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The following table gives details of the allocations received by East Dunbartonshire Council. Payments were profiled in each year to reflect the council's spending requirement. The council does not receive funds through the following programmes: SIPs, Working for Communities, Listening to Communities or BNSF.Health inequalities are being tackled through an extensive range of social, economic and health programmes. Consequently, there is no single health inequalities funding programme for which figures can be given.

	East Dunbartonshire	1999-2000(£ million)	2000-01(£ million)	2001-02(£ million)	2002-03(£ million)	2003-04(£ million)	2004-05(£ million)	2005-06(£ million)
(a)	Childcare Strategy	0.113	0.188	0.188	0.213	0.247	0.440	0.601
(b)	Sure Start	0.123	0.179	0.244	0.244	0.297	0.463	0.661
(c)	New Community Schools	0.200	0.200	0.400	0.495	0.495	0.442	0.590
(d)	New Housing Partnerships	0.172	0.380	0.404	0.792	*	*	*
(e)	Early intervention**	0.307	0.309	0.307	0.307	0.307	0.307	0.307
(g)	study support and out of schools learning	0.191	0.273	0.273	0.277	0.277	0.332	0.332
(h)	alternatives to exclusion	0.128	0.206	0.257	0.259	0.285	0.285	0.285
(m/n)	Scottish Homes/Communities Scotland	1.750	2.095	0.680	0.330	*	*	*

Notes:* Allocations for 2003-04 and beyond have still to be confirmed.** Early intervention resources are paid as part of unhypothecated revenue grant from 2003-04.

The following proportions of the East Dunbartonshire Council area have been designated as (a) Sites of Special Scientific Interest - 0.8%, (b) National Scenic Area - 0%, (c) Local Nature Reserve - 0% and (d) Country Park - 0.46%.

Representatives from the Joint Group on Free Personal Care, consisting of officials from COSLA, Association of Directors of Social Work, Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers and the Scottish Executive, met with officials from East Dunbartonshire Council on the 7 February 2003. The joint group were advised of a provisional projected under spend of £96,462 on the council's overall allocation for free personal and nursing care, as at that date.

The Executive's Diversity Strategy, launched in November 2000, has set demanding targets for the recruitment of under-represented groups, including staff with disabilities. Progress towards these targets is set out in the following table. Information prior to 1998 is not held centrally.In line with the strategy, the Executive will continue to work towards its aim of becoming an organisation that values the contribution of each member of staff and broadly reflects the communities it serves. Scottish Executive Permanent StaffPercentage of Self-Declared Disabled Staff April 1998 to January 2003

	Target
	April 1998	April 1999	April 2000	April 2001	April 2002	January 2003	April 2005
Total	2.4	2.4	2.4	2.5	2.7	2.8
SCS and Band C	1.0	1.1	1.2	1.1	0.9	1.1	1.6
Band B	1.7	1.8	1.8	2.0	2.2	2.2	3.2
Band A	3.5	3.3	3.4	3.5	3.9	4.1	5.0

Responsibility for the recruitment of specialists lies with Heads of Profession and individual agencies. Specialist staff are recruited as and when required.

Our interim response welcomed the Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Committee's Report on their Inquiry into Lifelong Learning. When I spoke at the parliamentary debate on the report on 27 November 2002, I indicated that we would publish a strategy for lifelong learning early this year. That strategy, Life Through Learning; Learning Through Life, will be published today.It sets out the Executive's strategy for lifelong learning and identifies our key goals. The committee's findings have been taken into account in its development. A summary will also be published. My final response to the Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Committee's Inquiry will be laid before Parliament tomorrow. Copies of these documents will be available in the Parliament's Reference Centre. (Bib. numbers 26050, 26051 and 26052 respectively).

My statement referred to the potential funding arising from the Prudential Regime and changes to the arrangements for funding local authority expenditure on private housing. In relation to the Prudential Regime it will be for individual local authorities not the Scottish Executive to determine how much, if any, extra borrowing they might be able to afford. In relation to the new arrangements for funding local authority expenditure on private housing, for 2003-04, our intention is to write to local authorities for advice on the extent to which they wish to covert existing borrowing consents within their agreed, overall single capital allocation to private sector housing grant. Final allocations will be determined when this information is to hand. Allocations for 2004-05 and beyond, when the new arrangements are fully implemented, will be determined in due course.

Information on out-patient waits is collected centrally only for the period from referral to a first out-patient appointment with a consultant. This information is collected at specialty level only.Due to technical difficulties with its patient information management system, Glasgow Dental Hospital has not been able to provide the Information and Statistics Division (ISD) of the Common Services Agency with information on waiting times for a first out-patient appointment. The Health Department's Chief Dental Officer is discussing with North Glasgow University Hospitals NHS Trust how to achieve an early resolution of these difficulties. However, the Glasgow Dental Hospital has told the department that patients requiring urgent treatment are seen within one week, and any patient with a suspected diagnosis of oral cancer is seen immediately at the oral medicine rapid access clinic.

We have no plans to promote community speed watch schemes in Scotland.

All councils in Scotland, including East Dunbartonshire, have received above inflation increases in grant funding in each year of the current spending review, 2001-04. Such increases will continue over the period of the next review. The total revenue grant support for East Dunbartonshire Council over the period in question is set out in the table. From April 2001 this includes resources specifically to expand respite services and we are currently agreeing with the council the outcome measures to be achieved in this area of service delivery. It is for the council to decide how best to use its total grant in order to provide services that meet local needs and priorities, including the provision of short breaks.Revenue Grant to East Dunbartonshire Council

	£ million
1996-97	92.424
1997-98	88.135
1998-99	90.690
1999-2000	97.122
2000-01	97.952
2001-02	107.465
2002-03	120.776
2003-04	132.206 (Provisional)
2004-05	139.735 (Provisional)
2005-06	145.280 (Provisional)