Chamber and committees

There have been discussions between officials, although local authorities recognise that these are matters to be resolved with their PPP partners.

Compliance is a matter for the local authority and its PPP partner. A new Health and Safety (Offences) Act came into force in January, following which the Health and Safety Executive issued a detailed new Enforcement Policy Statement.

The Scottish Government will publish the findings of the Cycling Action Plan for Scotland consultation document in November. The findings will help to inform the recently announced inquiry into Active Travel being undertaken by the Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Committee this year. We will consider the Committee''s report before publishing the final Cycling Action for Scotland document.

In the meantime, we will continue to support the seven Smarter Choices, Smarter Places communities in Scotland which aim to increase active travel, including cycling and to encourage healthier lifestyles. We will fund and provide support to the eight Healthy Weight Communities projects whose objectives are to engage families and young people in particular, in programmes that embrace healthy eating, physical activity and healthy weight initiatives.

We will also continue to provide funding to Sustrans to maintain and extend the National Cycle Network and provide safe routes to schools for children who wish to cycle to school. We will provide grant funding to local authorities for Cycling, Walking and Safer Streets projects to increase physical activity through more active travel. We will provide funding to Cycling Scotland to increase numbers taking part in the Pedal for Scotland bike ride from Glasgow to Edinburgh, which on 13 September saw 7,003 participants of all ages undertake the 51 mile route. And we will continue to monitor the increase in the growth in numbers of cyclists in order to achieve the proposed target in the Cycling Action Plan consultation of 10% modal share for bikes by 2020.

The Scottish Government does not allocate funding to local authorities for the treatment of epilepsy. However, each local area health board is required to determine the amount of funding required for the treatment of epilepsy within its own area from within the baseline funding it is allocated by the Scottish Government.

The tables below show the amount of funding allocated for cycling projects to individual local authorities in each of the last five years.

Cycling, Walking and Safer Streets Grant

	2004-05 (£000''s)	2005-06 (£000''s)	2006-07 (£000''s)	2007-08 (£000''s)	2008-09 (£000''s)
Aberdeen City	343	362	358	365	365
Aberdeenshire	367	388	402	412	412
Angus	175	185	187	191	191
Argyll and Bute	148	156	160	163	163
Clackmannanshire	78	82	84	86	86
Dumfries and Galloway	240	252	256	262	262
Dundee City	236	248	245	249	249
East Ayrshire	195	205	208	212	212
East Dunbartonshire	175	185	187	191	191
East Lothian	146	154	165	170	170
East Renfrewshire	145	153	160	165	165
Edinburgh, city of	727	767	796	818	818
Eilean Siar	43	45	44	45	45
Falkirk	235	248	259	267	267
Fife	566	597	622	639	639
Glasgow City	937	988	1,000	1,021	1,021
Highland	338	357	365	374	374
Inverclyde	136	144	143	146	146
Midlothian	131	138	144	149	149
Moray	141	149	150	154	154
North Ayrshire	220	232	236	241	241
North Lanarkshire	520	549	565	579	579
Orkney	31	33	33	34	34
Perth and Kinross	219	231	240	247	247
Renfrewshire	280	295	298	304	304
Scottish Borders	173	183	191	196	196
Shetland	36	38	39	40	40
South Ayrshire	182	192	194	199	199
South Lanarkshire	490	516	531	544	544
Stirling	140	147	155	160	160
West Dunbartonshire	151	159	160	164	164
West Lothian	258	272	293	303	303

School Run and NCN Funding

	2004-05 (£000s)	2005-06 (£000s)	2006-07 (£000s)	2007-08 (£000s)	2008-09 (£000s)
Aberdeen City	210	227	201	203	27
Aberdeenshire	84	89	84	228	166
Angus	105	9	10	25	84
Argyll and Bute	113	16	867	1391	1174
Clackmannanshire	168	49	55	286	65
Dumfries and Galloway	115	251	120	427	210
Dundee City	95	11	100	176	154
East Ayrshire		49	378	124
East Dunbartonshire			160	108	132
East Lothian	163	96	144	253	14
East Renfrewshire		2	110	47	30
Edinburgh, city of	198	44	905	143	179
Eilean Siar			22	54	13
Falkirk		28	24	255	123
Fife	278	39	486	499	302
Glasgow City	24	7	229	400	238
Highland	126	101	505	250	56
Inverclyde	169	63	86	362	12
Midlothian	51		83	79	38
Moray		8	315	181	132
North Ayrshire	210	39	50	125	28
North Lanarkshire	42	91		221	70
Orkney				112	59
Perth and Kinross	51	131	119	87	77
Renfrewshire	240	1	168	310	16
Scottish Borders	155	29	71	100	31
Shetland		15	130	9	23
South Ayrshire		29	270	164	42
South Lanarkshire	158		109	32	45
Stirling	249	283	289	192	130
West Dunbartonshire	58		139	140	142
West Lothian	53	22	224	136	49

 

The Scottish Government has no plans to issue specific guidance to NHS boards on the issue of multiple chemical sensitivity. In reviewing evidence relating to such concerns, UK government''s committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment (COT) commented in 2000 that multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) was a condition largely defined by the patient, and that there was no consistent pattern of symptoms or exposure data to define the condition. People concerned about allergies to chemicals should discuss these with their GP in the first instance, to allow for proper assessment of individual needs.

Free access to dyslexia assessment is available, in certain circumstances, for adults depending on their individual circumstances. Those in higher and further education may have access to free assessment; unemployed adults may be referred for assessment to an occupational psychologist through Jobcentre Plus and, where an individual''s health is adversely affected by possible dyslexia, a general practitioner may refer for free assessment.

The Scottish Government is currently providing local government in Scotland with record levels of funding, £23 billion for the period 2008-10. The vast majority of the funding, including the funding for tackling dyslexia, is being provided by means of a block grant.

It is the responsibility of each local authority to allocate the total financial resources available to it on the basis of local needs and priorities having first fulfilled its statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities, including the Scottish Government''s key strategic objectives as set out in the concordat.

The total revenue allocations for each local authority for 2009-10 can be found in column 10 of Annex C on page five of the latest Local Government Finance circular using the following link:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/917/0079447.pdf.

There is no central register of adults assessed as having dyslexia. However, the number of pupils with additional support needs due to dyslexia are reported each year in Pupils in Scotland, available on the government website using the following link:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/School-Education/PubPupilCensus.

The Scottish Government''s Partnership Action for Continuing Employment PACE initiative provides support to people who are facing redundancy. People can access the helpline or the website for financial assistance which is available through a number of initiatives:

Training for Work provides financial assistance for training or re-training for those threatened with redundancy and for redundant workers as soon as they become unemployed.

Through Individual Learning Accounts up to £500 is available for people who wish to re-train or up-skill.

Career Development Loans help fund fee and other costs associated with training.

The £7 million made available from the Scottish Funding Council from January this year until August next year enables colleges to underwrite the cost of courses for redundant workers.