The First Minister discussed the financial difficulties of The Gathering 2009 Ltd with the Deputy Leader of the City of Edinburgh Council in a telephone call on 9 October 2009. During that call, the First Minister invited the Deputy Leader and City of Edinburgh Council officials to attend a meeting to discuss the issues further on 12 October 2009.

The Scottish Government reports business travel emissions yearly and the latest Environmental Annual Report 2008-09 was published on 21 May 2010 (Bib. number 50874). This highlighted that business related travel emission had reduced by 3% from 2005-06. Whilst we recognise we have some way to go to achieve 20% we are actively promoting various initiatives that include:

Signing up to participate in the WWF One in Five Challenge “ to reduce the number of business flights by 20% over a five year period;

Aligning our business travel targets with our Carbon Management Plan;

Introducing and promoting portable video conferencing units;

Promotion of teleconferencing;

Internal communications promoting more sustainable modes of travel including more effective use of cycling, walking and public transport when travelling for business, and

The promotion of the travel hierarchy.

With regard to Infrastructure Investment Group membership, the functions of the Scottish Government officials, and those of Transport Scotland and the Scottish Prison Service are available on the government''s staff directory, to which members of the Scottish Parliament have access. Job descriptions for the employees of the Scottish Funding Council and the Scottish Futures Trust are the responsibility of these bodies, and are not held centrally.

In line with ongoing work regarding improving transparency, the salaries for Scottish Government senior staff (Director level and above, including Transport Scotland) are available on the Scottish Government''s website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/Directorates/scs-structure. The website also provides information on the generic pay scales for Scottish Government staff below this level, although specific details about individual salaries of employees has not been disclosed as it is considered personal information under the Data Protection Act 1998 and would be exempt under Section 38(1)(b) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

The Scottish Government asked Scottish NDPBs and Public Corporations to list on their respective websites the names and salary details of members of their senior leadership team equivalent to Senior Civil Service Grade 2 (Director) and above. For the Scottish Prison Service and Scottish Futures Trust, the salaries of the post holders are available on their respective websites.

Scottish Prison Service:

http://www.sps.gov.uk//Default.aspx?DocumentID=72204d19-2f95-463d-9c86-59547ecc795d;

Scottish Futures Trust:

http://www.scottishfuturestrust.org.uk/docs/152/Pay%20bands%20breakdown%2013%20Sep%2010pay.pdf.

The Scottish Funding Council post holder has been excluded from the return on its website as they are not part of its senior leadership team http://www.sfc.ac.uk/seniorsalaries/.

An important element of the games budget is the £89 million income that will be generated from commercial revenue streams. This revenue will be raised from sponsorship, ticketing, licensing of merchandising and through the sale of the domestic and international broadcasting rights for the games. It would not be appropriate to publish the expected income from the sale of broadcasting rights at this stage as this would jeopardise the organising committee''s ability to negotiate the best possible deal.

The Glasgow 2014 Organising Committee is currently in the process of developing the most appropriate strategy for engaging the services of a host broadcasting service for the games. The procurement process is scheduled to commence in the first half of 2011 as scheduled. It would not help to achieve best value for money to reveal details of the contract value in advance of this process.

The Infrastructure Investment Group (IIG) was established in 2005 to consider and discuss matters relating to the Scottish Government''s capital spend. The dates and agenda items for meetings since May 2007 are as follows:

20 July 2007             

Minutes of meeting of 24 April 2007

Presentation on Audit Scotland study into major capital projects

National Planning Framework update                         

Update on Spending Review 2007 (SR07)

Cabinet paper on infrastructure investment

(a) co-ordination

(b) use of PPP

(c) Scottish Futures Trust (SFT)

(d) performance improvement

Potential impact on investment of  international accounting rules                                        

Update on capital expenditure 2007-08

13 September 2007

Minutes of meeting of 20 July 2007

National Planning Framework update

Strategic look at SR07 outcomes

SFT

IIG database

Update on capital expenditure 2007-08

9 January 2008        

Minutes of meeting of 13 September 2007

National Planning Framework

SFT

International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)

Infrastructure Investment Plan 2008 (IIP)

Capital expenditure 2007-08

27 February 2008    

Minutes of meeting of 9 January 2008

Accounting for sustainable development performance (presentation)

Cross-compliance and climate change (presentation)

National Planning Framework

SFT

IFRS impact on capital programmes

IIP

Spending 2007-08

12 June 2008           

Minutes of meeting of 27 February 2008

National Planning Framework

SFT

IFRS impact on capital programmes

IIP, longer term vision for infrastructure investment plans and progress monitoring

Public procurement reform agenda

Finance forward look

Audit Scotland Report on Major Capital Projects

Outturn spending 2007-08

Spending 2008-09

4 February 2009

National Planning Framework

IFRS

Draft revised remit for the IIG

Economic Recovery Plan

Infrastructure issues blocking development progress

Carbon accounting commitments “ Strategic Board paper

Infrastructure Investment “ gap created by demise of planning gain

Capital Expenditure Programme

SFT

Infrastructure Investment monitoring

8 April 2009

Minutes of meeting of 4 February 2009

Revised remit for the IIG

Response to the Public Audit Committee (PAC) report on Major Capital Projects in Scotland: IIG commitments

IIP

Major Capital Projects: Progress update

Development Agreements

SFT

IFRS update

16 June 2009

Minutes of meeting of 8 April 2009

Final revised remit

PAC IIG commitments update

Capital programme management

SFT business plan 2009-10

Schools Estate Strategy

National Planning Framework II

Unblocking physical development through infrastructure

16 October 2009

Minutes of meeting of 16 June 2009

PAC commitments update

Capital projects database

Reform of Gateway Review

Capital budget outlook

Schools estate financial strategy

SFT Corporate Plan

Infrastructure UK

15 December 2009

Minutes of meeting of 16 October 2009

PAC commitments update  

Gateway Review engagement and Post Project Evaluation

School Building Programme

Procurement policy “ assessment of recent case law

Public finance outlook

SFT

Infrastructure UK

7 April 2010

Minutes of meeting of 15 December 2009

Budget 2010 and implications for public spending

Spending Review 2010 “ evidence gathering on capital

PAC commitment update - Infrastructure projects database and capital budget monitoring

Infrastructure UK

Consideration of interaction with European Investment Bank

SFT

Development and infrastructure work programme

14 June 2010

Minutes of meeting of 7 April 2010

Capital expenditure “ post UK election

Schools for the Future programme

Governance of infrastructure investment

PAC commitments update

Audit Scotland follow-up review of Major Capital Projects

Infrastructure Projects Database update

Gateway Review/Key Stage Review

Health capital programme

Hub programme

Offshore renewable energy infrastructure requirements

24 August 2010

Minutes of Meeting of 14 June 2010

Spending Review 2010 “ Capital investment

Independent Budget Review recommendations on infrastructure investment

Governance of infrastructure investment

Purchasing power gains

All meetings were held in the Scottish Government''s offices in Victoria Quay, Edinburgh. The specific administrative costs for each meeting was approximately £40 per meeting.

The Infrastructure Investment Group''s membership regularly comprises the following senior representatives from both the Scottish Government and its core agencies, such as Transport Scotland and the Scottish Prison Service; the Scottish Futures Trust and the Scottish Funding Council. Other attendees may also attend meetings when particular policy areas are to be discussed:

Name	Job Role	Employer
A Stafford (Chair)	Director General Finance	Scottish Government
J Mason	Director of Business	Scottish Government
C MacLean	Director of Learning	Scottish Government
A Merrill	Director of Procurement	Scottish Government
J Pryce	Director for Improving Public Services	Scottish Government
M Foulis	Director of Housing and Regeneration	Scottish Government
J Mackinnon	Chief Planner	Scottish Government
Dr A Scott	Director of Lifelong Learning	Scottish Government
J Matheson	Director of Health Finance	Scottish Government
D Wilson	Director of Energy	Scottish Government
K Baker	Deputy Director, Capital and Risk	Scottish Government
R Macdonald	Deputy Director, Planning Legislation, Performance, Economy, Engagement and Environmental Assessment	Scottish Government
M Baxter	Deputy Director, Capital Planning and Asset Management	Scottish Government
D Henderson	Deputy Director, Local Government	Scottish Government
G Gillespie	Deputy Director, Office of the Chief Economic Adviser	Scottish Government
G Hendricks	Head of Efficient Government and Identity Policy	Scottish Government
C Fisher	Head of Centre of Expertise for Programme and Project Management	Scottish Government
I Morrison (Secretariat)	Senior Policy Manager, Capital and Risk	Scottish Government
W Pretswell	Director, Finance and Business Services	Scottish Prison Service
D Middleton	Chief Executive	Transport Scotland
A McLaughlin	Director, Major Transport Infrastructure Projects	Transport Scotland
R Bell	Director, Finance and Corporate Services	Scottish Funding Council
P Reekie	Director of Finance and Structures	Scottish Futures Trust

Names of non Scottish Government participants have only been given where these are already public, for example, in the publication of annual reports.

The detailed information requested is currently being collated and I will write to the member as soon as the information is available and a copy will be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 52066).

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-36766 on 17 November 2010. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.