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Through the Partnership Agreement the Scottish Executive is delivering a Scotland where people and families will want to stay – an open, welcoming and inclusive Scotland where opportunity exists for all; a Scotland where last month’s spending review provided record investment in health, education and child care, and a Scotland with a strong economy supporting businesses, jobs and our public services.

We are committed to maintaining strong, prosperous and growing communities in the Scottish Borders. We have implemented a wide range of policies over the past year to support rural economic development, improve access to services and work to ensure that the same opportunities are available to all.

Some examples of what we have been doing in the Borders include:

A £50 million Public Private Partnership project to build three new secondary schools. £262,000 (in 2004-05) from the Rural Transport Fund to tackle transport problems. Support for the Waverley Railway Partnership’s plans for re-opening the Borders Rail link. And broadband to households and businesses through the Scottish Borders Rural Broadband service.

Information on numbers of ASBOs granted in each local authority area in the period 1 December 1999 to 31 March 2004 is provided in the following table:

Local Authority	01-12-99  to 30-11-2000	01-12-2000  to 30-11-01	01-12-01  to 30-11-02	01-12-02  to 31-03-031	01-04-03  to 31-03-042
Aberdeen City	9	9	6	3	12
Aberdeenshire	0	1	1	0	0
Angus	0	0	0	0	1
Argyll and Bute	0	0	0	0	0
City of Edinburgh	11	9	1	0	7
Clackmannanshire	0	0	0	0	0
Eilean Siar	0	0	0	0	0
Dumfries and Galloway	0	0	1	0	14
Dundee City	7	8	3	3	20
East Ayrshire	0	0	0	2	4
East Dunbartonshire	0	0	0	0	0
East Lothian	0	0	0	0	2
East Renfrewshire	0	0	0	0	1
Falkirk	0	0	0	0	2
Fife	7	14	20	2	14
Glasgow	3	5	3	0	2
Highland	1	0	4	0	3
Inverclyde	0	0	0	0	0
Midlothian	0	0	1	0	3
Moray	1	2	2	1	3
North Ayrshire	0	0	0	0	1
North Lanarkshire	1	5	15	12	31
Orkney Islands	0	0	1	0	1
Perth and Kinross	3	1	0	0	0
Renfrewshire	0	2	2	0	4
Scottish Borders	2	3	4	1	9
Shetland Islands	0	0	0	0	1
South Ayrshire	0	0	0	0	0
South Lanarkshire	3	2	5	0	7
Stirling	0	0	1	1	6
West Dunbartonshire	4	5	2	2	3
West Lothian	1	0	0	0	0
Total	53	66	72	27	151

Source: Data up to March 2003: Chartered Institute of Housing Survey

Data from April 2004: DTZ Pieda Survey.

Notes:

1. Note this is not a full year. The reporting period has been changed to 1 April to 31 March. The figures in this column cover the transitional period while this change was being made.

2. This is the number of full ASBOs in each local authority area, including applications by registered social landlords (RSL). Interim ASBOs and the power for RSLs to apply for orders came into effect on 27 June 2003.

The new guidance was published on 30 September 2004, copies of which are available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 34126). Electronic copies are available on the Scottish Executive’s School Estate and Parentzone websites at www.scotland.gov.uk/schoolestate and:

www.parentzonescotland.gov.uk respectively.

The main source of funding for the current concessionary travel schemes is the formula-based grant aided expenditure allocation made to local authorities which are not hypothecated. However, where authorities can demonstrate that there is a shortfall in funding, the Scottish Executive can provide a specific grant to local authorities under section 70 of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2001.

We are currently considering the way forward in implementing the Partnership Agreement commitment for a national free off-peak bus scheme for older people and people with disabilities. The next steps will be announced shortly. 

School census data for 2004-05 have not yet been collected. An estimate, based on numbers of pupils in S3 in 2002-03, suggests that approximately 1,200 school pupils are likely to fall into this group across Scotland. We estimate that the cost of extending Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) eligibility to this group would be approximately £1.8 million in the current financial year with full year costs of approximately £2.6 million in the financial year to March 2006. It is not possible accurately to break down this estimated figure by local authority.

We have received a number of representations on extending eligibility for Education Maintenance Allowance payments to S5 pupils who were born before 1 March 1988 and who are still attending school. I understand the circumstances which have given rise to these representations, and therefore we have looked again at the eligibility criteria. After careful consideration we have decided that to do so, while it would address this anomaly, would introduce other anomalies and inequities which would be difficult to justify. It would also risk undermining the policy rationale on which EMAs are based: to encourage pupils from low income families to choose to stay on at school or college beyond the point where they reach their official school leaving date.

Were we to extend eligibility to all 16-year-olds who entered S5 in August this year we would highlight the ineligibility of 16-year-olds who were in S5 year last year and, in particular, those whose birthdays fall between 1 October and the last day of February. The parents of these pupils might argue that their 16-year-old children should be eligible regardless of their year of study in the same way that the parents of pupils born before 1 March 1988 argue that their children in S5 should be eligible regardless of age. The only way to satisfy both positions would be to extend eligibility to all pupils regardless of age or year of study, which would mean rolling out the EMA programme to all pupils in the current academic year. This would have considerable financial implications.

A distinctive feature of the EMA programme in Scotland is that it reflects thefact that we have two school leaving dates: at Christmas and at the end of the academic year. Pupils whose 16th birthday falls between 1 October and the last day of February are eligible to leave school at Christmas and will, therefore, be eligible to apply for EMA support from January rather than waiting until the start of the next academic year. Those students whose 16th birthday fell before 1 March 2004 were eligible to leave school at Christmas 2003 and, therefore, have already taken the decision to remain in post-compulsory education without the incentive of an EMA. Whilst their decision to remain in post-compulsory education is to be commended, the fact that the students had already made that decision without the incentive of an EMA suggests that we would not be justified in using public funds to extend EMA eligibility to this group.

We have deliberately avoided linking EMA eligibility to year of study. The purpose of the scheme is to provide an incentive to pupils when they reach their official school leaving date and have to make the decision whether or not to stay on at school. The current eligibility criteria support that policy intention and funding is being provided on that basis. We do not, therefore, think that there is sufficient reason to change the eligibility criteria.

It is inevitable when any new scheme is rolled out, that some will fall on the wrong side of the qualifying date. Whilst recognising their disappointment, I considered it fairer to adhere to a date for which there is a rational basis in terms of the policy objective of this scheme.

The aim of the EMA programme is to increase participation and improve retention rates among young people from low income households. Evidence from the first Scottish EMA pilot, and from evaluation of the pilots in England, indicates that the programme is having just such an effect. For example, in East Ayrshire participation has been raised by nearly seven percentage points, the number of pupils leaving school at the Christmas leaving date has reduced and the number progressing to and completing S6 has increased.

The information requested is set out in the following table.

	GAE Allocation 2003-04 (£000)	Provisional Outturn 2003-04 (£000)	Difference 2003-04 (£000)
Aberdeenshire	3,916	2,394	-1,522
Angus	2,259	1,190	-1,069
Argyll and Bute	2,025	2,012	-13
Clackmannanshire	893	587	-306
Dumfries and Galloway	3,406	1,198	-2,208
East Lothian	1,821	1,248	-573
Eilean Siar	625	438	-187
Fife	6,789	6,461	-328
Highland	4,202	1,905	-2,297
Midlothian	1,453	1,359	-94
Moray	1,689	933	-756
Orkney	406	125	-281
Perth and Kinross	2,970	1,997	-973
Scottish Borders	2,439	1,115	-1,324
Shetland	370	-89	-459
Stirling	1,611	1,091	-520
Scotland	36,874	23,964	-12,910

The information requested is set out in the following table.

	GAE Allocation 2003-04 (£000)	Provisional Outturn 2003-04 (£000)	Difference 2003-04 (£000)
Aberdeen, City	3,830	4,160	330
Dundee	3,045	3,153	108
East Ayrshire	2,385	2,651	266
East Dunbartonshire	2,125	2,338	213
East Renfrewshire	1,675	1,870	195
Edinburgh, City	8,076	8,794	718
Falkirk	2,720	2,963	243
Glasgow	10,557	12,838	2,281
Inverclyde	1,637	1,905	268
North Ayrshire	2,700	3,122	422
North Lanarkshire	5,708	6,333	625
Renfrewshire	3,265	3,625	360
South Ayrshire	2,530	2,804	274
South Lanarkshire	5,496	6,070	574
West Dunbartonshire	1,713	1,910	197
West Lothian	2,293	2,331	38
Scotland	59,755	66,867	7,112

Because of the small numbersinvolved, and on grounds of patient confidentiality, it is not possible to providethe information in the form requested specifically for patients in Scotland.

The 1 year transplant survivalestimates following heart‑lung transplants in the UK between1999 and 2002 is set out in the following table:

Transplant Type	Number in Analysis	% Survival
Heart/lungs	128	68.7%
Heart	737	82.1%
Lung(s)	394	79.9%

Source: UK Transplant