Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government and public bodies buy advertising through the Media Planning & Buying Framework. It is currently held by a single supplier, Carat. All media suppliers who are interested in carrying advertising for The Scottish Government should approach Carat who will evaluate the opportunity against the effectiveness and efficiency in delivering each campaign’s objectives.

<>The Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 places the statutory responsibility for local roads with local road authorities, and this is not an issue where the Scottish Ministers or the Scottish Government would become directly involved.

The Local Government Finance Settlement for 2015 to 2016 is over £10.85 billion. It is the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate financial resources available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities.

The Scottish Government’s support for our armed forces personnel and veterans is absolute. Scottish Ministers will attend events in both London and in Edinburgh to mark the 70^th anniversary of VJ Day on 15 August 2015.

One of the recommendations of the Scottish Government ‘See Hear’ sensory impairment strategy, launched in 2014, was that accessible local information strategies be developed to include preventative measures and good self care in retaining sensory health, and providing information on how to access services.

Among the preventative measures should be the protection of hearing at music venues and events.

<>The Scottish Government supports the concept of offering driver education as an alternative to prosecution where appropriate and one day ‘Driver Alertness’ and ‘RIDE’ courses, tailored to car drivers and motorcyclists respectively, are currently available to the prosecuting authorities where the level of offence would normally attract a fixed penalty notice.

I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows:

“HMP Dumfries continues to be an integral part of the SPS estate for adult male offenders. It is expected that this position will be maintained for the foreseeable future.”

We plan to bring the provisions into effect in spring 2017.

The legislative framework for charities operating in Scotland is different from charities operating in other parts of the United Kingdom.

The legislative framework, including the income threshold for charities, is reviewed regularly as part of the Scottish Government’s formal and informal engagement with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) and with the charity sector in Scotland. Scottish Ministers receive updates from officials regularly on any matters that require further consideration and decision.

OSCR officials have recommended against raising the audit threshold in Scotland at this time on the basis that there is currently no robust evidence to support the raising of the threshold.

There has been little informal or formal representation from the charity sector in Scotland in favour of raising the audit threshold.

Scottish Ministers have considered the evidence available to date and have decided that the audit threshold should remain unchanged at this time.

We will continue to work with OSCR and charity stakeholders to ensure that the legislative framework for charities in Scotland remains fair, robust and fit for purpose.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-26327 on 21 July 2015. 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/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

The class size maxima in all Scottish secondary school stages are set out in the following table:

Secondary Stage	Class Size Maximum
S1	33
S2	33
S3	30
S4	30
S5	30
S6	30
Practical classes	20