Chamber and committees

Scotland’s creative industries are a real success, and atribute to the nation’s long-established talent for innovation andentrepreneurial skill. They also contribute strongly to the economy.

The Executive wants tomaximise the sector’s long term potential. We plan to assess the extent towhich there are gaps in current enterprise network support for the creativeindustries; which agencies should provide those services, and whether theservices could be provided in a more effective manner. It would not be appropriateto consider any change in responsibilities before this assessment is complete.

The asset management strandof the Efficient Government programme is actively targeting the issue ofefficient use of public resources; including vacant and derelict land in theownership of the wider Executive. The property records of the Executive and itsagencies show the ownership of land, not the use to which it is put and doesnot permit a direct answer to be readily given to the question. The underlyingprinciple is that the Executive should hold assets where there is a good reasonfor doing so and that other assets should be disposed of. Work is ongoing toestablish the opportunities for rationalisation to ensure that our portfolio istaut and meets the needs of our organisation. As this work develops we willkeep the member updated.

Glasgow Housing Association (GHA) has spent the ContingentEfficiencies Grant funding it has claimed so far on delivery of itsbusiness objectives as set out in its Business Plan. GHA is currentlyconsulting on its draft 30-year Business Plan for 2007-08 (available on the GHAwebsite at http://www.gha.org.uk in whichit states that this funding, along with annual rental income, is committed to:home and neighbourhood improvements, providing housing services, communityregeneration and running the local housing organisation network and supportservices.

Glasgow Housing Association (GHA) has spent the SecuredRepayable Grant funding it has claimed so far on delivery of itsbusiness objectives as set out in its Business Plan. GHA is currentlyconsulting on its draft 30-year Business Plan for 2007-08 (available on the GHAwebsite at http://www.gha.org.uk in whichit states that this funding, along with annual rental income, is committed to:home and neighbourhood improvements, providing housing services, communityregeneration and running the local housing organisation network and supportservices.

The following table presentsthe median annual household income estimates for Scotland based on the FamilyResources Survey.

Table: Median annual household income for Scotland,2004-05

£ per year

Equivalised Net Disposable Household Income, Before Housing Costs)	Equivalised Net Disposable Household Income, After Housing Costs
18,169	16,294

Source: Households BelowAverage Income, DWP.

Further information can befound in the latest Scottish Households Below Average Income 2004-05 publicationhttp://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/95793/0023203.pdf.

Notes:

Net disposablehousehold income: Totalincome after deductions for income tax, National Insurance Contributions,council tax, pension contributions and maintenance payments.

Housing costs: Net disposable income but withrent/mortgage payments, water charges, structural insurance premiums, groundrent and service charges deducted.

Equivalised netdisposable household income:'Equivalised' Income is used to allow comparisons of living standards betweendifferent household types. Income is adjusted to take into account variationsin the size and composition of the household. This adjustment reflects the factthat a family of several people requires a higher income than a single personin order for both households to enjoy a comparable standard of living. The keyassumption is that all individuals in the household benefit equally from thecombined (equivalised) income of the household. There are distinct equivalencescales used for income before housing costs (BHC) and income after housingcosts (AHC).

Median: The income valuewhich divides a population, when ranked by income, into two equal-sized groups.The measure is most commonly used to represent average income due to the highlyskewed nature of the income distribution, which leads to the very high incomesof a few having a disproportionate impact on the mean.

The membership of the JudicialCommittee of the Privy Council is available on the Privy Council website, accessibleat www.privy-council.org.uk.

I refer the member to theanswers to questions S2W-23043 on 2 March 2006, and S2W-30519, on 16 January 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Details of Scottish Executiveministerial attendance at European Union Council of Ministers meetings are availableon the Scottish Executive website at:http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/International-Relations/Europe/Page6.

Information on the subjects discussedand decisions taken is available on the Council of the European Union website at:

http://www.consilium.europa.eu/cms3_fo/showPage.asp?id=221&lang=en&mode=g.

The Scotland Act 1998 (Cross-BorderPublic Authorities) (Specification) Order 1999 (S.I.1999/1319) sets out the cross-borderpublic authorities as specified under section 88 of the Scotland Act 1998. A copyof this order can be found in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib.number 23320).

Only one such order has everbeen made. The statutory framework for the operation of new bodies with devolvedand non-devolved functions created since devolution is set out in the relevant establishingstatutes.

Figures for 2006 are not yetavailable. The latest available data is shown in the following tables:

Gross Expenditure onResearch and Development

		1997	1999	2003
Scotland	£ millions	811	1,004	1,355
	% of GDP	1.17	1.34	1.51
UK	£ millions	14,654	16,969	20,824
	% of GDP	1.78	1.84	1.85

Source: Office for NationalStatistics.

Business Expenditure onResearch and Development

		1997	1999	2005
Scotland	£ millions	291	393	584
	% of GDP	0.43	0.53	0.59
UK	£ millions	9,556	11,302	13,410
	% of GDP	1.16	1.23	1.08

Source: Office for NationalStatistics.