Chamber and committees

The information requested is being collated. 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 53983).

No. We are not aware of any instances of territorial police forces or other agencies collating or releasing information with regard to employment blacklists.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-6997 on 14 May 2012. 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/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

On behalf of the Scottish Ministers, Historic Scotland provides statutory protection to industrial heritage sites across Scotland and cares for a number of key industrial sites in its portfolio. The government also directly and indirectly supports a range of nationally significant industrial museums as well as less specialised museums holding significant industrial collections. This, together with important industrial holdings in the other national collections, including the National Museums of Scotland, the National Records of Scotland, and the National Monuments Record of Scotland (at the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland), demonstrates our firm commitment to the preservation and promotion of our industrial heritage.

Looking to the future, I am pleased to note that Historic Scotland has recently created an Industrial Heritage team which will work with partners and stakeholders across the heritage sector, with education and tourism organisations, and with industry itself. A key objective will be to carry out an up-to-date assessment of the nature, scope and condition of Scotland’s industrial heritage, and subsequently to develop a strategy based on the information gathered. This is an area of our heritage which has perhaps been under valued in the past, but I believe there is potential for it to play a much more significant part in our future.

Scottish Ministers are clear about the benefit of providing a nutritious, free school meal to children and young people living in low income households and have taken a number of actions in recent years to extend eligibility. However, national eligibility in Scotland is linked to the receipt of certain prescribed benefits which are a reserved matter. As a result the Scottish Government does not hold, or separately collect, information about the number of children and young people eligible for free school meals.

The 2011 School Meals Survey recorded that 131,254 pupils (19.7 per cent of the school roll) were registered to receive a free school meal in Scotland. This figure includes children registered due to national eligibility and P1-P3 children eligible to receive a free school meal due to local initiatives introduced from August 2010 which aim to promote healthy eating habits.

The Scottish Government is considering what action it needs to take to maintain access to free school meals following the introduction of universal credit. It is intended that the current levels of provision will be protected. However, the detail of how this will be achieved has not yet been decided.

Scotland’s industrial heritage is wide-ranging, deeply ingrained in Scottish culture, and of global significance. One of our five World Heritage Sites, New Lanark, is industrial, and the Forth Bridge, which is on the revised UK tentative list, is being prepared for nomination in the coming years.

Historic Scotland (HS), assists in monitoring the state of preservation of industrial heritage through statutory protection, comparative study and evaluation, through promoting better understanding, facilitating positive change, and, where appropriate, by levering in investment.

Some sizeable structures, buildings and locations, are managed by other public bodies, like Network Rail, the Northern Lighthouse Board, Scottish Water and British Waterways (Scotland). Prominent examples include the Forth and Tay Bridges, the Bell Rock Lighthouse and the Forth and Clyde and Union Canals, together with the Falkirk Wheel.

The condition of our most important historic buildings is routinely monitored through the Buildings at Risk Register (BARR), which is funded by Historic Scotland and delivered by a team at the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), in partnership with local authority Conservation Officers. RCAHMS also operates survey programmes dedicated to industrial sites and buildings, and threatened buildings in particular.

Conservation Areas, which are managed by local authorities, often also contain significant industrial heritage. They are eligible to receive support through the Conservation Area Regeneration Scheme (funded by Historic Scotland) and Townscape Heritage Initiative (funded by Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF)). A good example of this is in Glasgow, where Govan Workspace is investing HS and HLF funds in the formerly disused Fairfield Shipyard’s drawing offices.

Our focus is not, however, confined to industrial sites and buildings. Scottish Ministers also support the preservation of items that are not fixtures and are portable. These are preserved in our archives, libraries and museums. In particular, the National Museum of Scotland, local authority museums and independent industrial museums monitor their respective collections, and have developed policies for acquisition. Their work can be measured against a baseline survey by the Scottish Museums Council (now Museums and Galleries Scotland) in 1990. Equally, the National Records of Scotland actively collects and conserves records relating to our historic industries, and works closely with local authority and university archives, and with the Business Archives Council of Scotland.

Finally, these and other organisations, including the Institution of Civil Engineers also meet regularly under the umbrella of the Scottish Industrial Archaeology Panel, which routinely exchanges information about sites at risk, relevant collections of archives (which might be taken in through the Business Archives Council of Scotland) and museum-worthy artefacts.

The Scottish Government has not held any discussions with the Money Advice Service, COSLA or any others about the tendering process for a new face-to-face debt advice service. However, there have been meetings considering the transitional arrangements for 2012-13.

These meetings have resulted in grant funding of £4.8 million from the Scottish Government and £2.2 million from the Money Advice Service as part of the transitional arrangements. This money will go towards a jointly funded programme managed by the Scottish Legal Aid Board to help Scots resolve their legal and financial problems. The locations of the funded projects will be determined following an application process that will open later this year.

Additionally, the Money Advice Service will provide £500,000 of financial support to projects run in partnership with the Improvement Service, the Accountant in Bankruptcy and Money Advice Scotland.

The tendering process is a matter for the Money Advice Service.

The Scottish Government does not pay salaries via a private company.