Chamber and committees

The Climate Challenge Fund has successfully supported applications from a very substantial number of smaller and newly established community groups. However, we plan to review the application process of the extension to the Climate Challenge Fund to ensure it is as simple as possible to access for all communities, while supporting diversity and targeting resources to those projects that comply with the criteria of the fund.

The balance between smaller or larger grants has been driven by the applicant communities that come forward and the assessment of their applications by the independent panel. We will continue to evaluate performance of the fund and the efficiency and effectiveness of outcomes against criteria, as well as the scale of projects.

It is intended that Keep Scotland Beautiful will provide the administration services to support the Climate Challenge Fund in 2011-12.

No changes to the objectives of the fund are planned and they remain as below.

The community must be at the heart of the decision making process of the project;

The funded activity should lead to significant CO­₂ reductions, and

The funded activity should result in a positive legacy for each community.

There are no plans to allow national voluntary organisations access to the 2011-12 Climate Challenge Fund.

The analysis report was published on 30 September 2010 and comments were requested by 15 October 2010, with the aim of publishing the final version of the principles before the end of October 2010. On 12 October 2010, Scottish Government officials presented the analysis report to the Scottish Privacy Forum, which is run by the Information Commissioner''s Office (ICO). The report was well received at that meeting and informal comments from the Assistant Commissioner (Scotland) were favourable.

Following that meeting we have decided to delay publication until December 2010, by which time we expect to have received formal feedback from the ICO. That will ensure the greatest level of expert input and give us the opportunity to ensure our principles complement, as far as possible, the UK statutory code of practice on the sharing of personal data, on which the ICO launched its consultation on 8 October. This will mean our principles have the strongest possible support from the ICO.

The Scottish Government has consistent data, collected by Oil and Gas UK, which estimate that 33,800 people are directly employed by the sector with 73% of those in Scotland. Clearly, this suggests that any moratorium could impact significantly in Scotland.

The UK Energy and Climate Change Committee are conducting a short inquiry into UK deepwater drilling to find out about the safety and environmental regulations of oil and gas operations on the UK continental shelf and the potential positive and negative impacts of a moratorium on deepwater drilling. We will be monitoring the committee''s deliberations closely.

The Scottish Government recognises the potential seriousness of any such incident in both environmental and economic terms. Because of such concerns the First Minister wrote to the Prime Minister suggesting that a major oil spill exercise be held as soon as possible in order to both identify and learn from the lessons arising. This exercise will now be held in the spring and the Scottish Government will be participating to its full extent.

We continue to monitor the situation and welcome the setting up of the Oil Spill Prevention and Response Advisory Group (OSPRAG) and the UK Government''s moves to increase its inspection of drilling rigs and monitoring of offshore compliance through the recruitment of additional inspectors.

The Scottish Government will host a seminar on the lessons that the UK can learn from oil spills at Victoria Quay on 5 October 2010. This event will bring together then UK Spill Association, the Emergency Planning Society, the UK Government and Scottish Government.

Given the role of Scottish ministers in determining this application it would be inappropriate to comment on its specifics at this stage. A decision will be made on this application in due course.

Advice received from the Committee on Climate Change by the Scottish Government on any subject would be published.

As consultations on the second National Planning Framework preceded the formal establishment of the Committee on Climate Change, the opportunity to seek advice from the committee on the framework''s content was not available. The Scottish Government''s climate change targets will be an important consideration in revising the National Planning Framework and we will consult widely when the time comes to review it. Advice received from the Committee on Climate Change by the Scottish Government on any subject would be published.

The Disability Working Group was established by ministers as a strategic short-term group in 2004, following the European Year of Disabled People (EYDP) in 2003. The remit of the group was:

to establish priorities for the Scottish Government and partner organisations to promote equality for disabled people in Scotland, and to

develop proposals on longer term mechanisms for engagement with the disability sector.

The report of the Disability Working Group, and the Scottish Government Response to the report, were published in November 2006, and the last meeting of the group was in September 2007.

The Scottish Government has since taken forward work on Disability Equality through the high-level Independent Living In Scotland Core Reference Group, which has a much broader and more ambitious remit than the original Disability Working Group. The main remit of the group, which has formally met five times to date since September 2009, is to:

Consider the actions necessary to progress Independent Living for disabled people, and to support their involvement in this process.

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