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I thank Alan Alexander for his presentation, which was, as usual, excellent. As you are aware, we have visited the majority of councils and, without exception, they said that they wanted a power of general competence.
A senior member of staff from the Student Loans Company visited all three sites and found no evidence of poor conditions.Hayes employs a high level of graduate staff and the Student Loans Company understands that wages are set at a level that is intended to attract the best people available.
The letter from Fife Council makes the point that it is not possible to attribute a value to the caves using standard cost-benefit methods. I have visited the caves and the display about them.
For the second time in the debate, Mr McCabe has referred to a fiscal deficit of £11 billion. However, on page 26 of the GERS document, his civil servants state:"The Net Borrowing figure is an estimate … It should therefore be used with some caution."
When that particular issue was raised, I had a good working relationship with— I just want the dates. The one date that I— Was it on 26 May 2004? That is the date that is stated in the paper that we received from the Executive.
I mentioned the health funding that came out, which is around £26 million. Locally, we have agreed that it will continue to be spent on similar projects.
The new housing partnership advisory group suggested—and the previous minister agreed—that £26 million would be available for feasibility and option study work in 24 councils across Scotland.
Next week I will attend a St Andrew's day ball in Warsaw, as part of a wider visit to Poland, and we will distribute 86 event packs to Foreign and Commonwealth Office overseas posts, to help them to celebrate the day.