Seòmar agus comataidhean

The number of communities that have registered an interest under the Community Right to Buy legislation per year is shown in the following table:

Notes

• In the first year (2004) the data is from the date of commencement.

• The figures for 2017 are as at 17 August 2017.

• The ‘Total’ does not take into account that some communities registered interests in more than one year.

• Currently, there are 27 applications which have been approved and that are awaiting the owner disposing of the asset.

A total of 19 community bodies have acquired land under the Community Right to Buy legislation, totalling 21,072.02 Ha (52,070.77 acres). The details are shown in the following table:

The following table shows the amount of funding the Scottish Government has made available to community groups through the Scottish Land Fund (SLF). These figures do not relate solely to community bodies who have applied to acquire land under the Community Right to Buy legislation as the SLF is open community groups who meet the SLF’s criteria for grant funding. From 2012 to 2016 only rural communities were able to apply for grant funding. From 2016, community groups throughout Scotland could apply for grant funding.

Source: BIG Lottery Scotland

Notes

• These figures relate to the Scottish Land Fund (SLF) only. They do not include SLF running costs.

• Other Scottish Government grants have-can be accessed by community groups, which are not taken in account in the above figures.

• The Scottish Government also grant funds organisations to support communities e.g. Community Land Scotland and the Community Ownership Support Service.

Scottish Enterprise (SE) provided £556,384 towards the construction of the slipway at Westway Business Park, Renfrew. The funding was provided to Renfrewshire Council and WB Westway LP (Moorfield). The funding provided by SE leveraged £1,275,000 private sector investment for the project and Westway is an integral part of the Glasgow Airport Investment Area (GAIA) which seeks to create an advanced manufacturing district adjacent to key Industry assets, including the Advanced Forming Research Centre.

Contractors are expected to comply with social, environmental and labour laws and obligations including the Equality Act 2010. Statutory Guidance on the selection of tenderers and award of contracts, ‘Addressing Fair Work Practices, including the Living Wage, in Procurement’, published by the Scottish Government in October 2015 is clear that we expect contractors who deliver public contracts to adopt policies which demonstrate their compliance with relevant employment, equality and health and safety law, human rights standards and adherence to relevant collective agreements. We further expect contractors to have policies which describe how they adopt fair work practices for all workers engaged on delivering the public contract.

In addition, the Scottish Government’s template terms and conditions for contracts contains a clause which states that the contractor “must not unlawfully discriminate against any person within the meaning of the Equality Act 2010 in its activities relating to the Contract or any other contract with the Purchaser.”

Contractors are expected to comply with social, environmental and labour laws and obligations including the Equality Act 2010.

 Statutory Guidance on the selection of tenderers and award of contracts, ‘Addressing Fair Work Practices, including the Living Wage, in Procurement’, published by the Scottish Government in October 2015 is clear that the Scottish Government considers the payment of the Living Wage to be a significant indicator of an employer’s commitment to fair work practices and that payment of the Living Wage is one of the clearest ways that an employer can demonstrate that it takes a positive approach to its workforce. The Guidance provides information for public bodies on how and when fair work practices should be addressed in the course of a public procurement exercise. It further states that we expect contractors who deliver public contracts to adopt policies which demonstrate their compliance with relevant employment, equality and health and safety law, human rights standards and adherence to relevant collective agreements, and we also expect contractors to have policies which describe how they adopt fair work practices for all workers engaged on delivering the public contract.

 In addition, the Scottish Government’s template terms and conditions for contracts contains a clause which states that the contractor “must not unlawfully discriminate against any person within the meaning of the Equality Act 2010 in its activities relating to the Contract or any other contract with the Purchaser.”

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-09844 on 4 July 2017. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

The Lightweight Manufacturing Centre is expected to directly employ up to 20 FTE posts. The support provided by the Centre to companies across Scotland is expected to generate significant economic and employment opportunities at the local, regional and national level and to enhance Scotland’s reputation as a centre for skilled engineering and advanced manufacturing.

The £8.9m being invested in the Lightweight Manufacturing Centre over the period 2017-20 consists of £3.9m from the Scottish Government, £3.4m from Scottish Enterprise and £1.6m from the University of Strathclyde. This will support the University’s Advanced Forming Research Centre to establish, manage and run the Centre for the benefit of Scottish companies in sectors such as aerospace, automotive, oil and gas and renewables to develop lightweight products and components.

The creation of the Lightweight Manufacturing Centre responds to a valuable market opportunity for the development and manufacture of lightweight components and is expected to support significant economic and employment opportunities at the local, regional and national level. The Centre, located within the Doosan Babcock site at Westway, Renfrew, will be operated by the University of Strathclyde’s Advanced Forming Research Centre.

The Scottish Government’s Partnership Action for Continuing Employment team was engaged with both Doosan Babcock and union officials to support employees affected by the recent redundancies at the company’s Renfrew site.

Doosan Babcock is account managed by Scottish Enterprise.

Since 2015 Scottish Enterprise has been actively working with Doosan Babcock to explore sector and market opportunities, through the provision of market research and sector insights.

Scottish Enterprise has also provided the following financial assistance to Doosan Babcock for projects that support the development of the Renfrew site since 2015:

£260k in support of an Open Innovation project with the R & D team (Programme initiated: October 2015, the project is ongoing).

£97,214 Training Aid for the Fuel Cell Division (Grant Award: April 2016, the project is ongoing).

Doosan Babcock have accepted the awards and are currently delivering the resulting projects.

It is incorrect to suggest that all orthopaedic services have been removed from Monklands Hospital. Around 85% of all orthopaedic patient contacts are outpatients and these have continued to be seen at Monklands Hospital.

NHS Lanarkshire’s interim model on trauma and orthopaedics, in place since last November, was about building necessary service resilience; not about removing services. It was put in place to ensure clinical safety and the quality of care, and the Board was supported in this position by the Academy of Royal Colleges and Faculties in Scotland. Since the interim model was introduced the length of time trauma patients spend in hospital has reduced.

NHS Lanarkshire’s longer term plan for orthopaedics, as informed by the views of the Academy, is to move to two local sites of clinical excellence, comprising a single trauma site and a single elective site. This is consistent with the national strategy of developing major trauma networks, and has been the subject of public consultation as part of NHS Lanarkshire’s approved health care strategy 'Achieving Excellence'.

Wishaw Hospital will be the trauma site in Lanarkshire and an options appraisal will be undertaken to identify whether Hairmyres or Monklands Hospital should be the elective orthopaedic centre of excellence. The Board are confident such plans will enable them to develop a complementary network of centres of excellence across the key three hospital sites, with core A&E Departments remaining on each.