Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government doesnot have plans in place to legislate to establish a commissioner for older people.However, as set out in All Our Futures; Planning for a Scotland with anAgeing Population we will establish a broadly based National Forum on Ageing.The forum will act as a champion for older people by progressing an agreed visionincluding;

Age is not used to define ormake assumptions about the role, value or potential of an individual

Older people have access to publicservices which are people-centred, accessible and joined up, and can access qualityservices appropriate to their needs, when and where they are required.

The Commission for Equality andHuman Rights (CEHR) will be established in October 2007, bringing together the sixequality strands, including age, into a single equality body.

UK Sport has responsibility for the UK Performance Pathwayand through this a total of £600 million has been made available over the six yearsfrom 2006-07 to 2012-13 to support athletes, including Scottish athletes, from havingtheir talent confirmed all the way to the podium. This figure includes a total of£300 million additional funding made available by the UK Government in the March2006 Budget to support the UK’s 2012 ambitions - £200 million of which is providedthrough exchequer funding, with a further £100 million to be raised by the UK Governmentthrough the private sector.

Support for athletes is tieredaccording to their performance potential and ranges from financial support withliving costs and competition and travel expenses to sports science and medical support,coaching, and equipment. Support is offered to UK athletes, including Scottish athletesand support comes from across the UK, again, including in Scotland, for example through the Scottish Institute of Sport.

There are currently a total of122 Scottish athletes funded through UK Sport’s World Class Performance Programmeacross 29 Olympic and Paralympic sports. Forty-three of those athletes are on theWorld Class Podium Programme, while 79 are on the World Class Development Programme.In total, approximately £6 million per annum is currently being invested directlyin Scottish athletes by UK Sport. This figure does not include more generic fundingfrom UK Sport to support UK National Governing Body performance activity.

In addition, sportscotland invests£5 million per annum in the Scottish Institute Network (Scottish Institute and thesix Area Institutes), which in turn provides support to Scottish athletes, includingOlympic athletes. Sportscotland invest a further £5 million per annum in SGBs’ sportingpathways. This includes investment in coaching and programme support for athletes.

We cannot ignore thestrength of public feeling about the misuse of air weapons in our communities weare committed to taking appropriate steps to minimise the risk posed by airweapons. We intend to engage with the Westminster Government on a wide range ofissues including firearms.

We are committed to ensuringthat Scotland has a firearms regime that meets Scotland’sneeds. We intend to engage with the Westminster Government on a wide range ofissues including firearms.

The Executive does not collector hold data centrally relating to the types of empty properties in Scotland. However,an estimate of the amount of non-domestic rates not collected in respect of allempty and partially empty properties in Scotland, including industrial and commercial properties, is availablefrom annual returns provided to the Executive by local authorities. The total auditedamount reported for 2005-06 is £131 million. The provisional (not yet audited) figurefor 2006-07 is £123 million.

These figures however, are onlyindicative of the potential additional revenue that could be collected as theseproperties could be subject to revaluation following occupation, or a range of otherforms of relief, depending on the nature of the business.

In 2007-08, if the poundage ratehad been lower than the current poundage rate by (a) 5%, (b) 10%, (c) 15% and (d) 20%, the estimated reduction in revenuewould have been (a) £95 million, (b) £189 million, (c) £284 million and (d) £379million respectively.

We have a manifesto commitmentto phase out prescription charges and we are currently considering in detail howwe work towards that goal.

I am committed to a meetingof Scotland’s sports stakeholders as soon as possible to discussthe prominence of sport in Scotland on the world stage. As part of this discussion, Iwill seek views from stakeholders on International Olympic Committee membershipand a Scottish olympics team. I will also agree a joint approach withstakeholders for taking these issues forward to ensure that Scotland isrepresented in as many sporting competitions as is practically possible.

The Scottish Executive will commissionresearch this summer to assess the likely economic costs and benefits of the 2012games to Scotland. The study is not intended to address the impact of lotteryfunding for sports, charities and the arts.

The previous Executive wroteto the UK Government asking that they look seriously at funding streams other thanthe national lottery to fund the additional cost of the 2012 Olympics. Having reviewedthe position Scottish ministers would fully endorse this and will be working tovigorously pursue this.

Each Scottish lotterydistributing body has been asked to report on the impact on their organisation of the diversion of lottery funds for the games. I will consider this issue furtheronce these reports have been received.

The Scottish Executive has writtento chief constables and other key interests to establish facts and evidenceabout how dangerous dogs legislation is applied in their areas, to seek viewson what might be done to make enforcement more effective, and whether thelegislation needs to be changed. Once the responses have been evaluated, ministerswill consider what action may be taken.