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The taskforce met for the last time in September. We reflected on the views of stakeholders expressed over the summer and the work of the Scottish Funding Council to review its processes and procedures in readiness for its new role.

I am pleased to mark the successful conclusion of the taskforce''s work today by publishing four documents:

New Horizons is now formally confirmed as the taskforce''s final position and is being re-published today with a minor single amendment to clarify one of the universities'' challenges.

Taking Forward New Horizons builds on this by summarising the feedback received over the summer, clarifying a number of aspects and confirming the next steps.

The funding council have set out how they plan to respond to the new agenda described in New Horizons. This approach has been agreed by the taskforce and is published today in a separate document.

And finally, we have also published the terms of reference for the Tripartite Advisory Group.

These four documents are being published today on the government''s website here:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Education/UniversitiesColleges/16640/hetaskforce.

While today marks the end of the taskforce, it also represents a new beginning in terms of our approach and relationships. There is much work to be taken forward now “ by government, by universities and by the funding council “ to ensure our ambitions for the sector and for Scotland as a whole are met.

The report of the evaluation of the free school meals trial is being published on Thursday 2 October. I have introduced an Order to the Scottish Parliament which will allow all local authorities to provide free school meals for P1 - P3 pupils enabling this concordat commitment to be delivered as planned from August 2010 in all schools in Scotland.

The Scottish Government meets regularly with Glasgow City Council at ministerial and official level. The most recent ministerial meeting was held by the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning on 18 June. I spoke with the Leader of Glasgow City Council on Thursday 19 June.

That would depend on how we define deprived areas, but for example if we consider schools where 40% or more of pupils are registered for free school meals, Glasgow has 84 such schools, of which 32 have P1 to P3 classes over 25.

I have arranged for the report to be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre today (Bib. number 45775) and will respond when I address the third annual National Chartered Teacher Conference tomorrow.

The government expects to spend over £1.5 billion on affordable housing over the next three years and to approve construction of at least 21,500 units (6,000 in 2008-09, 7,100 in 2009-10 and 8,400 in 2010-11). The number of units over 21, 500 this will secure will depend on how successfully housing associations work with the government to secure more value from its investment.

The funding allocated for 2008-09 is £493 million (including ring-fenced money allocated to Glasgow and Edinburgh Councils in the local government settlement). The provisional allocation by local authority area and other programmes is set out in the following table. This may change in the course of the year in line with normal programme management practice.

Unitary Authority/Development Programme	Provisional Allocation (£ Million)
Highlands and Islands
Highland	27.120
Orkney	5.033
Shetland	2.640
Western Isles	4.130
Total	38.923
Grampian
Aberdeenshire	19.637
City of Aberdeen	3.922
Moray	6.372
Total	29.931
Tayside and Forth Valley
Angus	3.890
City of Dundee	7.766
Perth and Kinross	10.886
Clackmannanshire	2.150
Falkirk	3.866
Stirling	3.476
Total	32.034
Lothian, Borders and Fife (excl City of Edinburgh)
East Lothian	4.400
Fife	13.133
Midlothian	3.400
The Scottish Borders	5.600
West Lothian	6.600
Total	33.133
City of Edinburgh	36.100
South and West Scotland
Dumfries and Galloway East Ayrshire North Ayrshire North Lanarkshire South Ayrshire South Lanarkshire	9.700 7.000 6.640 14.600 6.300 15.300
Total	59.540
Argyll and Clyde
Argyll and Bute	14.757
West Dunbartonshire	7.835
East Dunbartonshire	5.386
Inverclyde	19.280
Renfrewshire	12.510
East Renfrewshire	3.271
Total	63.039
Glasgow	83.000
Others
GHA	79.3
Shared Equity Open Market	24.0
Other Programmes	14.0
Total	117.3
Overall Total	493.000

 

The Scottish Government has decided to implement all the changes to Housing Association Grant on which it consulted earlier this year with immediate effect. Housing associations are being advised of this decision and guidance will be available this week on the Scottish Government''s website.

A joint policy statement on early years and early intervention was launched by Scottish ministers and COSLA on 18 March 2008.

The work on developing the early years framework is now being taken forward by four task groups, each focusing their attention on one of the themes of the framework: building parenting and family capacity; creating communities that provide a supportive environment for children and families; delivering integrated services that meet the holistic needs of children and families, and developing a workforce to support the framework.

The task groups are being chaired by:

Val Cox, Depute Director, Workforce and Capacity Division, Scottish Government - Developing a workforce to support the framework;

Martin Crewe, Director, Barnardo''s Scotland - Creating communities that provide a supportive environment for children and families;

Julia Swan, Director, Education Services, Falkirk Council - Delivering integrated services that meet the holistic needs of children and families, and

Malcolm Wright, Chief Executive, NHS Education for Scotland - Building parenting and family capacity.

The names of the members of the task groups and of the members of the programme board overseeing the framework are now available on www.scotland.gov.uk/earlyyearsframework.

The launch of the policy statement was followed by a short consultation on the tasks on which the task groups should focus. An updated list of tasks reflecting the views of respondents is also available on the website.

The concordat agreement between local authorities and the Scottish Government contained a commitment to pay allowances to kinship carers of looked after children.

Funding for the payment of allowances to approved kinship carers of looked-after children has been incorporated into the total local government settlement from April 2008.

I am pleased to announce that the Scottish Government and COSLA are launching a joint policy statement on the early years framework today. The document is available at:

www.scotland.gov.uk/earlyyearsframework.

Getting it right in the early years is key to improving outcomes for children. The policy statement sets out an agreed approach to developing early intervention and early years work that will provide coherent support across all services to children, parents and their families. It recognises the imperative of ensuring that all children and families receive the support they need to give every child the strongest possible start in life. This is one of the Scottish Government's strategic priorities as reflected in the national performance framework outcomes and indicators.

The joint policy statement also sets out the proposed areas of work that will form the basis of a detailed policy development phase and states how these will be taken forward. The specific areas of work will be subject to consultation until mid-April.

Thereafter the early years framework will be developed in detail with all those with an interest, including children and parents, over the coming months. The final policy detail will be published in summer or autumn 2008.

I am pleased to announce thatScottish ministers intend to bring together the existing bodies which make up Scotland’s distinctiveChildren’s Hearings system of care and justice into a single body. We intend todo this in a way which ensures that local delivery and the links with local communities,which are vital to the system, are fully maintained. This will ensure a strongerand more consistent national approach to the work of the Children’s Reporters service;to the delivery and administration of Children’s Hearings, and to the recruitment,training and support provided to the volunteer Panel members who make the localdecisions at hearings. By incorporating all these functions into one body we canrefocus on the individuals who deliver the Children’s Hearings system, rather thanon the bodies of which they are members.

Panelmembers will continue to be recruited from local communities, and will serve thoselocal communities. Local authorities will continue to have a crucial role to playin ensuring that the system works effectively in their area.

We plan to take the necessarysteps, including bringing forward any legislative proposals, to give effect to this.In the meantime, we will work closely with COSLA and other key interests to developthe detail of the new approach.