Chamber and committees

I am pleased to announce that David Francis has convened a Traditional Arts Working Group. The group will make recommendations to me later this year regarding future support arrangements for traditional arts. Taking part in the group will be:

Ruth Kirkpatrick

Mary-Ann Kennedy

Fiona Dalgetty

Mats Melin and

Stuart Eydman.

It has, of course, been a busy start to the year for the traditional arts sector with the hugely successful Celtic Connections Festival. With this in mind the Traditional Arts Working Group''s first meeting is scheduled to take place on 26 February.

In its annual reporting process, the Financial Services Advisory Board (FISAB) publishes details of the financial services industry in Scotland, including both the life and pensions and general insurance sectors.

In its 2008 Annual Report, FiSAB reported that Scotland''s financial services industry as a whole contributes around £7 billion to the Scottish Gross Domestic Product and 86,000 jobs in total. Employment in the Life and Pensions sector in 2006 accounted for 16% of financial services employment in Scotland with general insurance employing 7%.

The Countryside (Scotland) Act 1967 provides statutory powers for the designation of national long distance routes. In the past Scottish Natural Heritage has been able to provide some financial support for these projects. Going forward, local authorities will have the opportunity to make funds available as they develop access opportunities in their areas in line with their single outcome agreements and with their core path plans. There are also opportunities for land managers and community groups to secure support for path projects under the Scotland Rural Development Programme.

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-08/sor1127-01.htm

This information is not held centrally. In the following table, information is presented on the number of local authority social care workers who work directly with adults in each salary band. This information cannot be broken down to extract those who work specifically with disabled people. In June 2008, information on salary bands will be presented in the statistical publication Staff Of Scottish Local Authority Social Work Services, available on the Scottish Government website.

It is for employers to decide how to make the most efficient use of their resources in providing care for disabled people, including deciding whether to use assistance dogs.

Main Job Function	Salary (£)
	<10,000	10,000-13,125	>13,125-17,500	>17,500-21,875	>21,875-26,250	>26,250-35,000	Not Known	Total
Routine Care/Support Work (Other than Home Care, Care Home and AHP assistance)	96	131	193	324	46	5	363	1,158
Home Care	525	3,052	597	0	0	1	1399	5,574
Routine Care/Support Work (Care Home)	46	74	247	108	11	0	17	503
Other Class 2 Care Work	7	59	115	15	0	1	17	214
Total	674	3,316	1,152	447	57	7	1,796	7,449

Notes:

1. The staff included within this table encompass those who work within all categories of Adult services, including those specialising in mental health, learning disabilities, physical disabilities, substance misuse and sensory impairment.

2. Class 2 Care Work Staff are defined as Staff who provide direct personal physical, emotional, social or health care and support to service users and are accountable for dealing with routine aspects of a care plan or service. These staff usually have no supervisory responsibility.

3. Of the 53,776 staff reported in the 2006 Staff Of Scottish Local Authority Social Work Services publication, 34% were reported with no main user group identified. Of the 66% with a user group 7,449 were identified as being Class 2 workers working with the user group Adults.

4. The salary information provided is the full-time equivalent. For example, a person earning £6,000 per annum for half a week''s work would be reported as being in the salary range £10,000 “ £13,125 not <£10,000.

This information is not held centrally.

This information is not held centrally, however Scottish Court Service is aware of two potential jurors being fined for non-attendance at Stonehaven Sheriff Court in November 2006.

I will shortly publish a consultation paper on a range of juror issues, including juror recompense.

The British Tinnitus Association is entirely funding a Senior Research Associate at the Ear Institute, UCL, London. The director has indicated to the Scottish Government that any benefit would accrue to all parts of the UK and confirmed the audiology services in Scotland will be able to benefit from this research. The Audiology Services Advisory Group (ASAG), which is responsible for advising the Scottish Government on audiology issues, includes the issue of tinnitus on its agenda.

The Scottish Government would always wish to ensure that ethical and environmental considerations are taken into account in its decision making. The main types of asset held by the Scottish Government are infrastructure assets or other assets directly related to providing services to the people of Scotland and these can sensibly be regarded as broadly neutral in ethical terms. The concept of ethical investment is most commonly applied to investment in the shares of companies operating in particular fields or with particular business practices and it is worth noting that the pension schemes run by central government are generally managed on a pay as you go basis, which means that issues over ethical investment do not arise.