Seòmar agus comataidhean

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

 

Funding allocationto each local authority for Choose Life for the last two years is recorded in thefollowing table:

Area	2006-07 Allocation (£000)	2007-08 Allocation (£000)
Aberdeen City	114	114
Aberdeenshire	117	117
Angus	87	87
Argyll and Bute	83	83
Clackmannanshire	72	72
Dumfries and Galloway	97	97
Dundee City	97	97
East Ayrshire	90	90
East Dunbartonshire	87	87
East Lothian	83	83
East Renfrewshire	83	83
Edinburgh, City of	173	173
Eilean Siar	67	67
Falkirk	97	97
Fife	148	148
Glasgow City	206	206
Highland	113	113
Inverclyde	81	81
Midlothian	80	80
Moray	82	82
North Ayrshire	94	94
North Lanarkshire	141	141
Orkney Islands	65	65
Perth and Kinross	94	94
Renfrewshire	104	104
Scottish Borders	87	87
Shetland Islands	66	66
South Ayrshire	88	88
South Lanarkshire	136	136
Stirling	82	82
West Dunbartonshire	84	84
West Lothian	100	100
Total	3,198 million	3,198 million

 

In addition to thisallocation, an additional £200,000 was allocated in 2006-08 (£100,000 per annum)to help support suicide prevention action in the Highlands and to help increase knowledge aimed at improving suicide prevention inother remote and rural areas of Scotland. This additionalresource reflects the specific challenges of preventing suicide in these communities.

Funding for suicideprevention work continues in 2008-09. The national functions will be funded at almost£1 million. The £3.2 million approximately that has been given to local authoritiesin 2006-07 and 2007-08, with guidance that it should be spent on suicide prevention,has been rolled into the total budget for local government in 2008-09. We wouldhope that local authorities would still see suicide prevention as a priority andwill work with them on that basis.

In the past,local authorities were allocated funding for carers support as part of theannual local government finance settlement. It was for each authority todetermine the level of funding it allocated to each activity, in accordancewith local priorities. Details of each authority’s service level Grant AidedExpenditure allocations (which were used to distribute the funding) up to 2007-08are published on the Scottish Government’s website at:www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/18209/12073.

The ScottishGovernment will be providing local government in Scotland with record levels of funding over the period covered by the spendingreview 2008-11. The vast majority of the funding, including the funding forcarers, will be provided by means of a block grant. It is theresponsibility of each local authority to allocate the total financialresources available to it on the basis of local needs and priorities havingfirst fulfilled its statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set ofnational and local priorities including the Scottish Government’s key strategicobjectives and manifesto commitments.

The jointConcordat between the Scottish Government and the Convention of Scottish LocalAuthorities includes a commitment to progress towards delivering an extra10,000 respite weeks per annum.

The ScottishExecutive increased the block grant to local authorities by £13 million overeach of the last two years 2006-07 and 2007-08 in relation to theimplementation of the MentalHealth (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003. It should be noted that as this sum was added tothe block grant it is not possible to say how much each individual localauthority was allocated.

The ScottishGovernment will be providing local government in Scotland with record levels of funding over the period covered by the spendingreview 2008-11. The vast majority of the funding, including any funding for mentalhealth funding, will be provided by means of a block grant. It is theresponsibility of each local authority to allocate the total financialresources available to it on the basis of local needs and priorities havingfirst fulfilled its statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set ofnational and local priorities including the Scottish Government’s key strategicobjectives and manifesto commitments.