Scottish Executive

Autism

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is satisfied with the transition arrangements for people with autism from services for children and young people to adult services.

Adam Ingram: Robust transition arrangements should be in place for all children and young people moving to adult services, including those with autism. Specifically, the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 requires education authorities to take action, where appropriate, to help young people with additional support needs, including autism, to make the transition from school to post-school life successfully.

However, while there is evidence of much good practice, there is always room for improvement. That is why we have taken action on a number of fronts to strengthen transition pathways and improve life outcomes for all young people with autism.

For example, we will publish shortly The Autism Toolbox for practitioners which will include planning for personal transitions and more effective multi-agency working for future service provision.

We will fund an Additional Support for Learning Transitions Development Officer, who will be in place by April 2009. The officer will manage and co-ordinate local and national partnership approaches with a specific focus on successful transition for all young people at risk of missing out on education and training opportunities.

In 2008, the Scottish Government published guidance for commissioners of health and social care services for people with autism. It addresses the need for appropriate services for young people during the transition to adulthood and provides examples of existing good practice.

Our focus on personalisation through the Changing Lives work, encourages service providers to work with people in determining the supports they need at transition to help achieve the best social outcomes and inform future adult service provision.

The Scottish Consortium for Learning Disability, funded by the Scottish Government is currently advertising a new post to build and sustain capacity across agencies to increase the number of people with learning disabilities and autism in employment.

Birds

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, regarding its trials on the capture of sparrowhawks, whether it maps the locations at which the trapping of sparrowhawks takes place and whether it will publish any such maps.

Michael Russell: A map of all the loft sites participating in the trial will be published as part of the report following the trial.

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, regarding its trials on the capture of sparrowhawks, whether there is a recommended or maximum period of time for which a trapped sparrowhawk is kept before release.

Michael Russell: The licence issued by Scottish Government requires that sparrowhawks can only be held for a period of 24 hours. The trial aims to release captured sparrowhawks on the day they are trapped if that is possible. They are kept overnight only if there is no possibility of releasing them in daylight on the day they are caught.

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, regarding its trials on the capture of sparrowhawks, whether all released birds are radio-tracked and, if so, at what frequency tracking information is monitored.

Michael Russell: The released birds are radio-tracked for a period of around a week after their release. Data on the frequency of tracking observations will be included in the report that will be published following the trial.

Economy

Margaret Curran (Glasgow Baillieston) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the threat to the construction industry posed by the financial crisis, what it will do to ensure that projects such as the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games and the new Southern General Hospital in Glasgow go ahead as planned.

Jim Mather: The Scottish Government is taking all necessary steps to ensure projects such as those highlighted in the question remain on track. Significant progress is being made on both projects.

With guaranteed public investment of £298 million contributing to an overall budget of £373 million the 2014 Commonwealth Games provide opportunities for Scottish business - including the construction industry – at a time of economic uncertainty. The procurement process is already well underway for a number of major projects including the National Indoor Sports Arena and Velodrome and the Games Village. All of these projects are on schedule to be completed by the required dates.

Since the approval of the Outline Business Case on 22 April 2008, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde have been preparing the project for procurement through the appointment of advisors, the development of detailed design requirements and the development of a robust procurement strategy. The project team and advisers are currently working to complete Phase 1A of the project i.e. Employers Requirement and the Exemplar Design (Tender Packages) to be ready to go to the market in early April 2009.

Education

Richard Baker (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many exclusions there were from (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in (i) Aberdeen, (ii) Aberdeenshire and (iii) Angus during 2007-08, broken down by reason for exclusion.

Maureen Watt: The requested information on Exclusions in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Angus in 2007-08 by reason for exclusion has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. reference number 47479).

Employment

Jamie Hepburn (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the unemployment figures were in each quarter since 1999, broken down by (a) local authority area, (b) parliamentary constituency and (c) parliamentary region.

Jim Mather: Information on the number of people claiming an unemployment related benefit (Claimant Count unemployment) by local authority, parliamentary constituency and parliamentary region, for each quarter since 1999, has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 47476).

Fisheries

Rhoda Grant (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much was spent on fisheries scientific research in (a) 2005, (b) 2006, (c) 2007 and (d) 2008 and what the projected spend is for (i) 2009, (ii) 2010 and (iii) 2011.

Richard Lochhead: The spend on research related to marine fisheries and the marine environment which supports them is as follows:

Forth Crossing

Alison McInnes (North East Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with the European Commission regarding funding for the Forth Replacement Crossing.

Stewart Stevenson: Transport Scotland secured its submission of an application for funding under the Trans-European Network (TEN-T) scheme by the Department of Transport in June 2008.

The Department for Transport have responsibility in the UK for TEN-T funding applications.

Alison McInnes (North East Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it took to explore the use of European funds in relation to the funding of the Forth Replacement Crossing and for what reasons this was not successful, as indicated by the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change on 15 January 2009 (Official Report c. 14133).

Stewart Stevenson: Transport Scotland secured the submission of an application for Trans-European Network (TEN-T) funding by the Department for Transport (DfT) as one of the two applications that they made for UK projects in 2008. The application was for support for the feasibility study element of the project.

In November we were informed by DfT that the application had been rejected on the grounds that the EC would rather give their support to projects with committed costs over a three year period.

Alison McInnes (North East Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has commissioned a tender for the design and preparation of the construction operation for the Forth replacement crossing and whether this tender will be separate from the construction contract, as indicated by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth to the Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Committee on 15 January 2008 (Official Report c. 362).

Stewart Stevenson: Yes. A Contract for the "Multi-Disciplinary Management Consultancy Commission" for the design and preparation of the Forth replacement crossing was awarded in January 2008.

This is separate from the construction contract which has yet to be procured.

Alison McInnes (North East Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has changed its plans for contracting the design, preparation and construction of the Forth Replacement Crossing and, if so, for what reasons.

Stewart Stevenson: I announced our plans for contracting the construction of the Forth Replacement Crossing on 10 December 2008 and these plans have not changed.

Alison McInnes (North East Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will give details of how the Scottish Futures Trust will be actively engaged with Transport Scotland and its advisers on all its major road and rail projects, including the Forth Replacement Crossing, as indicated by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth during the Forth crossing debate on 15 January 2009 (Official Report c.14090).

Stewart Stevenson: The Scottish Futures Trust (SFT) is already actively engaged with Transport Scotland as sponsors of a number of major projects including the Forth replacement crossing. The SFT will continue to provide expert advice to Transport Scotland, as it does to other parts of the public sector, on all aspects of the delivery and funding of infrastructure.

Alison McInnes (North East Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how much it would cost to adapt the hard shoulder of the Forth replacement crossing into multi-modal capacity after the bridge has been constructed.

Stewart Stevenson: The hard shoulder which forms part of the current proposals for the replacement crossing will have built in the capability of carrying multimodal public transport should there be some future reason why this cannot be accommodated on the existing Forth road bridge. The cost of this is included in the £1.7 billion to £2.3 billion cost estimate announced in December 2008.

Jeremy Purvis (Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the comments regarding the reassessed cost of the Forth Replacement Crossing by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth in the Parliament on 15 January 2009 (Official Report c. 14088), on what basis the cost of the crossing was previously estimated to be £4 billion and was reduced to £2 billion.

Stewart Stevenson: As the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth stated on 15 January, the reduction in costs can be attributed to the reduced width of the bridge, made possible by utilising the existing Forth Road Bridge for public transport, pedestrians and cyclists. Further reductions have been secured through the use of ITS which has enabled the extent of road construction on the bridge approaches to be reduced, and more refined estimating in light of further detailed surveys, investigations and design development has been possible at this stage.

The reduced range of £1.7 billion to £2.3 billion represents the estimate of the cost for the delivery of the project by the most efficient form of construction contract. The choice of procurement options other than a publicly funded design and build contract would increase the cost or reduce the certainty of delivery.

Jeremy Purvis (Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-18821 by Stewart Stevenson on 14 January 2009, why no reference was made to cost savings claimed as a result of the funding mechanism.

Stewart Stevenson: In response to question S3W-18821, I explained that the reduction in the cost estimates could be attributed to the reduced width of the bridge, made possible by utilising the existing Forth Road Bridge for public transport, pedestrians and cyclists. I explained that further reductions have been secured through the use of ITS which has enabled the extent of road construction on the bridge approaches to be reduced, and more refined estimating in light of further detailed surveys, investigations and design development has also been possible at this stage.

The publicly funded design and build contract provides certainty that the project can be delivered on time and on budget. This certainty has contributed to the refinement of the cost estimates.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

Jeremy Purvis (Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-18821 by Stewart Stevenson on 14 January 2009 and in light of the comments by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth in the Parliament on 15 January 2009 (Official Report c. 14088), for what reasons no reference was made in the answer to the reduced costs associated with the funding mechanism.

Stewart Stevenson: The Cabinet Secretary referred to the reduction of exposure to risk. A different form of procurement option would increase this exposure but given our clear commitment to the use of a design and build contract, it was not necessary to mention this in the answer.

Homecoming Scotland

Lewis Macdonald (Aberdeen Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what factors it will consider when evaluating Homecoming Scotland 2009.

Jim Mather: The main objective of Homecoming Scotland is to increase tourism revenues and VisitScotland is working to a target of an 8:1 return on the core funding; meaning that a £40 million increase in tourism revenues should be delivered. The Scottish Government is, however, confident that with all the additional activities and focus on homecoming across Scotland, this return will be exceeded.

Homecoming should also have a significant impact on the annual survey figures that are used to judge the level of Scottish tourism visitor numbers and expenditure. The UK Tourism Survey (UKTS) and International Passenger Survey (IPS) provide the national statistics for the Office of National Statistics. It may not be possible to identify exactly the specific impact of Homecoming on the figures as it may not be clear whether a visitor only visited Scotland because of Homecoming.

As well as this overall assessment of the tourism figures, detailed assessments of specific events and campaigns will be carried out by VisitScotland and EventScotland. There are three main strands to these technical evaluations.

Conversion Studies of VisitScotland Marketing Activity

VisitScotland will commission a dedicated conversion study into its Homecoming marketing activity in the US and Canadian markets. The study will be carried out independently and will target respondents to their US / Canadian campaigns. This will be an online survey and respondents will be asked, among other things, about the impact of Homecoming 2009 on their decision to visit. The survey will be carried out in the winter of 2009. A similar conversion study will also be carried out in the UK and in two key European markets.

Event Organiser Outcome Reports

Each event which is receiving funding for Homecoming from EventScotland will be required to conduct an event outcome report which assesses the impact and success of the event.

Scottish Omnibus Surveys

There will be six waves of the You Gov Scottish Omnibus Studies to assess awareness and favourability towards the Homecoming programme among the Scottish population.

Livestock

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what arrangements there are for crofters to obtain a bull from the Crofters Commission at less than market rates in 2009; whether such arrangements are compliant with rules on state aid; whether they include help with the cost of the purchase price of a bull, and whether it will publish the arrangements.

Michael Russell: Successor arrangements for the present Bull Hire Scheme are under active consideration.

In the meantime, it is envisaged that bulls from the existing stud should be made available in 2009 to groups of crofters which have hired a Scheme bull in the past three years. The Crofters Commission will invite expressions of interest from qualifying groups as soon as possible.

The proposed charge of £500 per bull plus approximately £100 travel and VAT costs is equivalent to the cost of hiring a bull under the present Bull Hire Scheme. The group concerned would take ownership of the bull without further charge rather than returning it to the stud. No assistance is proposed for the purchase of bulls from elsewhere.

This course of action is in line with State Aids de minimis arrangements.

John Farquhar Munro (Ross, Skye and Inverness West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive, if the bull hire farms are to remain in its ownership, whether their use will be for the sole benefit of crofting and, if they are to be sold, whether the money obtained will be retained for the benefit of crofting.

Michael Russell: No decisions have yet been taken on the future use or disposal of Balrobert and Knocknagael farms, south of Inverness. The aim has always been to ensure that resources tied up in the present uneconomic and unviable bull hire scheme are freed up so as better to serve the interests of crofting. We shall settle our future expenditure plans in the light of the Scottish Government’s overall response to the Report of the Shucksmith Inquiry and future arrangements for financial assistance to crofters and crofting.

People with Disabilities

Michael McMahon (Hamilton North and Bellshill) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how it is ensuring that the additional costs faced by families living with disability are addressed in its work to tackle child poverty.

Stewart Maxwell: The Scottish Government is taking a wide range of measures to support families living with disability. For example, we provide substantial funding (around £3.3 million in 2008-09) for a range of organisations directly supporting families with disabled children. We also provide funding to the Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland to develop training, advice and information on tax credits and benefits for frontline workers working with children with disabilities and their families.

We have also clearly committed to the UK Government’s child poverty targets. We will do all within the powers available to us to help achieve the interim target of halving child poverty by 2010, and the goal of eradicating child poverty by 2020. We are also liaising closely with the UK Government on their initial proposals for a Child Poverty Bill.

However significant short term action to combat child poverty and to meet the additional costs faced by families living with disability requires extra investment by the UK Government in tax credits and benefits. The Scottish Government does not currently have responsibility for personal taxation and benefits but we are working in the context of the National Conversation, to develop key principles for how the benefits and tax credits system could operate to tackle poverty and income inequality in the event of fiscal autonomy or independence.

We recognise that such families may be at risk of fuel poverty and so we announced in November that from April this year our new Energy Assistance Package will provide a range of help for low income families with a disabled child, to reduce energy costs and lower fuel bills which may include free insulation or central heating.

We set out our new approach to tackling poverty and income inequality in Achieving Our Potential, which together with the frameworks on health inequalities and early years, commit to a concerted approach with our partners to tackle disadvantage and promote equality for people with disabilities.

Planning

Irene Oldfather (Cunninghame South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it agrees with the findings of the proposed National Planning Framework for Scotland 2 that a bypass at Kilwinning would help to reduce conflict between local and long-distance traffic on the A737 and improve journey time reliability.

Stewart Stevenson: Yes. Potential improvements to the A737 have been highlighted in the STPR under Project 22 – Targeted Road Congestion / Environmental Relief schemes, the purpose of which is to reduce conflicts between strategic and local traffic and to contribute to road safety, improved journey times and reliability, reduce emissions and reduce the impact of traffic on local communities.

Irene Oldfather (Cunninghame South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with key stakeholders in North Ayrshire about the construction of a Kilwinning bypass as outlined in the proposed National Planning Framework for Scotland 2.

Stewart Stevenson: Discussions have taken place with representatives from North Ayrshire Council, Statutory Consultees and the land owners likely to be affected by the proposals with a view to identifying the preferred route for bypasses at Dalry and Kilwinning. Transport Scotland will continue to engage in such discussions throughout the preparation of detailed design programmes for all projects and strategic interventions resulting from the STPR.

Rail Network

John Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the anticipated schedule is to deliver the enhanced park-and-ride facilities at Croy railway station.

Stewart Stevenson: Strathclyde Partnership for Transport was awarded Scottish Executive funding in 2002. SPT is responsible for the delivery of the car park extension at Croy railway station. SPT is working with First ScotRail to develop a final design, which is necessary before a delivery date can be determined.

Charlie Gordon (Glasgow Cathcart) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how it will respond to the UK Government’s recent announcement to develop the high-speed two rail line.

Stewart Stevenson: The Scottish Government will continue to engage with UK Ministers and other stakeholders to work towards achieving our long-term policy ambition of establishing a high-speed rail link between Scotland and London.

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the latest patronage predictions are for the Borders railway project and on what these predictions are based.

Stewart Stevenson: The Borders railway project has a predicted patronage of approximately 1.4 million single journeys, or 700,000 return journeys, in its opening year. This is based on the average of two previous independent studies into the expected demand for a journey time of one hour, adjusted to reflect the current planned 55 minute journey time. This adjustment has been made using the principles of the Passenger Demand Forecasting Handbook, a standard rail industry tool.

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the design capacity of the Borders railway project is sufficient to meet the peak-period patronage projections.

Stewart Stevenson: The Borders railway project has been designed to ensure that sufficient capacity has been allowed for peak-period patronage based on current patronage predictions.

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps have been taken to secure the appropriate possessions to allow the connection of the Borders line with the main network and what steps are still needed.

Stewart Stevenson: An appropriate delivery plan is being agreed with Network Rail to secure connection arrangements.

Roads

Lewis Macdonald (Aberdeen Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-18978 by Stewart Stevenson on 14 January 2009, what arrangements are in place for local authorities to receive funding from Scottish ministers for investment in non-trunk roads.

Stewart Stevenson: The Scottish Government provides local authorities with funding for local roads and transport through the core local government finance settlement and each council is responsible for the maintenance and improvement of local roads in its area. It is entirely a matter for councils to decide what priority is given to local roads and to allocate resources accordingly. In some instances projects will be progressed jointly.

Irene Oldfather (Cunninghame South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to build a bypass at Kilwinning as outlined in the proposed National Planning Framework for Scotland 2.

Stewart Stevenson: The STPR has identified a number of strategic transport interventions. Potential improvements to the A737 have been highlighted under Project 22 – Targeted Road Congestion/ Environmental Relief schemes. Some proposals have been identified, including a bypass of Dalry and we will develop this, and other suitable schemes as resources and the STPR’s wider priorities allow. A Kilwinning bypass has not been specifically identified, but may be considered if it is proven to make a similar contribution to the overall corridor objectives.

Irene Oldfather (Cunninghame South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration it gave to including the construction of a bypass at Kilwinning as part of the Strategic Transport Projects Review.

Stewart Stevenson: Included in the recommendations are targeted road congestion/environmental relief schemes on the A737.

The priority enhancement on this corridor was identified as a bypass around Dalry.

However, as we progress through the development stage of this package, other interventions may be brought forward, providing they demonstrate at least as good a business case, meet the objectives of the Strategic Transport Projects Review and are affordable within the funding available at that time.

Alison McInnes (North East Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated start date is for work on the A90 Balmedie-Tipperty dual carriageway.

Stewart Stevenson: Draft Road Orders for this Scheme were published on 1 November 2007, with the Draft Compulsory Purchase Order following on 10 July 2008. A number of statutory and non-statutory objections were received and whilst Transport Scotland and their agents have worked to resolve many of these, the matter has now been referred to the Reporters Unit of the Directorate for Planning and Environmental Affairs. Arrangements are underway to hold a Public Local Inquiry (PLI), sometime this summer.

Subject to the ministers’ decision following the recommendation of the PLI, the earliest date for publication of the Made Road Orders is expected to be spring/summer 2010. Thereafter the processes of competitively tendering and funding the contract can be commenced.

Scottish Government Finance

Bill Butler (Glasgow Anniesland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many undisputed invoices it paid within (a) 30, (b) 21, (c) 14 and (d) seven days of receipt in 2008, also expressed as a percentage of all undisputed invoices.

John Swinney: The Scottish Government monitors payment performance against suppliers’ terms, which are typically 30 days, and, since October 2008, against its commitment to pay all suppliers within 10 working days. Statistics for payment of undisputed invoices at other intervals are not routinely available.

For the current financial year 2008-09 to 31 December 2008, 116,745 transactions, equating to 93% of all undisputed transactions, were paid within 30 days.

The Scottish Government’s commitment to pay suppliers within 10 working days was announced on 9 October 2008. For the month of December 2008, 84% of undisputed transactions were paid within 10 working days.

Bill Butler (Glasgow Anniesland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to ensure that all of its business suppliers’ invoices are paid on time.

John Swinney: The Scottish Government is committed to helping businesses by paying invoices early and, to that end, the First Minister announced on 9 October 2008 the Scottish Government’s intention to pay all suppliers within 10 working days.

During the month of December 2008, 84% of transactions were paid within 10 working days.

Bill Butler (Glasgow Anniesland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what targets it has for the payment of undisputed invoices following receipt of goods and services or presentation of a valid invoice.

John Swinney: The Scottish Government’s target, announced by the First Minister on 9 October 2008, is to pay all suppliers within 10 working days of receipt of a valid invoice.

Bill Butler (Glasgow Anniesland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many invoices it received in 2008 that have been disputed, also expressed as a percentage of the total number of invoices received.

John Swinney: The Scottish Government processed a total of 94,975 invoices in the calendar year 2008, of which 1,222 were disputed. This equates to 1.3% of invoices paid during the year.

Bill Butler (Glasgow Anniesland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to ensure payment of undisputed invoices by all non-departmental public bodies within a 30-day period.

John Swinney: The Scottish Government is committed to supporting business in the current economic situation by paying bills more quickly. The intention is to achieve payment of all undisputed invoices within 10 working days, across all public bodies.

Within the Scottish Government work was quickly put in place, and is continuing, to sustain improved payment performance.

The target has been communicated to all non-departmental public bodies, who are working towards the accelerated payment target of 10 working days.

Scottish Government Meetings

Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what meetings its officials have had with representatives of Rothschild since May 2007 and what issues were discussed.

Michael Russell: The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Single Outcome Agreements

Johann Lamont (Glasgow Pollok) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how it intends to inform the Parliament on the progress made in the first phase of single outcome agreements.

John Swinney: In accordance with guidance issued in October 2008, Councils will, for one year only, provide an interim progress report on first phase SOAs in April 2009. A consolidated report based on the information received will be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.

Councils will work towards producing an annual report in September 2009. The Scottish Government and our local government partners are presently considering the form which annual reporting, beginning in September 2009, should take including publication arrangements. I shall ensure that the product of this reporting is made available to Parliament.

Johann Lamont (Glasgow Pollok) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the second-phase single outcome agreements (SOAs) will be finalised and agreed in June 2009.

John Swinney: In accordance with the guidance issued in October 2008, the Scottish Government and Community Planning Partnerships are working towards having all second phase SOAs finalised and agreed by June 2009.

Johann Lamont (Glasgow Pollok) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the interim reports on the progress made in implementing first-phase single outcome agreements will be published in April 2009.

John Swinney: In accordance with the guidance issued in October 2008, local government will, for one year only, provide an interim progress report on their first phase SOAs in April 2009.

A consolidated report based on the information received will be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.

Johann Lamont (Glasgow Pollok) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the final reports on the progress made in implementing first-phase single outcome agreements will be published in September 2009.

John Swinney: In accordance with guidance issued in October 2008, councils will work towards producing an annual report on first-phase single outcome agreements in September 2009. The Scottish Government and our local government partners are presently considering the form which annual reporting, beginning in September 2009, should take, including publication arrangements. I shall ensure that the product of this reporting is made available to Parliament.

Johann Lamont (Glasgow Pollok) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the targets and indicators agreed in second-phase single outcome agreements (SOAs) may be significantly different from those in the first-phase SOAs given that they will be based on revised guidance.

Johann Lamont (Glasgow Pollok) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the progress made in implementing indicators and targets in second-phase single outcome agreements (SOAs) can be compared with that in the first-phase SOAs, given that they will be based on revised guidance.

John Swinney: The National Indicators and Targets used in the development of the first phase of single outcome agreements (SOAs) are unchanged for the second phase.

There are some changes to the Menu of Local Indicators but these changes are minimal. Most of the Indicators used in the first phase feature in the second phase guidance. In addition, several new indicators have been included in the second phase guidance based on the extent of their usage in the initial SOAs. However, it is important to recognise that the Menu of Local Indicators is not a mandatory menu. Priority outcomes contained in the 2009-10 SOAs, and agreed by the full Community Planning Partnership, may differ from those in the 2008-09 SOA. In such circumstances, the supporting indicators and targets would themselves differ. The guidance makes clear that the use of Indicators from the menu remains a matter for local choice.

Sport Funding

David Stewart (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been spent by Highlands and Islands Enterprise in (a) 2004-05, (b) 2005-06 (c), 2006-07, (d) 2007-08 and (e) 2008-09 to support local sports councils in the Highlands and Islands.

Jim Mather: Details of Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) spend to support local sports councils is an operational matter for HIE. I shall ask the Chief Executive of HIE to write to you in this regard.

Taxation

Jeremy Purvis (Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how tax cuts can be made within its fixed budget.

John Swinney: The Scottish Government has powers under the Scotland Act to vary the rate of income tax in Scotland by up to 3p in the pound. Our clear policy is not to exercise these powers at this time.

We have supported local authorities to freeze council tax in 2008-09 and 2009-10 through increased grant funding. This provides much needed relief to households in Scotland.

We have been able to provide funding to support the council tax freeze through effective and efficient use of our fixed budget.

Transport Scotland

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-19167 by Stewart Stevenson on 19 January 2009, what the purpose was of each visit to Barcelona by Guy Houston of Transport Scotland and when each meeting took place.

Stewart Stevenson: Mr Houston visited Barcelona between 1 and 5 July 2008 to attend the Transfin 2008 Conference. The conference, attended by delegates from across the world, discussed the financing of transport and infrastructure projects.

Waste Management

Liam McArthur (Orkney) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people were employed in the waste management and recycling sector in each of the last five years.

Richard Lochhead: It is difficult to provide exact figures on the numbers employed in these sectors over the last five years, particularly as the Office for National Statistics counts those employed in waste management as including those working in sewage and sanitation.

However, the figures sourced from the Office for National Statistics under the Annual Business Inquiry are as follows (rounded to nearest hundred):

Liam McArthur (Orkney) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what it predicts the growth in employment in the waste management and recycling sector will be in each of the next five years.

Richard Lochhead: It is difficult to predict what the growth in employment will be in the waste management and recycling sectors over the next five years, particularly given the current economic climate.

However, the on-going review of the National Waste Plan will attempt to address this by identifying where employment opportunities could arise. Consultation on a draft of the National Waste Plan will begin around June 2009.

The following questions were given holding answers:

S3W-19865

S3W-19866

S3W-19867

S3W-19868

S3W-19869

S3W-19870

S3W-19879

S3W-19891

S3W-19892

S3W-19894

S3W-19895

S3W-19896

S3W-19898

S3W-19899

S3W-19900

S3W-19901

S3W-19902

S3W-19903

S3W-19908

S3W-19909

S3W-19910

S3W-19912

S3W-19922

S3W-19925