Chamber and committees

Any proposal by the Scottish Funding Council to offer financial support in excess of its delegated authority requires to be approved by ministers. In such cases ministers would give close consideration to the business case, including the educational, financial and other benefits.

Ministers keep the governance arrangements of further education colleges under ongoing review. Officials plan to meet representatives of stakeholders, including the Scottish Funding Council, the STUC, NUS Scotland and the organisation Scotland''s Colleges, on 11 May 2010 to consider the scope for further improving college governance.

Employment issues are a matter for a college''s board of management, as the employer. It is my understanding that the colleges in central Glasgow which are discussing merger do not intend that any compulsory redundancies should occur as a direct result of merger.

No direct discussions between the Scottish Government and Stow College have taken place, or are planned, regarding the colleges position in any merger or in the New Campus Glasgow estates project.

The Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 (Commencement No. 8, Transitional Provisions and Savings) Order 2010 was made on 20 April 2010.

This will bring into effect the HMO provisions within Part 5 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 on 31 August 2011.

These provisions will bring in additional enforcement powers for local authorities. They will increase the maximum fine for a landlord found guilty of operating an unlicensed HMO from £5,000 to £20,000 and allow local authorities to use rent penalty notices to prevent unlicensed HMO landlords from collecting rent from their tenants.

We recognise the importance of raising awareness of diabetes so that the condition can be diagnosed and treated as soon as possible.

Raising awareness of the symptoms of type 1 diabetes is one of the issues that will be addressed in the revised Scottish Diabetes Action Plan.

We have invested in the Keep Well and Well North programmes, which offer health checks in our most deprived communities to those at highest risk of developing cardiovascular diseases such as type 2 diabetes.

Much of type 2 diabetes can be prevented through the adoption of healthier lifestyles. This is something we are committed to promoting through our Take Life On campaign which is available at http://www.takelifeon.co.uk/.

For people with type 1 diabetes, insulin regimes are essential for good glucose control, to ensure that the risks of diabetes-related complications are minimised. People with type 1 diabetes are made fully aware of the importance of taking insulin when they are diagnosed with the condition. This is followed up through regular clinical reviews, either within general practice, or with hospital consultants where appropriate, at which individual glucose control and adherence to medication are monitored. The 2009 Scottish Diabetes Survey shows that over 87% of people with type 1 diabetes had their blood glucose control recorded in the previous 15 months, mainly as a result of the diabetes domain in the Quality Outcomes Framework of the new GMS contract.

The importance of controlling blood glucose levels, and the medications required to help people do so, are highlighted in the booklet for patients and carers issued to accompany the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) Guideline 116 on the management of diabetes, published in March 2010. It also features strongly in the management and monitoring sections of the mydiabetesmyway website. We recognise that effective self management of this type requires access to high quality information and emotional and psychological support, and that will be reflected in the revised Scottish Diabetes Action Plan which we expect to be published in the near future.

Fiona Hyslop (the then Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning) met with the Minister of State (then Liam Byrne) on 11 October 2007 in London. She continued to raise the concern of the detention of children in written correspondence with Liam Byrne between August 2007 and June 2008. The First Minister reaffirmed this opposition in written correspondence to the Home Secretary (initially Jacqui Smith and subsequently Alan Johnston) from December 2007 to May 2008. Michael Russell (the then Minister for Culture, External Affairs and the Constitution) met with the Minister of State for Borders and Immigration, Phil Woolas, on 9 November 2009 in London and subsequently wrote to Mr Woolas on 20 November 2009.

Scottish Government officials have bi-monthly meetings and informal contact with officials from the UK Border Agency to discuss the support available to asylum seeking children during their stay in Scotland.

No business case has yet been submitted to ministers relating to the New Campus Glasgow project.

Scottish Government officials have had no discussions with banking representatives regarding the phasing out of cheques and to date has not been made aware of any concerns or impact on this issue by consumers or businesses.