Chamber and committees

I have asked Mr Bob Millar, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. His response is as follows:Consistent with the priority to be given to the provision of affordable rented housing, planned expenditure by Communities Scotland in 2002-03 on new and improved housing will increase year on year by £4.231 million to £183.575 million in 2002-03.

Further education students must meet the residency criteria set out in the Further Education Bursaries (Scotland) Direction 1997 before further education colleges can consider them for course support. This support consists of maintenance and travel and study allowances along with the further education additional funds i.e. young students retention fund, hardship funds and childcare. All funding is allocated on a discretionary basis and is means tested. The student can undertake any course which is eligible for recurrent funding from the Scottish Further Education Funding Council and is for non-advanced education leading to a qualification.In terms of funding support to colleges, changes introduced by the Scottish Executive last autumn further strengthened ministerial commitment to provision of English language classes for new members of the community from overseas.

The Executive has awarded one-off funding of £1 million to the Kelvingrove Refurbishment Appeal Trust and £2 million towards Glasgow's Museums and Galleries Service. This funding has not been taken from the Strategic Change Fund.Applications have now been invited by Scottish Museums Council for the £1.5 million Strategic Change Fund, with decisions on the first round of funding to be announced in October.

The national waiting time standards for NHSScotland are set out in Our National Health which was published in December 2000. It includes a commitment to reduce the national maximum waiting time for in-patient/day case treatment to nine months, from the current 12 months by 2003, as well as a number of specific waiting times standards for coronary heart disease and cancer. The National Waiting Times Unit is currently undertaking a programme of visits to all mainland NHS boards and trusts for discussions with senior management about their plans for ensuring delivery of national waiting times standards, and on the development of local standards which will tackle the longest waits for out-patient appointments and diagnostic tests.

The information requested is not held centrally.

The schools cultural co-ordinators pilot programme will seek to maximise the contribution to children and young people's education of the full range of arts and cultural activities. The pilot programme will allow the local authorities participating to determine the ways in which this is done, reflecting local circumstance. Contemporary music has a special ability to engage and enthuse the young and I expect it to play an important part in the pilot activities.

Improving Quality in Private Housing set out the views of the Housing Improvement Task Force on the main strengths and weaknesses in the way private houses are maintained and repaired as well as the house buying and selling process. It makes no recommendations for action at this stage and is intended to provide the basis for stage two of the task force's work which will look at future policy options including what, if any, changes should be made to the housing improvement and repair grant system and other possible ways of supporting and encouraging owners to maintain their homes.

The task force has been asked to complete its work and make its final report and recommendations early in 2003.

The statutory requirement in this regard is set out in The Town and Country Planning (General Development Procedure) (Scotland) Order 1992, which requires that "the application shall be accompanied by a plan sufficient to identify the land to which it relates...". In addition, Planning Advice Note (PAN) 48: Planning Application Forms provides advice on best practice on the content and layout of local authority application forms. The guidance notes on model forms contained in PAN 48 suggest that information about the address or location of the proposed development should include the postcode where possible.Copies of PAN 48 can be ordered on: Tel. 0131 244 7066 or viewed on the advice section of the Executive's Planning internet site at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/planning.

The National Cultural Strategy recognised the particular position of Glasgow and committed the Executive to work with Glasgow City Council to examine the circumstances of the museums and galleries in the city. Ministers have had a series of meetings with Glasgow City Council to hear their plans for development of the city's museums and galleries and I am pleased to say that the Executive has now awarded one-off funding of £1 million to the Kelvingrove Refurbishment Appeal Trust and £2 million towards Glasgow's Museums and Galleries Service towards realising its full educational and tourism potential.