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Two members of the strategic funding review working groups are volunteers. None of the steering group are volunteers. In addition, a large number of volunteers attended the consultation road-shows in Inverness, Glasgow and Edinburgh which contributed towards the work of the review. Many members of the steering group and working groups also volunteer on a personal capacity.

A full list of all members of the review steering group and working groups can be found at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/viu.

On 13 May 2005 the Scottish Executive published Councillor Eric Milligan’s report on First Impressions of Scotland that had been commissioned by Scottish ministers in 2004. The Executive also published ministers’ response to the report which forms an action plan to improve the first impression that international visitors receive of Scotland.

Information on the number of migrants from EU accession countries who have settled in Scotland is not available. While the most recent Accession Monitoring Report indicates that over 10,000 migrants from the EU accession countries have registered to work in Scotland between May 2004 and March 2005 there is no data available on the number of migrants who have actually settled in Scotland.

The Scottish International Scholarship Programme will provide places for 22 international scholars to Scotland in the coming academic year from China (9), India (6), Australia (2), South Africa (2), Singapore (2) and New Zealand (1). Scholarship places are expected to be awarded by the end of June 2005 and students will commence their studies in October 2005.

The commitment to introduce the Fresh Talent: Working in Scotland scheme first appeared in the policy statement, New Scots, published in February 2004. The proposal emerged from the work of the project team which was set up in 2003 to develop proposals to progress the Fresh Talent policy. The project team was supported in its work by a steering group, and worked closely with the Home Office.

We have been working closely with the Home Office on finalising the arrangements for the implementation of the Fresh Talent: Working in Scotland scheme, including the draft changes to the Immigration Rules required to implement the scheme. The Home Office are currently working to lay the Immigration Rules before the UK Parliament in the coming weeks. The Fresh Talent: Working in Scotland scheme is due to be launched before the end of June, and further details of how to apply will be available of the Home Office IND website, www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk nearer the time.

Fresh Talent is a long-term initiative, and measuring its overall success will take time. However, there are some more immediate evaluations that will give us some useful data.

For example:

We will know how many people successfully apply to live and work in Scotland under the Fresh Talent: Working in Scotland scheme, and we are currently in discussions with the Home Office to develop a robust and workable arrangement for monitoring and evaluating the scheme.

We will also know the number of people interested in living and working in Scotland via the number of enquiries to the Relocation Advisory Service and the numbers visiting the website. An evaluation of the Relocation Advisory Service, which is now underway, will also provide us with some useful information.

We are not, and have no plans, to discuss such an extension with Her Majestys Government.

We have not undertaken any training seminars with Work Permits UK. However, we have recently appointed a Senior Business Development Executive on secondment from Scottish Enterprise who will play an important part in setting out our strategic framework to raise awareness of Fresh Talent and to deliver training and support services to Scottish employers. We have also prepared an Employers Toolkit for use by Scottish employers who want to know more about employing foreign nationals who need permission to work in the UK. The toolkit is available from the Relocation Advisory Service, through the Scottish Enterprise Networks and on our website, www.scotlandistheplace.com.

Non-European Economic Area nationals who completed an HND at a Scottish college of further education will be entitled to apply to the Fresh Talent: Working in Scotland scheme.