Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the memberto the answer to question S3W-2593 on 21 August 2007. All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facilityfor which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Not all of Scotland’s manufacturing is in decline, some companies are atthe cutting edge in terms of design, innovation and technology. The Scottish Governmentprovides a range of support to manufacturing companies in Scotland. Where redundancies do occur, our Partnership Actionfor Continuing Employment framework provides support, advice and guidance on a widerange of retraining and upskilling opportunities to help employees, including thosein the manufacturing sector, access alternative employment. This comprehensive supportis tailored to meet individual needs and local circumstances and includes: JobcentrePlus services; one-to-one counselling; access to high-quality training; seminarson skills such as CV writing and starting a business, and access to IT facilities.

The report to Parliamentin September 2006 on the effect of the right to buy concluded that the full impactof the changes arising from the 2001 Housing Act would not begin to be known untilafter September 2007. We intend to monitor closely the emerging pattern of salesto tenants who have completed their qualifying periods under the modernisedright to buy over the coming months. The impact of right to buy sales varies fromone locality to another. We will be examining whether there are ways to make thepolicy more responsive to local needs; balancing the opportunities for homeownershipagainst the pressure on affordable housing locally.

The Scottish Governmentenjoys good bilateral relations with Northern Ireland. Weintend to work together drawing from each other’s strengths and experiences; sharingknowledge where we have a common interest.

The Scottish Governmentrecognises the strong historical and cultural bond that exists between the peopleof Scotland and Northern Ireland and we are committed to working with the Northern IrelandAssembly government to build on this relationship. The First Minister signed a jointstatement with Northern Ireland’s First Minister and Deputy First Minister on June18 2007 which commits the two governments to consolidating and strengthening thesocial, educational and cultural relationship between the two countries.

Historic Scotlandare actively engaged in raising awareness of cultural and historic links betweenScotland and Northern Ireland. The Scottish government is also raising awarenessof common cultural and historical links between Scotland and Northern Ireland through the promotion of minority languageinitiatives. There is significant minority language activity in both Scotland and Northern Ireland at present and frequentcontact and discussions take place between both jurisdictions.

The Government hasquickly confirmed that we will honour existing offers of financial support for schoolPPP projects. As a result, we do not anticipate any delays.

We said before theelections that PPP could continue as one of several delivery options open to publicsector bodies. These are complex procurements involving high procurement costs forboth public and private sector participants. Some procurements have been in processfor many months, and we do not wish to incur even higher costs and possibly delaykey investments in infrastructure. West Dunbartonshire Council’s schools projectis making good progress and we will continue to discuss progress on the projectwith West Dunbartonshire Council.

In exercising theirresponsibilities, local authorities allocate their resources on the basis of localneeds and local and national priorities. Replacing council tax with a local incometax will not change this.

Strategic SpendingReview 2007 will focus on achieving the Government’s purpose and five strategicobjectives. We will work with our partners to deliver the best possible public serviceswith the available resources.

We will publish ourspending plans as soon as possible after the announcement of the UK ComprehensiveSpending Review. However, there will be an impact on the notice we can give deliverybodies of their allocations for 2008-11. We will work with delivery partners tominimise disruption and ensure the on-going smooth delivery of services to customersin circumstances that are outwith the control of the government.