Chamber and committees

The police pension scheme is funded partly by officers contributions and partly by Grant Aided Expenditure. In the 2002 Spending Review account was taken of estimated costs provided by Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland and, as such, sufficient funding has been provided to fund pensions in full over the next three years.

The additional costs of the retirement of police officers over the next three years were looked at as part of the 2002 Spending Review.

Agencies and NDPBs are required to be as open as possible in their dealings with their customers and stakeholders. They are required to comply with the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information and with legislation on the release of information to the public, including the Data Protection Act. In meeting those requirements, the Scottish Executive expects that its executive agencies and NDPBs would make information on their policies for equal pay available publicly.

All executive agencies and non-departmental bodies are aware of the requirement set out in the Scottish Executive's Public Sector Pay Guidelines to complete an equal pay review by April 2003. The Scottish Executive expects bodies to adhere to this timetable.

As an employer, the Scottish Executive is committed to carrying out an equal pay review. For further information regarding this, I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-27237 on 29 July 2002. 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/webapp/search_wa.The Close the Gap Campaign is the main initiative supported by the Scottish Executive that focuses on raising awareness of the gender pay gap and to take steps to address it. More widely, the Scottish Executive is committed to mainstreaming equal opportunities in all its policies and legislation. Many of the Scottish Executive's policies relating to education, training and economic development include reducing the barriers to women getting into work, being promoted at work or starting and maintaining a successful business.

The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the UK Government on a wide range of issues, including policies to promote equal pay.

The Scottish Executive is a partner in the Close the Gap Campaign, launched in 2001, to raise awareness of the gender pay gap and ways of tackling it. The Close the Gap Campaign information packs contain information about employees' rights to equal pay and how employees can make a complaint about unequal pay to an Employment Tribunal. Employment law is a reserved matter.The Scottish ministers have made legal aid available in certain circumstances for legal representation before the Employment Tribunal in Scotland.

No research is currently being undertaken specifically on this issue although there is completed and on-going work that should assist in assessing the likely cumulative effects of new proposals on communities. Where cumulative effects are likely to have significant environmental effects, an assessment of these effects is required by the Environmental Impact Assessment (Scotland) Regulations 1999.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-27237 on 29 July 2002. 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/webapp/search_wa.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-27237 on 29 July 2002. 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/webapp/search_wa.