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The report of the PFMR of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) was published by the Scottish Executive today. The report recognises the RBGE as a world class Scottish institution that holds a remarkable international reputation for its size. The RBGE is held in high esteem by the people of Scotland and is numbered amongst the most popular visitor attractions in Scotland.

The report recommends greater prioritisation of the RBGE’s activities, improved performance management, better communication between the Executive and the RBGE and a need for additional funding.

The recommendations have been accepted by the RBGE and the Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department. A key component of their implementation will be the development of a sustainable corporate plan for the RBGE. To assist with that process the Executive has confirmed its priorities to the RBGE and is increasing the garden’s grant-in aid by £0.5 million to £7.088 million in 2005-06, by a further £0.6 million to £7.688 million in 2006-07 and by a further £0.6 million to £8.288 million in 2007-08 for the development of those priorities.

Copies of the report are available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 35705).

The Executive commissions regular independent evaluations of the Do a Little Change a Lot Campaign. The third such evaluation was published in June 2004 and is available on the Executive’s website. I am also arranging that a copy of the report is placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre. The campaign has been effective in both in raising public awareness of environmental and sustainable development issues and also in changing behaviour.  We have noted that the most recent research showed that there was more that we could achieve in changing behaviour and we have taken appropriate action in our most recent campaign which has concentrated on energy efficiency issues.

NHS boards,as part of their clinical governance arrangements, are required to put in place,or ensure access to, education and training to meet local needs. In areas whereophthalmic services are delivered, NHS boards make sure that appropriate educationand training for nurses is available which can be either work based learning oracademically accredited by local higher education institutions.

The survey of pre-school and child care workforce, published this month, shows that the numbers of staff with child care qualifications has increased from 67% in 2003 to 74% in 2004.

The increase of £60 million in provision for grant aided expenditure (GAE) in each of 2006-07 and 2007-08, to address the backlog of maintenance on local roads, reflects the Scottish Executive’s Partnership commitment to ensure sufficient resources are available for the non-trunk road network. We have welcomed the Audit Scotland report, and are working closely with local authoritiesand the Society of Chief Officers of Transportation Scotland to take forward therecommendations in it.

The Scottish Executive announced on 29 September 2004, as part of the outcome of spending review 2004, an increase in provision for grant aided expenditure (GAE) for road maintenance of £60 million for 2006-07 and 2007-08. This figure is an increase in the Executive’s provision for local authority expenditure funded by a combination of centrally provided government funding through Aggregate External Finance (AEF) and funding raised by local authorities through council tax revenue. Local authorities are free to spend above or below GAE according to their own priorities and budget decisions. The money that local authorities receive through AEF is, in the main, provided by way of a block grant and is not allocated to specific services that local authorities provide.

GAE is allocated to individual local authorities on the basis of a needs-based distribution formula agreed with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA). The main indicator used in the distribution of the roads maintenance GAE allocations is the road length within each local authority with the number of vehicle licenses per kilometre being used as a secondary indicator.

Almost all of the £60 million increase in GAE (£59.9 million) was allocated to local authorities across three GAE areas; road maintenance, winter maintenance and road lighting. The total GAE for these three areas for the next three years is shown in the attached table. The balance of £0.1 million was allocated to other transport related GAE’s. The overall increase in transport GAE’s was £62.350 million in 2006-07 and £66.076 million in 2007-08.

Grant Aided Expenditure Allocations for Roads Maintenance, Winter Maintenance and Road Lighting 2005-08

Local Authority	Total 2005-06 £000	Total 2006-07 £000	Total 2007-08 £000
Aberdeen City	7,529	9,785	9,786
Aberdeenshire	18,684	22,896	22,898
Angus	6,766	8,266	8,267
Argyll and Bute	9,188	11,213	11,214
Clackmannanshire	2,103	2,698	2,698
Dumfries and Galloway	13,378	16,247	16,248
Dundee City	4,629	5,708	5,708
East Ayrshire	5,562	6,915	6,916
East Dunbartonshire	4,389	5,467	5,468
East Lothian	4,445	5,498	5,499
East Renfrewshire	3,709	4,644	4,645
Edinburgh (City of)	15,827	17,759	17,760
Eilean Siar	4,287	5,274	5,274
Falkirk	6,489	8,137	8,138
Fife	15,845	19,787	19,788
Glasgow City	17,332	22,003	22,004
Highland	22,740	27,730	27,732
Inverclyde	2,710	3,384	3,384
Midlothian	3,842	4,749	4,749
Moray	5,948	7,311	7,312
North Ayrshire	5,885	7,322	7,322
North Lanarkshire	11,547	14,564	14,565
Orkney Islands	2,987	3,591	3,592
Perth and Kinross	9,559	11,803	11,804
Renfrewshire	6,371	7,948	7,949
Scottish Borders	9,631	11,699	11,700
Shetland Islands	3,001	3,736	3,737
South Ayrshire	5,701	7,012	7,012
South Lanarkshire	13,036	16,391	16,393
Stirling	6,965	7,663	7,664
West Dunbartonshire	3,039	3,790	3,790
West Lothian	7,159	9,191	9,192
Scotland	260,281	320,181	320,207

 

The allocation of additional provision for road maintenance for 2006-7 and 2007-08 will have no impact on the Grant Aided Expenditure (GAE) or the Aggregate External Finance (AEF) for 2004-5 or 2005-6.

In 2006-07 and 2007-08 an extra £60 million has been added to the Roads and Transport GAE provision. The £60 million figure was allocated across three different areas of GAE; road maintenance, winter maintenance and road lighting.

It should be noted that GAE is not funding but it is an increase in the provision for local authority expenditure funded from a combination of central government funding through Aggregate External Finance (AEF) and funding raised locally by local authorities through the council tax.

It is of course the responsibility of local authorities to set their own local priorities but, local government having made the case for increased resources, the Scottish Executive looks to local authorities to play their part in ensuring that local roads are properly maintained.

The Quality of Life fund allows councils to support local issues that improve the lives of people and the fabric of the communities they live in. I have been flexible in how local authorities can use this funding, including supporting local programmes that are working to build safer communities and providing better local facilities for children and young people.

The recent spending review confirmed an additional £100 million for 2006-2008. This reflects our Partnership Agreement commitment to support the improvement of quality of life for people across Scotland.

Yes.  We keep all of our policies under review as a matter of course.  Since the whole issue of smoking is to be the subject of parliamentary debate, we decided to review our position on the provision of a smoking room when the Smoking, Health and Social Care (Scotland) Bill reaches Stage 1.

The Executive issued a consultation document today. This is being sent to agricultural, horticultural, environmental and consumer groups; to those growers who are authorised to issue plant passports, and to those with current or recent outbreaks of quarantine pests. Copies of the documents pertaining to the consultation, which will run for 12 weeks, will also be placed on the Scottish Executive website. I have also made arrangements for a copy of the consultation to be placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 34640).