Chamber and committees

The First Minister and officials met representatives of the City of Edinburgh Council, VisitScotland and a third party organisation on 12 October 2009 to discuss the possibility of that third party organisation buying The Gathering 2009 Ltd in order to secure the future of the Gathering as an event. That third party organisation subsequently confirmed that it was not interested in purchasing The Gathering  2009 Ltd. On 13 October 2009, the City of Edinburgh Council informed the Scottish Government that at that stage the council or Destination Edinburgh Marketing Alliance were interested in purchasing the company.

The First Minister and officials met with representatives of the City of Edinburgh Council, VisitScotland and a third party organisation on 12 October 2009 to discuss the possibility of that third party organisation buying The Gathering 2009 Ltd in order to secure the future of the Gathering as an event. During the course of that week the City of Edinburgh Council confirmed to the Scottish Government that Destination Edinburgh Marketing Alliance was considering buying The Gathering 2009 Ltd. Officials from the Scottish Government and the City of Edinburgh Council met again on 4 November 2009 to discuss this issue.

Once the Scottish Government was made aware of Destination Edinburgh Marketing Alliance''s intention to buy The Gathering 2009 Ltd, officials had a number of discussions with officials from the City of Edinburgh Council about the council''s plans. As usual, this included discussions on the presentational aspects of the decision. Scottish Government ministers and officials were provided with an advance copy of the press release to enable the then Minister for Culture, External Affairs and the Constitution to provide a quote for inclusion in the release.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-31666 on 9 March 2010. 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/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-31666 on 9 March 2010. 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/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-31666 on 9 March 2010. 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/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-31666 on 9 March 2010. 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/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-31666 on 9 March 2010. 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/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

Our ambition is to have renewable generation in every school as we believe that will help contribute towards the challenging emissions reduction targets which are required by the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009. The joint Scottish Government and COSLA school estate strategy, Building Better Schools: Investing in Scotland''s Future, sets out nine guiding principles for the school estate. The sixth of these is that schools should be greener, more sustainable and environmentally efficient.

The Schools Renewables Development Officers, who are funded by the Scottish Government, are continuing to help local authorities secure funding from the extended Low Carbon Buildings Programme and the Community and Renewable Energy Scheme, both of which provide funding towards the eligible capital costs of installing renewable energy generations plant in schools and other buildings.

There are a growing number of world leading examples of sustainable schools which have opened since May 2007, including Acharacle Primary School in Highland, which has very low energy requirements due to its highly innovative design and Inverclyde Academy, which is provided with up to 20% of its electricity from a 50kw wind turbine, one of the largest in any school in the UK.

Resources will be transferred to local authorities to help support the additional local activity associated with introducing and operating the quality assurance and moderation scheme for assessment for curriculum for excellence.

The Scottish Government is currently in discussion with local government to quantify the additional activity required to support moderation for the new assessment arrangements and to agree the resources needed to ensure that teachers have the time required to undertake that activity. Local authorities will continue to prioritise CPD towards development and implementation of Curriculum for Excellence including assessment and moderation.

Local government is fully committed to delivery of Curriculum for Excellence. Its representatives on the Curriculum for Excellence Management Board support the approach to moderation set out in the Framework for Assessment.