Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government will outline and assess the range of options for fiscal autonomy in its paper Fiscal Autonomy in Scotland: The Case for Change and Options for Reform.

The paper will be published today and will be available to download from the Scottish Government website. A copy will also be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 47728).

The independent review team, including a patient and family representative, has now concluded its follow up review and its findings are published today.

Section 3 of the Damages (Asbestos-related Conditions) (Scotland) Bill makes specific provision in relation to the law on limitation as it affects civil actions for conditions such as pleural plaques. We are also looking at the merits of changes to the law on limitation more generally; a detailed report on prescription and limitation for personal injury actions is amongst several Scottish Law Commission reports which we are considering.

This question was answered in the Chamber. The answer can be viewed in the Official Report using the following link:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/officialReports/meetingsParliament/or-09/sor0129-01.htm

 

This PQ was answered in the Chamber. The answer can be viewed in the Official Report using the following link:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/officialReports/meetingsParliament/or-09/sor0108-01.htm

The identification of traders acting illegally is a matter for local authorities under consumer protection powers reserved to the UK Government. However, as part of its work to support local authorities in their implementation of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006, the Scottish Government is exploring options for facilitating a trusted trader framework across Scotland. The aim of such a framework would be to ensure that homeowners needing to carry out work to their home had access to basic information on reliable traders, mainly through their local authority trading standards department.

Scottish Screen has advised that the UK Film Council cannot provide the particular information requested. The UK Film Council provides funding both directly, through targeted funding schemes in areas such as development, production, distribution and exhibition, and indirectly via funded partners such as Skillset and the British Film Institute. In the current financial year, Skillset has awarded £360,911.08 to date in grants to Scotland-based organisations and individuals. In the first nine months of the current financial year £855,818.25 of targeted funding, which is application based, was awarded by the UK Film Council to Scotland.

The UK Film Council announced last year that it had allocated £1.88 million, over three years to 2010-11, to support the Edinburgh International Film Festival.

Scottish Screen and the UK Film Council work together to support the film industry in Scotland, often supporting the same films and projects.

UK Sport expects to distribute approximately £6.7 million in 2008-09 to support Scottish athletes, although they may not necessarily be based in Scotland. It will also provide investment of £520,000 in UK Governing Body posts and programme costs based in Scotland.

On 3 December 2008 UK Sport confirmed investment of £292 million to be allocated to 19 Olympic and 14 Paralympic sports for 2009-10 to 2012-13. As there are a number of Olympic and Paralympic sports still to have their funding confirmed by UK Sport it is not currently possible to determine how much of this funding will be distributed in Scotland.

The total budgets and planned budgets for Creative Scotland proposed to Parliament are £50.2 million in 2008-09, £55.1 million in 2009-10 and £57.5 million in 2010-11. Included in these figures are specific amounts for the Youth Music Initiative (£10 million per year), Cultural Co-ordinators (£2.65 million in 2008-09 and £2.15 million in 2009-10), Arts and Business (£0.4 million each year) and the Edinburgh Festivals Expo fund (£1.308 million in 2008-09, £2.692 million in 2009-10 and £2 million in 2010-11). The budgets include provision for new government priorities such as the Creative Innovation Fund (£2.5 million in each year 2009-10 and 2010-11).

Decisions on more detailed disbursements of Creative Scotland funding are for the Joint Board of the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen, and for Creative Scotland once established, and set out in those organisations'' annual business plans.

Any revisions to Creative Scotland''s budgets each year will be proposed to Parliament in the usual way. Funding levels for Creative Scotland beyond 2010-11 will be announced at the next Government spending review.

I shall be announcing today the appointment of two Non-Executive Directors to the Board of Scottish Futures Trust: Councillor Jim Fletcher, Leader of East Renfrewshire Council, and Colin Maclean, former Group Head of Procurement and Supply Chain Management with BP.