Chamber and committees

Later this spring we will publish a refreshed skills strategy with a renewed focus on the skills needed to support a strong recovery for Scotland as well as longer-term sustainable economic growth.

This will build on the Skills Framework for Action under the Scottish Government''s Renewables Action Plan, and will be supplemented by the development of our Low Carbon Strategy which highlights the identification, articulation and development of appropriate skills for the low carbon economy as a priority.

The first stage of the Review of Scottish Football, which Henry McLeish has been chairing, was published by the Scottish Football Association (SFA) on Friday 23 April 2010 and is in the public domain.

I welcome the publication of this comprehensive review which provides both the Government and the SFA with a number of recommendations. The report gives us the opportunity to sit down with our key partners and look at the type of support we can offer to ensure we are best placed to secure maximum benefit for football and other sports in the future.

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A further £146.956 million has been spent from 3 December 2008.

Details are as follows:

Edinburgh Tram Project Expenditure	2008-09 £000	2009-10 £000
Month of Payment
April	0	9,323,615
May	0	2,627,100
June	0	7,360,439
July	0	8,327,281
August	0	3,878,006
September	0	7,827,210
October	0	3,648,214
November	7,025,692	4,602,059
December	6,533,047	15,586,682
January	15,449,350	11,838,938
February	8,989,344	3,279,151
March	4,864,412	7,741,148
April	2,797,129	15,256,851
May	0	0
June	0	0
Totals	45,658,974	101,296,694

 

Following our initial consultation on permitted development rights in January 2010, an Amendment Order setting out a limited range of permitted development rights for domestic micro-wind turbines and air-source heat pumps will be laid in the Scottish Parliament today.

A further consultation which sets out additional proposals for extending the scope of permitted development rights for domestic micro-wind turbines and air-source heat pumps has been issued today.

Copies of the consultation have been placed in the Scottish Parliament''s Information Centre (Bib number 50132).

The Scottish Government, together with the UK Government and the other Devolved Administrations, published a joint government response to the consultation on the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) today.

The government response includes a number of important adjustments to CRC policy made in light of views expressed by stakeholders during the final consultation.

Copies of the Government response are available through the Parliament''s Information Centre (Bib. number 49375). It is also on the Scottish Government CRC webpage.  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Environment/climatechange/scotlands-action/EmissionsTrading/CRC.

This question was answered in the Chamber. The answer can be viewed in the Official Report using the following link:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/officialReports/meetingsParliament/or-09/sor0903-01.htm

The Climate Change in Scotland is being published on 17 June 2009 and will be available through the Scottish Governments website at

www.scotland.gov.uk/climatechangeannualreport08-09. Copies will also be placed with the Scottish Parliament''s Information Centre (SPICe) when available, (Bib. number 48427).

The Climate Change Delivery Plan: Meeting Scotland''s Statutory Climate Change Targets is being published on 17 June 2009 and will be available through the Scottish Governments website at www.scotland.gov.uk/climatechangedeliveryplan. Copies will also be placed with the Scottish Parliament''s Information Centre (SPICe) when available, (Bib. number 48399).

A recent study Influenza vaccination in pregnancy, current evidence and selected national policies (T. Mak et al 2008) found that studies have shown that the viral risk to the foetus from maternal influenza infection is low, since trans-placental transmission of influenza infection is rare.

The current list of at-risk groups who are entitled to free seasonal flu vaccination is based on recommendations from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). The JCVI consider all the most up to date evidence to inform their recommendations and to date have made no recommendation that pregnant women or breastfeeding mothers (other than those who are otherwise in an at-risk group) should receive the seasonal flu vaccination. Accordingly no work has been done to estimate the costs to the NHS from vaccinating these groups.