Chamber and committees

In the period May 1999 to date, 830 planning applications have been notified to the Scottish ministers. To extract and examine each file, current and archived, in order to provide the information requested could only be carried out at disproportionate cost.

If tenants vote yes in the Glasgow housing stock transfer ballot, the Glasgow Housing Association (GHA) will be accountable to the Scottish Executive to spend funding in a manner compliant with the conditions of grant, which will attach to the offer of such funding, to the Executive's agency, Communities Scotland, as the statutory regulator of Registered Social Landlords and to its tenants. Local Housing Organisations will also be accountable as part of their registration requirement with Communities Scotland, and as part of their contractual obligations to the GHA. The GHA will also be accountable to the City Council under terms of the transfer contract and bound to implement all the guarantees set out in the Business Plan.

If tenants vote yes in the Glasgow housing stock transfer ballot, the city council will retain strategic responsibility for housing in the city. The city council has six nominees on the Glasgow Housing Association (GHA) Management Committee, which has overall responsibility for the GHA and its operations. Individual councillors are already represented on a number of existing housing associations in the city.

SUfI administers the Capital Modernisation Fund support for learning centre development on behalf of the Executive. Funding for the scheme, which closed to new applicants in October, ends on 31 March 2002. The Executive does not plan any further funding thereafter. SUfI does not own or operate the learning centres it has branded, but took a view on sustainability of the centres before they were granted learndirect scotland branded status. I have asked the funding distributors, concerned with the administration of the other funds, to write to you directly.

Childcare services will be registered by the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care under the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001. As part of the registration process, childcare providers will be required to obtain a criminal record check on all new employees under Part V of the Police Act 1997. This check will be carried out by Disclosure Scotland (part of the Scottish Criminal Record Office) which will aim to issue the certificates within 10 days of receipt of applications.

The Executive's intention is to move to a position where all staff in centres providing childcare and early education for pre-school children either hold an appropriate qualification, are seeking accreditation of skills and experience, or are pursuing on-the-job-training. The Scottish Social Services Council will be responsible for taking much of this forward in due course.In the meantime, from 1 April 2002, the Commission for the Regulation of Care will be expected to require that all managers should be qualified in childcare, teaching or social work and as a minimum, at least half of the staff in any one facility should be qualified in childcare. "Qualified in childcare" is defined as holding any one of the qualifications mentioned in Working With Children.Within this context, staffing structures are a matter for employers.

Scottish University for Industry (SUfI) administers the Capital Modernisation Fund (CMF) support for learning centre development on behalf of the Executive. SUfI and New Opportunities Fund (who offer funding to meet revenue costs) share information on applicants who have been offered/are being considered for funding. In addition, CMF applicants are asked to provide details of all other project funding that has been applied for or approved, enabling SUfI to build an overall picture of the funding position for every project.I have asked the organisations responsible for approving funding for the New Futures Fund and The National Lottery to write to you directly.

Scottish University for Industry (SUfI) administers the Capital Modernisation Fund (CMF) support for learning centre development on behalf of the Executive. SUfI has made known the criteria used for assessing CMF in a variety of ways, including through promotional literature for the scheme, their website, speeches at public events, direct contact with applicants and in response to written/telephone enquiries.The assessment of bids for funding from the New Futures Fund, New Opportunities Fund and the National Lottery Funds are operational matters for the bodies concerned.

Scottish University for Industry administers the Capital Modernisation Fund (CMF) support for learning centre development on behalf of the Executive. There are no specific targets aimed at ensuring a diversity of organisations receive CMF. Individual applications are judged on their own merits in relation to the overall objectives of the scheme; these include geographic coverage, provision in socially excluded areas and addressing sectoral or other gaps. The scheme is promoted widely to a variety of organisations, including intermediaries, and all promotional literature makes it clear that any organisation is eligible to apply.The criteria for the selection of projects to be funded by the New Futures Fund are a matter for Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Scottish Enterprise within the broad guidelines set out by the Scottish Executive. With regard to projects funded through the New Opportunities Fund and the National Lottery these are matters for the organisations concerned.

The duty on local authorities to provide assistance to a child, does not depend on the identity of the child. We do not expect the absence of official documentation to prove a child's identity, to affect the child's access to local authority assistance.