Chamber and committees

Details and timescalesfor our major and important planned road projects can be found on the TransportScotland website at:http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/uploads/documents/Scottish-Motorways-Trunk-Road-Programme-June2007-final.pdf.

Scottish planningpolicy supports the protection and enhancement of town centres and indicates thatthey should be the first choice for new shopping developments. Other measures tobenefit town centres include our support for Business Improvement Districts pilots,the substantial funding we provide to local government to support a range of localservices including for housing and regeneration, and our commitment to remove orreduce the burden of business rates for small businesses, many of which are locatedin town centres throughout Scotland.

The Scottish Government continuesto support work at a UK-level following the then Prime Minister’s announcement inOctober 2006 that the UK Government would look into providing support for the CouncilTax costs of service personnel on operations overseas. Discussions between officialsfrom the Department of Communities and Local Government and the Ministry of Defence, which also involve officials from the Scottish Executive, are on-going.

Details and timescalesfor our major and important planned road projects can be found on the TransportScotland website at:http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/uploads/documents/Scottish-Motorways-Trunk-Road-Programme-June2007-final.pdf.

In 2007-08, £4 millionis available under the CommunitySafety Partnership Award Programme to local authority-ledCommunity Safety Partnerships to assist them in identifying and addressing localcommunity safety priorities, including CCTV. Other funding streams, such as qualityof life funding, can also be used to fund local CCTV systems.

We share the concernsof those worried about the level of returns being made by some milk producers. Althoughwe cannot intervene in the market, we are pleased to note that many dairy farmersare now receiving increased prices as a result of changing market conditions.

Since 2000, the dairysector has received assistance totalling almost £7 million from the Processing andMarketing Grant Scheme administered by the Scottish Executive.

Dairy producers benefitfrom support from the Single Farm Payment which was introduced following CommonAgricultural Policy reform in 2003.

We want to supportbeef producers by helping them compete successfully in the market. In the last fiveyears, the beef processing sector has received grants of almost £6.7 million underthe Processing and Marketing Scheme and around £2.5 million under the MarketingDevelopment Scheme.

Quality MeatScotland has a key role to play in developing and promoting the red meat industry.Beef producers may also receive Single Farm Payment, Less Favoured Area SupportScheme funding and payments under the Scottish Beef Calf Scheme (which has paidover £37 million to specialist beef producers in its first two years).

We are currently conductinga survey of public space CCTV in Scotland to ascertain the role that CCTV playsin helping to reduce crime and antisocial behaviour.

I refer the memberto the answer to question S3W-257 on 20 June 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Formal statisticsof participation in higher education are not available for the whole of this period.Nevertheless, the history of Scotland is of a country that has been a world leaderin educational innovation and participation over many centuries and it is the ambitionof this Government to build upon that strong foundation.