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First, what will happen to the developmentfund of about £8.5 million that was originally set up by Michael Forsyth when he was Secretary of State for Scotland?
That figure is made up of project funding as well as core funding. The figure is then compared with the funding that is expected in 2006-07 of £6.6 million, including £0.5 million of project funding.
I appreciate that, for obvious reasons, the budget for such funding has increased. Given climate change and recent extreme weather events in Scotland and elsewhere, what flexibility exists to increase that funding drastically if the need arises?
Funding is made available through the funding review to implement the recommendations of the homelessness task force, but I do not think that we have assessed whether that work will be fully funded.
As Jane Baker said, we are using some of that funding to look at different ways of providing education, through distance and flexible learning packages, for example.
I wonder if there is too much of a proliferation of involvement in the distribution of funds. Structural funds are not the only economic developmentfunding that is available.