Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-29958 on 14 January 2010. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-29958 on 14 January 2010. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-29958 on 14 January 2010. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

The Permanent Secretary attends weekly meetings in London as part of the leadership team of the UK Civil Service. A range of other meetings related to these responsibilities (including Permanent Secretary Sub-Group on Employee Relations, Permanent Secretaries'' Management Group, Learning Skills Board, Skills Strategy Delivery Board, Government Skills and Senior Leadership Committee) and Scottish Government business are scheduled around this weekly meeting.

During 2009, the Permanent Secretary travelled to London for his regular weekly meeting on 35 occasions. This involved return air travel on 30 occasions and a mix of train and air travel outward and return on the other five.

Air travel allows a full day''s business to be conducted without the need for an overnight stay.

No cabinet secretaries, ministers or special advisers have had a lunch or dinner specifically with Mr Campbell Gunn of the Sunday Post. Special advisers have shared a lunch table in the Scottish Parliament canteen with Mr Gunn, alongside other respected journalists.

A range of needs-based indicators are used in the local government finance distribution methodology. These include indicators such as population, rurality, deprivation and road lengths, with the main indicators weighted towards population. The recent joint review of distribution recommended that the existing indicators were reasonable and generally a fair indication of need and should be retained unchanged.

The full details of the total grant support are issued to local authorities by circular. The most recent circulars can be found by following the link to the following Scottish Government website.

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/local-government/17999/11203.

The relevant circulars for the years requested are (a) Finance Circular No 1/2006, (b) Finance Circular No 1/2007, (c) Finance Circular No 4/2008 and for 2009-10 is Finance Circular No 6/2009.

Discussions are taking place regarding ministerial and official attendance at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi but no decision has yet been made.

Comprehensive information in the form requested is not held centrally. The Scottish Government has made an interim payment to Moray Council of £141,329 under the Bellwin Scheme in respect of flooding in its area on 3 and 4 September 2009 and on 1 November 2009. The government also provides general funding to local authorities and Scottish Water, some of which will be spent by those agencies in relation to managing flood risk and it provides funding to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency to monitor and advise on flood risk.

I can confirm the increase in the City of Edinburgh Council''s provisional 2010‘11 revenue funding is 1.76%. Local government remains committed to implementing the concordat. The strength of the concordat lies in enshrining a realistic, flexible and sustainable approach to the issues that face local and national government. Recent joint discussions have produced a framework for further sustained progress on a number of the key concordat commitments at a time of increasing financial pressure on the Scottish Government and on local authorities, given the reductions in public expenditure imposed by the UK Government.