Chamber and committees

Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise would also have had offered business support in this period. As this is an operational matter for both organisations I will ask both chief executives to write to you in this regard.

Regional Selective Assistance (£ Million)

Note: *Figures given on an accruals basis.

Innovation Grants (£ Million)

It is not possible to show the administration expenditure for each grant programme. In each year the total administration costs for the innovation grants are as follows; 2003-04 - £0.5 million; 2004-05 - £0.5 million; 2005-06 - £0.6 million; 2006-07 - £0.6 million and 2007-08 - £0.4 million.

Energy

Notes:

*Figures for the Renewable Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Support Scheme include payments to research groups and other organisations as well as businesses.

**Talisman Energy is not a grant scheme. This is a unique research grant offered to Talisman Energy for experimental deep water offshore wind farm.

These schemes are administered by the Renewable Policy Unit of the Energy and Telecoms Division of the Scottish Government. Administration costs for running these schemes cannot be identified separately from the total running costs of the Energy and Telecoms Division.

Energy Efficiency

Loan Action Scotland (£)

Business Advisor Network (£)

Note: *Administration costs relating to the Business Advisor Network from 2003-04 through to 2005-06 cannot be identified separately from total running costs of the Scottish Energy Efficiency Office, who administered the programme, or elements of it, during this period.

Certain elements of the administration costs associated with Loan Action Scotland and the Business Advisor Network relate to the marketing and development of these services, rather than to core administration costs. These elements cannot be further disaggregated from the figures provided.

Carbon Trust (£)

Note: *Carbon Trust expenditure on support for business has been estimated. These costs cannot be identified separately from total Scottish Government funding of the Carbon Trust, as this is used to support both the business and public sector.

Knowledge Exchange and Innovation (£ Million)

The Knowledge Exchange and Innovation budget includes expenditure on the SEEKIT, Knowledge Transfer Partnership, Genesis Faraday, Intellectual Asset Centre and Innovator Counselling and Advisory Service for Scotland schemes plus ad-hoc activity normally funded under the provisions of the 1965 Science and Technology Act. Most of this support activity was delivered by outside agencies and detailed information on administration costs is not held by the Scottish Government. The Business Growth & Innovation Division of the Scottish Government incurred a small amount of administrative expenditure on these schemes, as part of its broader activity on business growth and innovation policy work.

No information is held centrally by the Scottish Government on the publicly-funded business support for local authorities, UK Government and the European Union.

Businesses can apply to Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise for funding support for growth and development. As this is an operational matter for both organisations I will ask both chief executives to write to you in this regard.

The following business support schemes are delivered by the Enterprise, Energy and Tourism Directorate.

Regional Selective Assistance (RSA) is the main national grant scheme aimed at encouraging investment and job creation. Grant allocated for this financial year is £43.2 million and is the same for the next two financial years.

SMART: SCOTLAND and R&D Grants are aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises to help support research and development of commercially viable projects which represent a significant technological advance. Grant allocated for this financial year is £8.8 million and is the same for the next two financial years.

Wave and Tidal Energy Support Scheme (WATESS). This £13 million scheme was launched in 2006 to provide grants to businesses to support the installation and commissioning / deployment of pre-commercial wave and tidal electricity generating devices and components at the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney. The closing date for applications was 17 November 2006. £12.17 million is allocated in the current and next two financial years.

The Renewable Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Support Scheme. This £1.5 million scheme was launched in 2006 to provide grants to deploy and demonstrate renewable hydrogen and fuel cell technology. The aim of the scheme is to develop off-grid capacity and market opportunities / applications for renewable hydrogen and fuel cells in Scotland. Research groups and other organisations which are also eligible have been awarded grants as well as businesses. £108,000 is allocated for the current and next two financial years.

Energy Saving Trust (EST) offers interest-free loans to small businesses, helping them to reduce carbon emissions and save energy. £2 million has been allocated to this programme for the current financial year. The need for future support is being monitored.

Energy Saving Scotland Advice Network, is a one stop shop offering advice to small businesses and householders on all aspects of sustainable energy. The network will receive £3.5 million in this financial year, an estimated £539,000 of which will be directly attributable to support for business. In addition to this, there will be indirect spend on business support via the network which cannot be separated from total spend. The Scottish Executive intends to continue sponsorship of EST and the Network for the next two financial years.

The Carbon Trust provides energy efficiency advice and support to larger energy users in the business and public sector. It is estimated that £1.9 million of this programme will be spent on business support in the current financial year. A similar level of funding is anticipated in the next two financial years. The Carbon Trust also supports a range of UK-wide activity which may include funding to Scottish companies.

SEEKIT, Knowledge Transfer Partnership, Genesis Faraday, Intellectual Asset Centre and Innovator Counselling and Advisory Service for Scotland programmes administered under one budget heading, Knowledge Exchange and Innovation. This also includes ad-hoc expenditure on activities normally supported under the 1965 Science & Technology Act.

Funding allocated for Knowledge Exchange and Innovation is £7.9 million for each financial year between 2008-09 to 2010-11.

Information is not held on the percentage of businesses eligible for support under these schemes.

The figures do not include direct measures which were not affected by Summary Justice Reform such as Procurator Fiscal warnings.

Table 1: Charges - Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995, Section 52(1) - 2007^1,2

Table 2: Charges - Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995, Section 52(1) - 2008 ^{1, 2}

Notes:

1. The information in these tables has been extracted from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service''s case management database. The database is a live, operational database used to manage the processing of reports submitted to procurators fiscal by the police and other reporting agencies. If a Procurator Fiscal amends a charge submitted by a reporting agency, the database will record details only of the amended charge.

2. The database is charge-based. The figures quoted therefore relate to the number of charges rather than the number of individuals charged or the number of incidents that gave rise to such charges.

The information in the table is based on charges of Culpable and Reckless Fireraising, Fireraising, Reckless Fireraising, Wilful Fireraising, Attempted Fireraising, and charges relating to offences under section 56 of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (laying or lighting a fire so as to endanger any other person or property). The four Civic Government Act charges related to setting fire to cabling The other charges related to setting fire to refuse bins, wheelie bins, cardboard boxes, plastic seats and wooden picnic tables.

These figures do not include direct measures which were not affected by summary justice reform such as Procurator Fiscal warnings.

Charges: Fireraising^{1, 2,}

Notes:

1. The information in the table has been extracted from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service''s case management database. The database is a live, operational database used to manage the processing of reports submitted to procurators fiscal by the police and other reporting agencies. If a Procurator Fiscal amends a charge submitted by a reporting agency, the database will record details only of the amended charge.

2. The database is charge-based. The figures quoted therefore relate to the number of charges rather than the number of individuals charged or the number of incidents that gave rise to such charges.

These figures do not include direct measures which were not affected by Summary Justice Reform such as Procurator Fiscal warnings.

Charges: Public Indecency^1,2

Notes:

1. Please note that there is no individual crime of indecency. The crime of public indecency is commonly referred to by the public as indecent exposure, and does not cover other forms of indecency which are criminal under other crimes.

2. The information in the table has been extracted from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service''s case management database. The database is a live, operational database used to manage the processing of reports submitted to procurators fiscal by the police and other reporting agencies. If a Procurator Fiscal amends a charge submitted by a reporting agency, the database will record details only of the amended charge.

3. The database is charge-based. The figures quoted therefore relate to the number of charges rather than the number of individuals charged or the number of incidents that gave rise to such charges.

Notes:

1. “ Indicates number is zero.

2. x Indicates number not shown either because frequency lies between 0 and 5 or to prevent disclosure of another masked number.