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The committee would be amazed by the difference that visits from members make locally. Such visits mean that Scotland is once again in the news and gets talked about.
As Mr Robson said, Wendy Alexander will visit the Borders at the end of next month to see for herself some of the new opportunities for employment in the area.
Questions and Answers
Date answered:
12 February 2003
It is only possible to compare the Scottish figures with the same time period for previous years. The latest available seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate for September to November 2002 for Scotland is 156,000 (6.1%).
We are fully engaged with organisations in the public sector in continuing to review new models and new ways of funding. A lot of research is being done on new partnership structures that will involve local authorities much more directly in their projects.
Margot Wallström said that she hoped to visit Scotland early in the new year, so there may be an opportunity for the committee to issue a formal invitation to meet her to consider progress and discuss matters further.
I presume that it will continue to affect the potential costs to local authorities—if there are any—when the new system comes in and when the new contracts come into effect on 1 April.
MSPs are learning fast how to cope with new technology and we hope that, by the time we are in the new Parliament building, the media will be similarly comfortable with those developments and that we might in future be able to dispense with paper copies.
If you walk into any newsagent or supermarket and look at the wrapping paper for gifts for new babies, or the cards for new babies, you will find that very few do not have an image of a baby's bottle.