Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government recognises that vibrant town centres and high streets are vital to the wellbeing of communities and the local economy. We are committed to supporting town centres and high streets and I will shortly be announcing details of our town centre review which supports delivery of the national Regeneration Strategy. Tackling empty high street property is likely to be one of the key considerations of the review.

Local authorities are responsible for local economic development and therefore for ensuring the viability of the towns within their area, taking account of local circumstances and the aspirations of communities.

We are currently consulting on measures to help communities tackle vacant and unused property in their areas. Ideas contained in the consultation paper on the Community Empowerment and Renewal Bill include measures to encourage temporary use and potential powers for the local authority to enforce the sale or lease of empty properties.

In addition, the Scottish Government intends to create a new incentive to encourage landlords to let vacant commercial premises by reforming empty property business rates relief from April 2013.

The Scottish Government has a wide counter-fraud agenda of which signature fraud is a part. Our approach to fraud is risk-based and designed to reduce the impact it has across Scotland on organisations in the public sector, the private sector, the not-for-profit sector, as well as individual members of the public.

The Scottish Government is represented on the UK Government’s Fraud, Error and Debt Taskforce that includes members from the Welsh Assembly and all major UK Government departments. The group is tasked with helping to facilitate collaborative working between central and local government, and the public, private and civil sector in order to enhance approaches to counter-fraud. The taskforce works closely with the National Fraud Authority, an executive agency of the Home Office that works with the counter-fraud community to make fraud more difficult to commit in and against the UK. The National Fraud Authority also leads the implementation of Fighting Fraud Together, a cross-sector strategy published in October 2011 aiming to reduce fraud.

In the UK, signature fraud on cheques is handled by the UK Cheque and Credit Clearing Company. The most up-to-date figures released in March 2011 show the continuing decline in cheque usage has played a part in an annual 3 per cent fall in overall cheque fraud losses. The UK Cheque and Credit Clearing Company works in partnership with the Financial Fraud Action UK purpose of creating a united front against financial fraud and its effects.

As the governing body, the Scottish FA receives funding from sportscotland to support the development of the game in schools and beyond through the sport’s new performance strategy Scotland United – A 2020 Vision. This new strategy outlined the need for a new player pathway to help support the development of talented young footballers in Scotland. As a result, seven new performance schools have been selected by the Scottish FA which, as I am sure you are aware, includes Grange Academy, who will now work in partnership with their local football clubs and the Scottish FA to help develop the selected young boys and girls football technical skills as a part of their normal curriculum in the new school year.

The level and detail of the investment to sportscotland is an operational matter and I have therefore asked the Chief Executive of sportscotland, Stewart Harris, to write to you with further details.

The Scottish Government provides funding to sport through its Grant in Aid to sportscotland. For the calendar year 2012, sportscotland will provide £154,890 in support to Horse Scotland, the governing body for equestrianism in Scotland, to help develop the sport.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally.

Sportscotland, as the national agency for sport and the lead agency for the development of sport in Scotland, provides financial investment to Scottish Hockey in order to deliver ministerial priorities.

I have therefore asked Stewart Harris, Chief Executive of sportscotland to write to you separately with details of the investment provided to Scottish Hockey.

Education in Science, Technologies, Engineering and Maths (STEM) subjects is a priority for this government, as these areas are key drivers of Scotland’s future economic prosperity.

Under Curriculum for Excellence (CfE), teachers have professional autonomy to ensure pupils’ learning experiences are tailored to meet their individual needs and interests. Entries for Highers and Advanced Highers in science subjects have increased since 2009, with pass rates remaining high. The examination results for 2011 show that science subjects represent three of the top five subjects taken at Higher.

The recent independent report from the Science and Engineering Education Advisory Group (SEEAG) included recommendations aimed at ensuring pupils continue to have opportunities to experience high-quality learning in the sciences, and have access to appropriate information about pathways into STEM-related further learning and careers. The Scottish Government intends to publish a response to the SEEAG report later in the summer.

Higher Education and industry work closely together to identify future skills needs for Scotland. Over the next three years the Scottish Funding Council will increase by 1,200 the number of funded places available at universities for science, technology, engineering and mathematics. These are considered to be priority growth areas over coming years, particularly with the growth of new clean energy sectors.

The Scottish Government published a guide promoting twinning arrangements between denominational and non-denominational schools in 2006. The guide, Building Friendships and Strengthening Communities, continues to be made available through the Scottish Government website at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/12/07092739/0.

The Scottish Government supports engagement between schools to break down barriers between communities and encourage friendships between pupils.

Figures on qualifiers from Scottish Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) who studied Computer Science are provided in the following tables. It is not possible to separately identify courses that have an emphasis on software engineering from official data.

Table 1: Qualifiers from Scottish HEIs who studied Computer Science by institution.

Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency.

Tables 2a, 2b and 2c contain a breakdown of the above figures by level of Study.

Table 2a: Postgraduate Qualifiers from Scottish HEIs who studied Computer Science by institution.

Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency.

Table 2b: First Degree Qualifiers from Scottish HEIs who studied Computer Science by institution.

Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency.

Table 2c: Other HE Qualifiers from Scottish HEIs who studied Computer Science by institution.

Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency.

The Scottish Government does not itself undertake any odour monitoring of industrial or other premises. This is the responsibility of individual local authorities, or the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, where the premises are regulated under the Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) Regulations 2000.

Consultation arrangements on countryside and woodland development depend on the nature of the development.

“Development” in the countryside as defined by the Town and Country Planning Act is, in most cases, considered by local authorities, who are responsible for consulting with local organisations.

Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS) is responsible for determining whether applications for new woodland planting, woodland felling and deforestation and, in most cases, the construction of forest roads and quarries should be approved. All applications are advertised on the FCS public register and, in addition, FCS consults with local authorities, statutory consultees and local organisations (for example, Community Councils) on cases above a size threshold, or as otherwise agreed locally with the relevant authority and partners. Details of consultation arrangements can be found at: http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/consult.pdf/$FILE/consult.pdf.

In addition, proposals for afforestation, deforestation and the construction of forest roads and quarries are subject to environmental impact assessment under the Environmental Impact Assessment (Forestry) (Scotland) Regulations 1999. Full details of how forestry proposals are considered and consulted upon by FCS under the EIA regulations can be found at:

http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/EIAGeneral09.pdf/$FILE/EIAGeneral09.pdf.