Chamber and committees

The Office for National Statistics(ONS) is adopting two parallel initiatives to meet the demand for regional priceindicators. The first initiative will be to generate estimates, in the short-term,from existing sources of data, subject to these meeting minimum quality standardsand being judged as fit for purpose. Statisticians in the Scottish Executive have had no input to this work which is intended to provide an independentstatistical input into the deliberations of the Pay Review Bodies later this year.Secondly, ONS is undertaking a long-term project, which will look towards developingmore robust and precise estimates, to National Statistics standards, following theoutcome of the Allsopp Review. The Scottish Executive has already contributed significantlyto the Allsopp Review, and will remain closely involved in the work which is takenforward as a result of the recommendations.

The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the UK Government on a wide range of issues,including regional pay.

The Scottish Executive is committed to creating the conditions that will maximise our sustainablelong-term economic growth. It does not forecast Scottish Gross Domestic Productgrowth on set targets in this regard.

The Way Forward: Frameworkfor Economic Development in Scotland,describes the overarching structure within which more detailed policy programmestake place rather than describing detailed measurable targets.

The Way Forward: Frameworkfor Economic Development in Scotlanddescribes the overarching structure within which detailed policy programmes cantake place rather than describing detailed measurable targets. The primary officialdata source on new business formation is the number of new VAT registrations andthis is usually expressed relative to the adult population. The table shows thenumber of new VAT registrations in each local authority in Scotland in thelast three years for which data is available. There are no targets for the nextthree years.

	1999	2000	2001
Aberdeen City	605	630	955
Aberdeenshire	545	620	565
Angus	215	200	190
Argyll and Bute	205	200	210
Clackmannanshire	85	70	75
Dumfries and Galloway	310	290	310
Dundee City	225	210	275
East Ayrshire	245	215	230
East Dunbartonshire	210	200	220
East Lothian	180	185	185
East Renfrewshire	190	175	160
Edinburgh, City of	1,435	1,500	1,365
Eilean Siar	70	45	55
Falkirk	270	240	255
Fife	645	640	610
Glasgow City	1,500	1,460	1,495
Highland	535	525	535
Inverclyde	105	125	110
Midlothian	135	155	135
Moray	160	155	150
North Ayrshire	235	240	205
North Lanarkshire	530	565	560
Orkney Islands	55	70	55
Perth and Kinross	385	405	375
Renfrewshire	335	335	320
Scottish Borders, The	325	280	265
Shetland Islands	75	70	45
South Ayrshire	240	245	255
South Lanarkshire	600	615	660
Stirling	265	275	225
West Dunbartonshire	145	130	115
West Lothian	355	330	360

Source: DTI VAT Registrationsand De-registrations Statistics 2001.

The Way Forward: Framework for Economic Development in Scotland, describes the overarching structure within which detailed policy programmes will be developed rather than describing detailed measurable targets. Chapter 2, section 2 of the most recent edition of the Scottish Economic Reportprovides a summary of measures taken and planned in the future that are aimed at better equipping children for the demands of the global economy.

The performance of an economymay be assessed using a number of indicators ranging from macroeconomic indicators,such as Gross Domestic Product, employment and unemployment, to an array of microeconomicindicators including, for example, those identified in Measuring Scotland’s ProgressTowards a Smart, Successful Scotland. The Executive is committed to creatingthe conditions that will maximise our long-term sustainable growth but does notset targets for key macroeconomic indicators. Details of recent trends in such statisticsare available on the Scottish Executive website and are also published in the bi-annual ScottishEconomic Report.

The appointment of the new ScottishEnterprise Chair will be made in accordance with the Code of Practice issued bythe Commissioner for Public Appointments.

Adverts for this post appearedin the press on 20 June with a closing date of 1 August. The Executiveis currently in the process of assessing the applications received.

The annual budgeted running costsof the Care Commission since its establishment and as set out in its grant-in-aidletters are as follows:

	2002-03 (£000)	2003-04 (£000)
Operational Costs	£17,456.5	£19,266.0
Administration Costs	£3,537.0	£5,757.3
Total Expenditure	£20,993.5	£25,023.3
Receipts
Fees	£5.825.8	£5,408.3
Grant-in-aid	£15,480.0	£19,615.0
Total Income	£21,305.8	£25,023.3

 

These figures show expenditureand income in relation to services regulated prior to 1 April 2002. For those typesof care services for which regulation has commenced since then (for example, childcare agencies), the commission charges fees at a level intended to cover the fullcost of regulation. The cost of regulating those services is in addition to thefigures above and will not be known until some time after 30 September 2003, bywhich time services operating prior to 1 April 2003 arerequired to submit an application.

The out-turn figures for 2002-03will be shown in the commission’s accounts for that year, which are required tobe laid before Parliament before the end of December 2003. The figures for 2003-04reflect a revision of the Care Commission’s requirements based on more up to dateinformation on the number of regulated services and the commission’s experienceof regulating them in its first nine months of operation.

Discussions have been held recentlybetween the Executive and the Barker Review Team at HM Treasury. We have agreedto provide the team with a range of information and statistical data on housingin Scotland which will be sent as soon as it is available. Copiesof publicly available information supplied will be provided to the Parliament’sReference Centre.