Chamber and committees

The agenda for the meetings of the Cabinet Sub-Committee on Scottish Government Resilience held since 1 December 2010 includes a standing item on communications issues.

For dates and times of meetings of the Cabinet Sub-Committee since 1 December 2010, I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-38184 on 15 December 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.

The agenda for the meetings of the Cabinet Sub-Committee on Scottish Government Resilience held since 1 December 2010 includes standing items on communications and on the current situation and outlook for health and community care. This allows communications issues relating to the needs of older or vulnerable people to be raised as required.

For dates and times of meetings of the Cabinet Sub-Committee since 1 December 2010, I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-38184 on 15 December 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-38184 on 15 December 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.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting and improving the education of all children and young people. All children should benefit from an education system that is engaging, relevant, tailored to their needs and best prepares them for their future lives. Curriculum for Excellence should lead to improved quality of learning and teaching and increased attainment and achievement for all children and young people, irrespective of where that learning takes place.

The Scottish Government recognises that some children and young people need extra help to enable them to benefit fully from education and is currently providing funding of £65,000 in this financial year to the Scottish Traveller Education Programme (STEP). STEP aims to improve educational opportunities for Scotland''s travelling communities.

The Scottish Government is also providing up to £50,000 to the STEP eLearning and Traveller Education Scotland (eLATES) programme in 2010-11. The e-learning community programme provides distance learning with anytime anywhere access for Gypsy/Traveller and travelling show and fairground young people.

Access to the fund will be contingent on local partnerships “ NHS, local authorities and third and independent sector representation “ drawing up joint plans for its use. Local change plans will be prepared and submitted through local community planning partnership processes, and it will be up to each partnership to agree how to achieve this through local delegated and devolved arrangements.

Guidance is under development with key partners from the above sectors and will issue by the end of this year. The guidance will include specific reference to the important role of unpaid carers and the need for partnerships to make appropriate provision for their support.

The change fund outlined in the draft budget is being allocated to health boards in 2011-12 on a recurrent basis. It will therefore be available beyond 2011-12 within health boards'' baseline funding.

The Scottish Government is providing funding totalling £65,000 to the Scottish Traveller Education Programme and up to £50,000 for the Scottish Traveller Education Programme e-Learning and Traveller Education Scotland (eLATES) in this financial year (2010-11).

The recommendations contained in Professor Harrington''s review of the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) go a substantial way to addressing the concerns raised by stakeholders. Any implications are a matter for the Department for Work and Pensions. The Scottish Government welcomes the recommendations made in the review that will help make the WCA fairer. My officials will continue to monitor developments from the implementation of the review of the WCA and will also continue to work with employability service providers and other partners to assess any impact on those who want to work.

The Minister for Housing and Communities last met with representatives of the Gypsy and Traveller Community on 17 November 2010. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss how best to ensure that some of the tensions that were evident in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire last summer would not be repeated in future. The meeting involved key stakeholders with an interest in improving community relations between Gypsies/Travellers and the settled community, and included Article 12. (Other participants included local MSPs, relevant local authority officials, COSLA, Grampian Police, the Association of Chief Police Officers Scotland, and the Equalities and Human Rights Commission).

We plan to publish the initial baseline report from the first year of the study The Changing Public Services Landscape in Scotland: Opportunities and Challenges for the Third Sector at the end of January 2011. The final report of the study which will track the third sector''s response to the changing public sector landscape over the three year period of the study, should be published toward the end of 2012/early 2013.