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ASH Scotland is the only national voluntary sector agency dealing with tobacco control issues in Scotland. The funding it receives from the Scottish Government in the form of core and project grant funding is in return for agreed outcomes which contribute to the development and delivery of effective policies to reduce the unacceptable toll smoking takes on the nation''s health.

The information requested on the funding made available to ASH Scotland in Financial Year 2008-09 is provided following:

(a) Available funding in cash terms

(i) Scottish Government funding

Core Grant	£255,000
Local Alliances Project	£60,000
Tobacco and Inequalities Project	£60,000
ASH Scotland Information Service	£62,950
Capital Grant	£30,737
*PATH	£453,150
Total	£921,837

Note: *Partnership Action on Tobacco and Health (PATH) is a joint initiative set up in 2002 to support the expansion of evidence-based smoking cessation services involving the Scottish Government, NHS Health Scotland, the NHS in Scotland and COSLA, which is co-located with and managed on behalf of the partners by ASH Scotland.

(ii) Other Public Funding

NHS Health Scotland: £34,172.

(b) As a Proportion of ASH Scotland''s Budget

ASH Scotland is an independent Scottish charity and the Scottish Government does not hold information on ASH''s total budget other than that published annually in ASH''s audited accounts. Its audited accounts for 2008-09 have not yet been published but will in due course be publicly available and can be requested directly from the charity concerned.

It should also be noted that independent reviews to examine ASH Scotland''s performance in providing value for money in relation to the funding provided by the Scottish Government to support its core activities and projects and of PATH were undertaken in 2007-08. Copies of the review findings are available on the attached links http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/08/29113558 http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/08/28155352.

East Renfrewshire Council is not responsible for monitoring the movements of Mr Megrahi in Libya. They are responsible for supervising compliance with the terms of the compassionate release licence. Any associated costs are met in the same way as costs of supervising any other prisoner released on licence, through funding allocated by the Scottish Government through Community Justice Authorities.

The licences of prisoners granted early release on compassionate grounds routinely allow travel abroad subject to the approval of the individual''s supervising officer.

The powers of the Scottish Ministers and the Parole Board for Scotland are set out in section 17 of the Prisoners and Criminal Proceedings (Scotland) Act 1993. The processes for any recall are the same as for any other prisoner released on licence and who is now outside of Scotland, including those foreign nationals who are deported on release.

This question was answered in the Chamber. The answer can be viewed in the Official Report using the following link:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/officialReports/meetingsParliament/or-09/sor0903-01.htm

The Scottish Government recognises that the establishment of consortia and other supply chain partnerships can provide a mechanism for small, medium and social enterprises to actively compete for a range of public sector contracts. To facilitate this, the government has produced the following guidance:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/48453/0081532.pdf.

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/People/15300/enterprising-organisation/Consortia-Guidance.

The guidance, though specifically written for social enterprise and the third sector, contains general information helpful to any business organisation interested in these business models. The Scottish Government has also commissioned research on actual and perceived barriers to consortia bidding in the business community. This will assess what further support smaller firms might need in this area and help inform future procurement strategies.

To make accessing public sector business opportunities as open as possible, cross-government events throughout Scotland are encouraging suppliers to register on the website, www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk, for a free contract email alert service; browse the website for large and small opportunities; bid for these opportunities (via consortia and supply chain partnerships where appropriate) and look up contract award information for sub-contract opportunities. To date, over 30,000 business organisations have registered on the website.

The Scottish Government is monitoring the proportion of contracts which go to small and medium-sized enterprises, and has asked all public bodies to do the same.

According to the recently published Audit Scotland report Improving Public Sector Purchasing, implementation of the McClelland report''s recommendations saved around £327 million in 2006-07 and 2007-08. We have no evidence to suggest that local employment, welfare benefits costs or local spending have been adversely affected. Monies saved should be available to public bodies for deployment on other priorities.

The Scottish Procurement information hub analyses procurement spending by Scottish public bodies including all local authorities and health boards. According to information on the hub at July 2009, spending with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) since April 2006 in terms of value is as follows:

The SME spend figures for the last three financial years as at July 2009 are as follows:

Financial Year	Total Percentage of Spend With SMEs	Small-Sized Enterprises	Medium-Sized Enterprises
2005-06: Spend from 121 organisations	49%	24%	25%
2006-07: Spend from 166 organisations	49%	23%	26%
2007-08: Spend from 77 organisations	49%	23%	26%

 

The government is committed to ensuring that small and medium-sized businesses have fair access to public sector contracts in Scotland. In support of this, in April I wrote to heads of procurement and chief executives throughout the Scottish public sector setting out my expectation that they take six simple steps, http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/1265/0080942.pdf, to promote access to public sector contracts for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), social enterprises and third sector bodies.

In addition, companies can have free access to contract opportunities across the Scottish public sector through the Public Contracts Scotland website www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk.

 

The public sector currently spends approximately £8 billion on goods, works and services each year. Analysis of spend data from across the public sector shows that for 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08 on average 49% of that spend was with small or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Data collection will continue and organisations are being encouraged to actively monitor their level of spend with SMEs as part of the government''s six simple steps to ensure that SMEs continue to make a significant contribution to the delivery of public services in Scotland and to the supply of goods and works to the Scottish public sector:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/Procurement/policy/SMEs.

Last summer, the government launched Public Contracts Scotland, in response to John McClelland''s recommendation that an open market environment supported by a single public sector ˜electronic portal'' should be established. Public Contracts Scotland gives suppliers free-of-charge easy access to information on Scottish contract opportunities. Over 30,000 suppliers are now registered, 83% of which are SMEs, and roll out of the portal across the public sector is continuing, with 138 public bodies already using the portal to advertise their contract opportunities.