Chamber and committees

The Scottish Executive has providedtargeted funding of £42.5 million to local authorities over four years and of £6million to NHS boards over two years to help them to implement the Education (AdditionalSupport and Learning)(Scotland) Act 2004.

It is for NHS boards and localauthorities to agree local priorities, such as service development and the provisionof speech and language therapy services for children and young people.

Scottish Ministers have setRegisters of Scotland the target of achieving an average turnaround time of 100working days for all routine (domestic) First Registration applications. Currentperformance against this target is 69.8 working days for all such First Registrations,which are projected to account for 85% of the total First Registration intakefor the Land Register in 2006-07.

It is not possible tocomplete all applications for First Registration within a limited timescalesuch as four months. The length of time that an application for firstregistration takes to process depends primarily on its complexity but also uponother factors such as the availability of supporting documentation fromapplicants, the completeness of neighbouring titles, the availability of currentOrdnance Survey maps (e.g. for new developments), and whether there areassociated applications that should be processed at the same time.

The Registers of Scotland seeksto provide an accurate and prompt registration service for all its customers. Thespeed with which an application can be processed depends primarily oncomplexity. Introducing a premium fee service has been considered but theconclusion was that any reduction in the time taken to process an applicationthat attracted a higher fee would be slight and the overall effect of such ameasure would be likely to increase turnaround times across the piece.

The Registers of Scotlandhas recently completed a review of the fees charged for registration services,proposing an overall reduction of income from these fees of 25%. A publicconsultation exercise was undertaken as part of that review and theintroduction of a premium service was not raised.

The length of time that anapplication for First Registration takes to process depends primarily on itscomplexity but also on other factors such as the availability of supportingdocumentation from applicants, the completeness of neighbouring titles andwhether there are associated applications which should be processed at the sametime. The current totals of applications for first registration in the LandRegister that are in the course of being processed are as follows:

Timescale	Stock	Relative Intake
6-12 months	7,805	31,807
1-2 years	9,353	66,428
2-3 years	6,503	75,149
3-4 years	3,623	80,363
4-5 years	719	78,093
> 5 years	61

 

Scottish Ministers settargets for Registers of Scotland as regards the average time taken to process routineapplications for registration in the Land Register. In the past five years,Registers of Scotland has met all such targets.

Registers of Scotland isself-financing and operates under arrangements analogous to these applying toTrading Funds. This arrangement is provided for by the Public Finance andAccountability (Scotland) Act 2000.The fees that the Agency charges for its registration and information provisionservices are set by Scottish Ministers at a level sufficient to cover all theexpenses of the Department, including the costs of improvements to the systemsof registration.

Additionally, Registers ofScotland is required, by virtue of its status, to make a return on capitalemployed and pay a dividend into the Scottish Consolidated Fund from its income.

In terms of section 4(2)(e)of the Land Registration (Scotland) Act 1979,payment of the appropriate statutory fee must be tendered with all applicationsfor registration, including applications for first registration of title.

I understand that a revised formaloffer was made to the trade unions on 15 December 2005. Following a ballot process the offer has been accepted by members of thePublic and Commercial Services (PCS). However, the majority of Unison members formallyrejected the proposal on 23 February 2006. Further discussions with Unison are currently takingplace.

Under the delegated pay arrangementsit is for Scottish Enterprise, as the employer, to conduct its own pay negotiationswith staff. I will continue to encourage Scottish Enterprise and the unions to negotiatewith a view to reaching a settlement.

The Labour Force Survey providesinformation on employment and ethnicity that allows for an ethnic breakdown of employmentindicators. The estimates for ethnic minorities are based on very small samplesand so statistics on ethnic minorities are often not very reliable.

The Curriculum Framework for Children 3 to 5 recognises the powerful contribution that play makes to children’s learning. The curriculum review will extend the approach used in pre-school to the initial stages of primary, emphasising the importance of opportunities for children to learn through purposeful, well-planned play.

The Executive’s Childcare Strategy stresses the importance of ample opportunities for sporting activities and play, and this is reinforced by the National Care Standards for early education and childcare up to the age of 16, which require that activities provided by staff will allow children and young people to enjoy both organised and free play. The recent expansion of out of school care provision allows increased opportunities for safe and rewarding play and activities for school age children.

Active play and physical activity for older children is being promoted through the Active Schools programme.

Under the Physical Activity Strategy, the Executive is funding a development worker to promote the play@home scheme. A scheme designed to increase parents/carers confidence in handling their babies, and to develop skills in helping children learn through creative play.

A draft Scottish Planning Policy 11 will shortly be issued for consultation. The consultation draft will include national minimum open space standards for provision within certain types of new development.

It is for local authorities toassess the community care needs of older people, and to meet those needs, includingthe provision of free personal and nursing care where appropriate.

I am aware that a number of localauthorities are operating waiting lists for personal and nursing care, and my officialsare pursuing this matter with the councils in question.

We will work with those councilsto help them understand and address their responsibilities for the provision ofcare, and to ensure that older people are able to access the services to which theyare entitled.