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Flood prevention grant of £648,279was allocated in 2007-08 for the Bo’ness Foreshore Flood Prevention Scheme 2006.

As agreed in the jointconcordat, the support for floodprevention and coast protection is one of the grants which has been rolled up as part of the Local Government Settlement for2008-11. Allocations to authorities took account of both the flood risk to be managed in its area and floodmanagement measures already underway.

Falkirk Council’s total support for capital is £18.384 million for 2008-09. It is the responsibility of FalkirkCouncil to allocate the total financial resources available to it on the basis oflocal needs and priorities having first fulfilled its statutory obligations andthe jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

Donepezil, galantamine and rivastigmineare recommended as options for the treatment of moderate Alzheimer’s disease inNHS Scotland.

Learning out of doors is beingpromoted as part of the Scottish Government’s curriculum review. Outdoor learninghas a clear contribution to make towards the Scottish Government’s national outcomethat all our young people should be successful learners, confident individuals,effective contributors and responsible citizens. HM Inspectorate of Education havealso emphasised the value of well planned outdoor education experiences.

Officials are currently developingproposals on how we might build on best practice and strengthen the opportunitiesfor young people to participate in outdoor education. We have continued to funda Learning and Teaching Scotland project which aims to encourage teachers to takechildren outside to learn.

The requirement onevery Scottish local authority to prepare an open space audit and strategy is containedin Scottish Planning Policy (SPP) 11: Open Space and Physical Activity, publishedNovember 2007. SPP 11 makes it clear that all local authorities should startnow to ensure that an audit and strategy is prepared for their areas. Once prepared,the audit and strategy must be reviewed on a regular five year cycle to link withand inform preparation of the statutory development plan.

The consultation draftof SPP 11 was published in August 2006. Although there was support in principlefor statutory consultation on development affecting non-sporting greenspace, therewas little support for consultation with Greenspace Scotland or Scottish Natural Heritage as was proposed. Neither of these two organisationssupported the proposal. Scottish ministers do not consider that there is at presenta suitable body with the responsibilities and resources to act as a statutory consulteefor the wide range of non-sporting greenspace.

SPP 11 encouragesconsultation with appropriate local and national interests, both on developmentproposals and, crucially, in the development of the local open space strategy. Anyproposals involving the loss of protected open space will ultimately require tobe notified to Scottish ministers before planning permission may be issued.

The consultation draftof SPP 11, published in August 2006, proposed national minimum quantitativestandards for open space for several categories of new development. Many respondentscommented in some detail on this proposal. Whilst there was much support for minimumstandards, significant concerns were raised about the inflexibility of imposingthe same standards on developments throughout the country regardless of local circumstances.Concerns also centred on the potential impact on brownfield development, regenerationproposals and affordable housing.

The planning systemis operated largely by local authorities, and decisions about protection of andinvestment in local open space are generally best left to local authorities andlocal communities. The Scottish Government believes that locally determined openspace strategies, rather than nationally imposed standards, are the best way ofensuring the provision of open space across Scotland is sensitive to local priorities and circumstances.

I refer themember to the answer to question S3W-6288 on 20 November 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions areavailable on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can befound at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

I have askedJames Hynd, Acting Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Hisresponse is as follows:

The amount ofCommunity Regeneration Funding allocated to Community Planning Partnerships(CPPs) over the last two years is provided in the following table. Localauthorities are the accountable body for this funding which is linked to eachPartnership’s Regeneration Outcome Agreement.

As part of therecently completed Strategic Spending Review, the Scottish Government hasannounced a new £145m per annum fund to regenerate communities and tacklepoverty which will replace the Community Regeneration Fund (CRF). Allocationsfrom the new fund will be notified to CPPs in due course.

As an interimmeasure, one quarter of the baseline 2007-08 CRF allocation has been guaranteedfor each CPP in advance of a final decision on allocation of the new Fund.

CPP	2006-071 £ million	2007-081 £ million
Aberdeen City	1.226	1.282
Aberdeenshire	0.136	0.142
Angus	0.204	0.214
Argyll and Bute	0.788	0.641
Clackmannanshire	1.111	1.162
Dumfries and Galloway	0.613	0.641
Dundee City	5.665	5.927
East Ayrshire	3.533	3.254
East Dunbartonshire	0.272	0.285
East Lothian	0.101	0.100
East Renfrewshire	0.409	0.427
Edinburgh, City of	6.676	6.176
Eilean Siar	0.285	0.190
Falkirk	0.953	0.997
Fife	2.315	2.422
Glasgow City	42.488	44.411
Highland	0.613	0.641
Inverclyde	4.881	4.381
Midlothian	0.100	0.100
Moray	0.289	0.193
North Ayrshire	3.666	3.835
North Lanarkshire	11.441	11.971
Orkney Islands	0.100	0.100
Perth and Kinross	0.204	0.214
Renfrewshire	4.554	4.765
Scottish Borders	0.163	0.142
Shetland Islands	0.100	0.100
South Ayrshire	1.360	0.926
South Lanarkshire	7.331	7.670
Stirling	0.409	0.427
West Dunbartonshire	4.456	3.956
West Lothian	0.681	0.712
Total	107.123	108.404

Note:

1.The amounts above (rounded to the nearest £000) relate to original allocationsannounced in April 2005 and include Integration for Asylum Seekers support in Glasgow.

The allocations madeby the Scottish Government, to which local authorities also add their own resources,are shown in the following table.

From April 2008 theMental Health Specific Grant (formerly Mental Illness Specific Grant) will be absorbedinto the main local government settlement. The funding will continue to have animportant role in continuing to provide local, community based services and supportfor people with a mental health problem, their carers and families.

The provisional allocationsfor the 2008‑09 overall settlement will be confirmed at the time of the LocalGovernment Finance settlement announcement planned for mid-December. However, theintention is that where a previously ring-fenced grant has been absorbed withinthe settlement, the funding associated with that grant will be distributed betweencouncils in the same way as in 2007-08.

Council	Allocations in Each Year from 2003-04 to 2007-08 (£)
Aberdeen City	708,400
Aberdeenshire	578,200
Angus	320,600
Argyll and Bute	312,200
Clackmannan	110,600
Dumfries and Galloway	373,800
Dundee City	341,600
East Ayrshire	320,600
East Dunbartonshire	163,800
East Lothian	222,600
East Renfrewshire	57,400
Edinburgh City	1,345,400
Eilean Siar	163,800
Falkirk	366,800
Fife	893,200
Glasgow City	2,774,800
Highland	597,800
Inverclyde	193,200
Midlothian	266,000
Moray	159,600
North Ayrshire	197,400
North Lanarkshire	562,800
Orkney	133,000
Perth and Kinross	271,600
Renfrewshire	375,200
Scottish Borders	310,800
Shetland	165,200
South Ayrshire	301,000
South Lanarkshire	750,400
Stirling	207,200
West Dunbartonshire	250,600
West Lothian	204,400
Total	14,000,000