Chamber and committees

We will ask the Sociable Neighbourhood Champion, supported by the Executive and CoSLA, to examine the lessons that can be learned from the specialist team in Manchester, as well as similar approaches elsewhere in Scotland and the UK.

The Scottish Executive supports and funds the Scottish Community Diet Project, which directly supports the establishment of community food co-operatives. In collaboration with other public and private sector partners, we are also setting up a new investment fund, Social Investment Scotland, to provide development advice and loan funding for social economy organisations. Food co-operatives are one of the types of social economy organisations which could benefit from the fund.

As indicated in footnote 2 to the table provided in the answer given to question S1W-13289, part of the apparent change may be due to incomplete returns. It may also be due to a wide variety of factors including population structure, health condition of older people, availability of alternative forms of accommodation and other factors affecting demand for and availability of places.

That is likely to have been the result of a wide variety of factors, including population structure, health condition of older people, availability of alternative forms of accommodation and other factors affecting demand for and availability of places.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency already has indicative flood risk maps showing the main areas where flooding should be considered a possibility. The Executive has no plans to duplicate this work.The Executive is, however, considering ways in which the maps can be improved and the additional information that can be obtained from them.

Scotland House has a critical role in representing and promoting Scotland in a wide range of interests. It is not in itself directly responsible for inward investment projects although it continues to offer support and assistance to Locate in Scotland in this regard. As of September 2000, Locate in Scotland has run its field operations for France and Benelux from an office in Scotland House.

No estimates are available of the additional tourist revenue generated directly by Scotland House.Scotland House is an inclusive body that involves a range of interests. Its principal components are the Scottish Executive EU Office (SEEUO) and Scotland Europa, which in turn houses a number of its subscribers. Scotland House does not have direct responsibility for generating additional tourist revenue. Most of the bodies located in Scotland House have the following functions in common:

• Maintaining close contact with key people in the EU institutions, including the Scottish MEPs
• Following the European legislative process and highlighting issues of relevance to Scotland
• Sharing information and resources between the Scotland House residents as appropriate
• Increasing the range and depth of information on EU affairs flowing back to Scottish bodies - including visitscotland
• Advising Scottish bodies about EU procedures and how to become more involved - including the highlighting of Scottish best practice in Europe.

Scotland House is also active in raising Scotland's profile in the EU. This has included some tourism aspects, namely:

• visitscotland promoted a travel offer between Scotland and the Benelux countries to coincide with the October 1999 Scotland Week organised by Scotland House
• Scotland House has supported a number of festivals/events celebrating links between the Low Countries and Scotland and also supported tourism to Scotland
• Scotland House recently organised a cultural tourism seminar examining other European approaches to cultural tourism with a view to developing further the Scottish approach
• Literature from visitscotland is prominently displayed in Scotland House for all visitors and enquiries.

In addition, visitscotland is a member of Scotland Europa and both it and the Tourism Cluster Group of Scottish Enterprise are alerted to all EU opportunities and developments by Scottish Enterprise International Operations.

Capital allocations are designed to meet both routine expenditure (such as maintenance and the replacement of vehicles) and the cost of large projects.Strathclyde's allocation for 1999-2000 included £3.528 million for major work at the Saltcoats and Kirkintilloch stations as well as Phase 3 of the force's Traffic Complex. In addition, the force received £1.060 million to help with millennium compliance costs, leaving £5.144 million for routine expenditure.In 2000-01, £3 million was set aside for the completion of Phase 3 of the Traffic Complex, leaving £6.076 million for routine capital expenditure, an increase of over 18% on the previous year's figure for similar costs. The allocation of resources is an operational matter for the Chief Constable, in consultation with the Joint Police Board, to decide upon. Given the increase in resources for routine expenditure, however, any impact on operational performance is likely to have been beneficial.

No. Local authority powers to fund Area Tourist Boards are discretionary. It is for councils to decide the level of support that they provide to ATBs. We are, however, monitoring local authority funding decisions.

To increase the male employment rate in Glasgow from 65.2% to 77.4%, an extra 24,000 men in Glasgow need to move into work. No forecasts for the number of male workers in Glasgow have been made by the Executive.