Seòmar agus comataidhean

I have written to the Chief Secretary to HM Treasury to inform her of progress on the Scottish Futures Trust’s development.

The cost of borrowing would be dependent on the prevailing market conditions at the time.

The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1975 gives local authorities the power to borrow money through a variety of means, including by the issue of bonds, for purposes for which they have a statutory borrowing power. The act also allows two or more local authorities to combine to exercise their statutory borrowing powers jointly. It would be for the local authority to ensure it wasn’t acting ultra vires.

The information requested is listed in the following table.

Office	Principal Base	PO Staff	Ministerial Office Based	Parliament Based
First Minister	St Andrew’s House	10	10	0
Minister for Europe, External Affairs and Culture	Victoria Quay	2.5	2.5	0
Minister for Parliamentary Business	Scottish Parliament	6	0	6*
Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth	St Andrew’s House	5	5	0
Minister For Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change	Victoria Quay	3	3	0
Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism	Meridian Court	3	3	0
Cabinet Secretariat for Health and Wellbeing	St Andrew’s House	4	4	0
Minister for Public Health	St Andrew’s House	2	2	0
Minister for Communities and Sport	Victoria Quay	2	2	0
Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning	St Andrew’s House	4	4	0
Minister for Schools and Skills	Victoria Quay	2	2	0
Minister for Children and Early Years	Victoria Quay	2	2	0
Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment	St Andrew’s House	4	4	0
Minister for Environment	St Andrew’s House	2	2	0
Cabinet Secretary for Justice	St Andrew’s House	4	4	0
Minister for Community Safety	St Andrew’s House	2	2	0
Lord Advocate & Solicitor General	Chambers Street	4	4	0

Notes:

All Cabinet Secretaries and ministers have an office base at the Scottish Parliament and members of their staff work from this base on average two days a week.

*The Minister for Parliamentary Business has six staff who are based in his ministerial office at the Scottish Parliament, this includes the Parliamentary Clerks Office.

HM Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) has been monitoring the implementation of the recommendations of Hungry for Success through its programme of school inspections. Inspection activities include checks to ensure that school meals meet the Scottish nutrient standards for school lunches. Feedback on inspection findings, including recommended points for action where necessary, are given to the head teacher and senior member of catering staff in the school and also to nominated staff within the local authority. Where appropriate, follow-through inspections include evaluation of progress made in addressing any main points for action related to school meals.

HMIE will also be involved in monitoring implementation of the Schools (Health Promotion and Nutrition) (Scotland) Act 2007 (the Act) through their programme of inspections. Inspections will build on the activities that inspection teams undertook to evaluate aspects of health promotion and the implementation of Hungry for Success. They will focus particularly on the impact of actions taken by schools and local authorities to improve food provision in schools and the uptake of food provided.

We are currently discussing with HMIE the main features of inspection activities. Where an inspection finds that a council or school is not complying with the requirements of the act, recommendations for action will be discussed with the council or school, and will be followed through to check progress as necessary. Where councils are found to take insufficient action to secure improvement, HMIE will refer them to Scottish ministers who will consider what action to take. Self-evaluation by schools and local authorities will continue to be important in measuring impact, identifying effective practice and securing continuous improvement.

The act will place duties on local authorities and managers of grant aided schools to ensure that all food and drink provided in schools complies with nutritional requirements, specified by Scottish ministers by regulations. Draft regulations, The Nutritional Requirements for Food and Drink in Schools (Scotland) Regulations 2008, are currently with the Parliament for approval. If approved by the Parliament, we will be publishing guidance to local authorities to assist them in implementing the regulations. Local authorities will also be advised on approaches to menu analysis to ensure that the data will be accurate and reliable for use in self-evaluation.

HM Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) has been monitoring the implementation of the recommendations of Hungry for Success through its programme of school inspections. Inspection activities include checks to ensure that school meals meet the Scottish nutrient standards for school lunches. Feedback on inspection findings, including recommended points for action where necessary, are given to the headteacher and senior member of catering staff in the school and also to nominated staff within the local authority. Where appropriate, follow-through inspections include evaluation of progress made in addressing any main points for action related to school meals.

A progress report on the implementation of Hungry for Success was published by HMIE in January 2008. It included evidence from inspections of primary, special and secondary schools. It found that Hungry for Success has been successful in meeting many of its aims and that there have been notable improvements in the quality of school meals in Scotland. It also identified areas for further action and improvement, by schools and local authorities.

HMIE will also be involved in monitoring implementation of the Schools (Health Promotion and Nutrition) (Scotland) Act 2007 through their programme of inspections. Inspections will build on the activities that inspection teams undertook to evaluate aspects of health promotion and the implementation of Hungry for Success. They will focus particularly on the impact of actions taken by schools and local authorities to improve food provision in schools and the uptake of food provided. Self-evaluation by schools and local authorities will continue to be important in measuring impact, identifying effective practice and securing continuous improvement.

The detailed information requested is currently being collated and I will write to the member as soon as the information is available and a copy will be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 45749).

Our policy is that the financial resources available to the Scottish Government should be applied fully, efficiently and effectively to supporting excellent public services. Consequently we expect unspent balances at the end of each financial year to be very low. We successfully reached agreement with HM Treasury to release large unspent balances accumulated by the previous administration. This money is supporting public service delivery over the period covered by the 2007 Spending Review.

As part of the negotiations with the Treasury any unspent resources from the Scottish Government will be retained by the Treasury and cannot be accessed until after the conclusion of this spending review period.

Local authorities are subject to a financial framework which differs in detail from that applying to the Scottish Government. In particular, local authorities are required by statute to have a general fund. With some exceptions, again defined by statute, all income received by the authority is paid into this fund and all expenditure paid out of this fund. At the end of each financial year any balance on the general fund is held as a general reserve by the local authority and is available for use in future financial years. Local authorities therefore control the use to which any unspent funds at the end of a financial year are put

The Scottish Government’s policy is to provide NHS boards with appropriate financial flexibility, for example in relation to the timing of capital expenditure. An administrative arrangement operates whereby a board can carry forward unspent balances of up to 1% of its total financial allocation for use in the following year.

In my statement to the Parliament on 5 March 2008, I explained that I could not give an exact cost for the railway, because to announce a headline number would prejudice commercial negotiations, and for this reason I am unable to provide any further cost/budget information on the Borders rail reconstruction project.

I also indicated that, at this stage in the project’s development, capital costs are expected to be in the range of £235 million to £295 million. Furthermore, this cost range is for building the railway in accordance with the Waverley Railway (Scotland) Act 2006 and therefore there is no proposal to re-examine the plans for the railway.

The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning and I last met Councillor Marilyne MacLaren, the Convener of Education, Children and Families, on 27 September 2007, accompanied by other elected members and appropriate officials. Discussion covered a range of educational issues, including the Council’s aspirations for future school building under what they term their “Wave 3” schools programme. In response to a subsequent request from Councillor MacLaren, the Cabinet Secretary has already indicated that she would welcome a further such meeting to discuss the council’s strategy and plans for schools.