Seòmar agus comataidhean

I have asked Angiolina Foster,Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:

Waiting list information aboutthese programmes is held at postcode area.

The number of householders waitingfor their eligibility to be established or for installation work to commence inthe G and PA postcode areas is shown in the following table.

	Postcode Area: G	Postcode Area: PA
Central Heating Programme	691	951
Warm Deal Programme	75	103

 

Information on average classsizes in secondary schools is not routinely collected. The average primary classsize in Argyll and Bute and West Dunbartonshire in 2005-06 are available in the statistical publicationPupils in Scotland, 2005 which can be accessed at:http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/02/28083932/0.

The mental well-being of childrenand young people is a cross-Executive priority with action underway in a range ofareas of policy and practice. Getting it Right for Every Child is the Executive’sover-arching programme of reform for children’s services which will ensure thatall agencies working with young people will join up, plan together and meet allthe needs of the child. Many schools involved in the Schools of Ambition programmeare tackling improvements in pupil confidence and self-esteem as part of their whole-schooltransformation.

The Scottish Health PromotingSchools Unit (SHPSU) is working to ensure that every school works toward becominga health promoting school by 2007. The Schools (Health Promotion and Nutrition)(Scotland) Bill, currently being considered by parliament, is intended to buildon this work and go further by placing health promotion - including the promotionof positive mental health - at the heart of all schools’ activities.

Children and Young People’s Mental Health: A Framework for Promotion, Preventionand Care, which was published in 2005, established an integrated approach to positive mentalhealth promotion, prevention of mental illness and early care and treatment of mentalhealth problems amongst children and young people in health, education and socialservices.

Improvingthe mental health of children and young people is one of the six priority areasfor action under the Executive’s National Programme for Improving Mental Healthand Well-being.

These key interventions designedto promote the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people are supporteddirectly and indirectly by a range of other initiatives, funded by the Executive.

The information requested isnot held centrally.

The Executive monitors the useof funding allocated to local authorities to tackle antisocial behaviour throughannual reporting as part of the 2005-08 Outcome Agreement approach. Guidance onthis is available in Guidance on: - Antisocial Behaviour Strategies - AccountabilityFramework and Outcome Agreements - Reporting on Antisocial Behaviour Strategiesand Outcome Agreements, a copy of which can be found in the Scottish ParliamentInformation Centre (Bib. number 40824).

Latest available figures, toend March 2005, show that no antisocial behaviour orders have been applied for byArgyll and Bute Council since the measure was introduced.

The Executive has provided dedicatedfunding to local authorities to tackle antisocial behaviour (ASB) since 2004-05.Argyll and Bute Council’s ASB funding between 2004-05 and 2006-07 was as follows:

2004-05 – £184,000

2005-06 – £204,700

2006-07 – £247,000.

Local authority funding to tackleASB in 2007-08 has yet to be released.

The information is availableon the Scottish Executive website at the following link http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/09/25160444/0.

The information can be foundin tables 1 and 2. Table 1 gives the number of people receiving direct paymentsand table 2 gives the total and average value of these payments.

The focus of the ScottishExecutive’s monitoring activity on direct payments is to increase uptake ofsuch payments amongst eligible groups and, from 2006 onwards, to ensure thatlocal authorities provide the necessary local infrastructure to support thisaim.

The Scottish Executive alsofunds the Consortium of Direct Payments Support Organisations to bring aboutimproved information, training and advice at local level. Their remit involvesworking in partnership with local agencies, service providers, and localorganisations to deliver improved person-centred services, including promotingthe participation of service users and their carers in the planning,development and delivery of services.

The following table providesthe available information on the value of fixed penalty notices fornon-endorsable stationary traffic offences received by District Courts across Scotland andthe value sent to the Exchequer. It is not possible to separate out parkingoffences from other stationary traffic offences.

Fixed Penalties for Non-EndorsableStationary Traffic Offences, 2003-04 to 2004-05

Scotland	2003-04	2004-05
Value of fixed penalties received	£1,202,733	£1,124,984
Value of fixed penalties sent to the Exchequer	£1,091,770	£1,019,416

Notes:

1. In 2003-04, thisinformation was not available for Argyll and Bute, Dumfries and Galloway, East Renfrewshire, Eilean Siar, Fife and Stirling. North Ayrshire could not provide data on the valueof these fixed penalties received since the information could not be separatedfrom the value of fixed penalties received for non-endorsable (mostly moving)traffic offences.

2. In 2004-05, informationwas not available for Argyll and Bute, Dumfries and Galloway, Eilean Siar, Fife and Stirling. West Dunbartonshire could not provide thisdata since the information could not be separated from the values for othertypes of fixed penalty.

3. Excludes the value of penaltycharge notices which are collected through decriminalised parking enforcementschemes under the Road Traffic Act 1991. Revenue from penalties collected underthese schemes is retained by the local authority. Decriminalised parkingenforcement is in operation in Aberdeen City, City of Edinburgh, Dundee City, Glasgow City, Perth and Kinross and South Lanarkshire.