Chamber and committees

Community engagement is a key element of a wide range of policy areas and contributes towards all of our strategic objectives. As such, the Scottish Government has a key interest in national co-ordination of policy on community engagement.

Responsibility for the implementation of Community Planning sits with the Partnerships themselves, and it is up to individual partnerships to decide on the detail of how community engagement is carried out. The Public Service Reform Directorate of the Scottish Government continues to have overall responsibility for Community Planning policy but will not monitor spending by individual partnerships on community engagement.

The Community Voices Programme is now part of the Fairer Scotland Fund. The Scottish Government is responsible for the performance management arrangements for the Fairer Scotland Fund.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-9808 on 27 February 2008. 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/webapp/wa.search.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-9991 on 27 February 2008. 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/webapp/wa.search.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-9991 on 27 February 2008. 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/webapp/wa.search

In implementing the guidance on the extension of priority treatment to include all veterans, each NHS board has been asked to appoint a senior member of staff to have overall responsibility in ensuring the implementation of these guidelines and to record any difficulties that may arise. The Scottish Government will continue to work closely with NHS Scotland in the provision of quality health care for serving armed forces personnel and their families, and veterans.

I have asked James Hynd, Acting Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. His response is as follows:

The Mortgage to Rent scheme has a dedicated webpage for those wishing to find out about the scheme. The following link contains details about the scheme, including the valuation eligibility tool, application form and information leaflet:

http://www.communitiesscotland.gov.uk/stellent/groups/public/documents/webpages/cs_006676.hcsp.

There is also a telephone helpline 0845 279 9999.

Information about the Mortgage to Rent scheme is distributed to a range of organisations including Citizens Advice Bureaux, local authority money advice centres, social landlords and solicitors acting for lenders.

Members of the Mortgage to Rent team regularly carry out presentations for a variety of interested organisations to provide advice and encourage participation. Also, dedicated stands are staffed at national events hosted by organisations such as Citizens Advice Scotland and Money Advice Scotland.

Decisions on the future scale of the scheme will be made annually as part of the approval of the Affordable Housing Investment Programme.

The government will support MACS and PTUC through the amalgamation process and officials have met with MACS on several occasions recently. We have also started a dialogue with key MACS stakeholders.

This amalgamation will help deliver our vision to reshape the public sector by improving its efficiency, effectiveness and outcome focus for the businesses and people of Scotland.

The Supporting People Enabling Unit is organising a series of five regional events at which representatives from the Scottish Government and local authorities are discussing with third sector service providers and other stakeholders the rationale for removing the ring-fence and the transition to the new arrangements set out in the concordat with COSLA. Meetings were held in Edinburgh (17 January 2008); Glasgow (24 January 2008), and Dundee (29 January 2008). The issues were also discussed with the Supporting People Forum and with Supporting People Lead Officers on 12 February 2008 and two further regional events will also take place in February.

Parliamentary scrutiny will bean essential part of monitoring progress in relation to single outcome agreements.I will be writing to the Convenor of the Local Government and Communities Committeein due course outlining how I propose the process of reporting to the committeeand to the Parliament be taken forward.