to local authorities will be made by Scottish Executive ministers.We envisage that local authorities will involve local providers in the planning and decision-making process. However, consultation is ultimately a matter for local authorities who are best placed to assess local needs.Support for front-line money advisers, such as training, is currently available from existing national organisations, in particular Money Advice Scotland and Citizens Advice Scotland. The Executive is at present considering whether, given the planned expansion of services, greater support is needed for money advice workers.

Paragraph 3(v) of Part 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information commits the Scottish Executive to release information except where disclosure would not be in the public interest as specified in Part II of the Code. Disclosure of the information requested in question S1W-22235 would not be in the public interest as it would harm the frankness and candour of internal discussion including confidential communications between departments, public bodies and regulatory bodies.