Chamber and committees

Eighty-eight residents of West Dunbartonshire took up a modern apprenticeship in 1999-2000; 141 in 2000-01; 262 in 2001-02 and 255 in 2002-03 (to end January 2003). The numbers for Argyll and Bute local authority area are not collected centrally.

The implementation of the new strand to the relocation policy will be taken forward in consultation with key public sector stakeholders.The Executive has written to bodies covered by the relocation policy requesting that they identify small units of work that could be successfully carried out in more remote areas, without compromising efficiency. Reviews will then be carried out on the most promising opportunities.More detailed aspects of how the scheme will operate have been discussed with Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, and COSLA. The Executive will shortly be writing to all local authorities and local enterprise companies to alert them to the details.

We are currently considering the report from the consultants commissioned by sportscotland to review their property portfolio as a whole. That will help inform our decision on the future location of sportscotland's headquarters which we expect to make by March.

The Executive wrote to all Scottish local authorities and Local Enterprise Companies on 16 December 2002 drawing attention to the new list of bodies, announced on 11 December 2002, about to conduct location reviews.

A range of factors are considered in evaluating relocation reviews. These include costs, operational effectiveness, the position of staff and social, economic and environmental considerations.We will be providing further guidance on social and economic factors to make clear that there is a case for giving greater weight to factors such as unemployment and other indicators of deprivation in considering location reviews.

I expect that the Scottish Arts Council's report on future location will be with ministers by the end of this financial year. A decision will be made as soon as possible thereafter.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-32492 on 11 December 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 National Liaison Group for Credit Unions is an independent body set up by the credit union movement to discuss issues of common interest and to harmonise lobbying strategies on government policy that may impact credit unions. The Scottish Executive does not consider it appropriate for us to seek representation on such a group.

The Executive is working with the Scottish Credit Union Partnership on a number of centrally provided support functions for credit unions, including healthchecks and business planning, work on volunteer training and the use of IT. The Executive would be willing to take part in any future discussions at UK level on the possibility of a dedicated central services organisation.

Specific action by the Executive includes providing an additional £3 million to increase the number of money advisers in Scotland and £500,000 for increased central support for money advice including training, information and quality assurance. The Executive has also allocated £1.5 million over three years to help credit unions with capacity building, to extend their membership and the services they offer. The Executive is also working with parties in the financial sector and others to encourage the development of new and alternative means to deliver financial services as well as ensuring existing services are accessible to people at risk of financial exclusion.