Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-33951 on 14 June 2010. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

Since devolution there have been no occasions where Accountable Officers have sought an authority on the grounds of propriety or regularity. There have however, been five occasions where Accountable Officers have sought an authority on value for money grounds, two of which were on the same issue. The following table gives more detail:

Description	Background	Minister	Date
Campbeltown to Ballycastle Ferry Service	In the light of the financial and economic appraisals that were carried out officials had advised ministers that, with a high anticipated subsidy requirement and a low level of forecast employment creation, the project represented very poor value for money in terms of the probable costs and economic benefits.	Wendy Alexander	29-01-02
Lifeline Air Services Glasgow & Barra	Officials advised ministers that the savings from the withdrawal of air services out of Barra would have a positive NPV for the Sound of Barra vessel. An instruction was therefore sought to act on the ministers'' decision to continue the Glasgow - Barra air service.	Iain Gray	19-03-03
Relocation of Scottish Natural Heritage	SNH were subject to a relocation review in pursuance of the Executive''s relocation policy. Their main headquarters functions were housed in two buildings in Edinburgh. The option appraisal showed that a move to anywhere outside Edinburgh would be significantly more expensive than the status quo.	Ross Finnie	26-03-03
Campbeltown to Ballycastle Ferry Service	In light of the financial and economic appraisals that had been carried out officials had advised ministers that, with a high subsidy requirement and a low level of forecast employment creation, the project did not pass the value for money appraisals applied to such proposals. (The 2002 instruction did not cover this tendering exercise “ it was effectively spent at the conclusion of the previous tendering exercise.)	Nicol Stephen	30-03-05
HMP Bishopbriggs	The Accountable Officer was concerned that cancelling the competition for a PFI design, build and operate contract and beginning a new competition to design and build a prison for public sector operation would result in significant additional expenditure - because of the gap in cost efficiency between public and private operation - and import significant delay into the project - because the procurement process would effectively go back to start.	Kenny MacAskill	22-08-07

 

Internal convention is that Cabinet procedures for dealing with requests for written authority require any authorities from ministers to be assessed separately by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth and cleared by the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister. In providing advice to ministers, special advisors are required to comply with the Code of Conduct for Special Advisors, which sets out their role and duties. A copy of the code is available in the Scottish Parliaments Information Centre (Bib. number 49592).

The emissions projections used by the Scottish Government and the Committee on Climate Change take account of the recession based on the 2009 growth forecasts. These show emissions falling by 0.4% between 2007 and 2008, by 1.2% between 2008 and 2009, and by 0.1% between 2009 and 2010. It is not possible to say how much of the decrease in greenhouse gas emissions projected for 2008 and 2009 is due to the recession and how much is due to UK and Scottish Government policies.

There is a significant degree of uncertainty when projecting emissions, and the Committee on Climate Change acknowledged this when giving advice to the Scottish Government.

As there is no legal definition or regulation for social enterprise, there is no single source of data to support mapping of the sector. We fund the Scottish Social Enterprise Coalition as a strategic partner of Scottish Government to provide advice and information about the sector. The coalition are also part of the Third Sector Research Forum whose focus is to consider improvements to information gathering.

As part of the national performance framework the Scottish Government annually publishes the indicator on social economy turnover, this includes the social enterprise sector.

This information is available on the Scotland Performs website:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/scotPerforms/indicators/socialEconomy.

We are currently working with third sector stakeholders, including social enterprise representatives on developing more detailed statistics for the sector. This will include data on social enterprise.

We do not hold this information centrally.

It is for local authority and schools to set their own arrangements for dealing with homophobic incidents. The Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007 makes discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation unlawful and requires schools to make sure that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) pupils or the children of LGBT parents, do not receive different and less favourable treatment to that given to other pupils. Schools need to ensure that homophobic bullying is taken as seriously and dealt with as firmly as bullying on any other ground. Her Majesty''s Inspectorate of Education also assess the school''s handling of bullying within inspection as part of the pre-inspection survey of pupils, parents, teachers and school staff, seeking their views on feelings of safety and welfare. Furthermore, the Scottish Government actively promotes the health and wellbeing of LGBT pupils through Curriculum for Excellence and the Toolkit for Teachers: Dealing with Homophobia and Homophobic Bullying in Scottish Schools.

http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/Images/LGBT%20low%20res%207''01''09_tcm4-512286.pdf.

The Scottish Government wholly funds Respectme (£347,000 pa) to provide direct support to local authorities, schools, youth groups and all those working with children and young people in relation to bullying, including homophobic bullying.

The Scottish Government funded the development of A Toolkit for Teachers: Dealing with Homophobia and Homophobic bullying in Scottish Schools by LGBT Youth Scotland in partnership with Learning Teaching Scotland, issued to every secondary school in Scotland in February 2009.

http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/Images/LGBT%20low%20res%207''01''09_tcm4-512286.pdf.

This contains guidance in relation to dealing with homophobic incidents.

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2007/08/13102651/0.

Additionally, we issued guidance in 2007 to accompany the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007. The recent issue of the FIT DVD by Stonewall Scotland to all secondary schools supports discussion around this issue. http://www.stonewall.org.uk/at_school/fit/default.asp.

Zero Waste Scotland “ the Scottish Government''s new single Zero Waste delivery programme “ delivers a number of initiatives which can help charities and community organisations to access recycling services:

Its Business Resource Efficiency programme provides advice to small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) (which includes the majority of third sector organisations) on ways to reduce waste, recycle more and use resources more efficiently. This programme includes on-site advice and training and is delivered by the Green Business Partnership in conjunction with stakeholders such as the Federation of Small Businesses Scottish Enterprise and local Chambers of Commerce.

This programme also maintains a searchable online directory of recycling collections available to SMEs and third sector organisations at www.wasteawarebusiness.org.uk.

The third sector support programme will start a new project in 2010-11 aimed at helping the wider third sector in Scotland become greener, by providing assistance and support on waste prevention, reuse and recycling options.

The Scottish Government is aware of Project Prevention and does not support this organisation. This organisation offers cash incentives to individuals who are having problems with substance misuse to commit to long term, and potentially permanent birth control.

The Scottish Government and its partners are focussed on ensuring that appropriate advice, guidance and support on birth control and family planning services are part of drug treatment services, and are accessible to people with drug problems. Helping an individual to achieve sustained recovery and, if and when they are ready, supporting that individual to have a healthy pregnancy and to bring up their child in the future, is integral to national strategies such as The Road to Recovery (Drugs) and Respect and Responsibility (Sexual Health), and national frameworks such as Changing Scotland''s Relationship with Alcohol and Early Years.