Chamber and committees

Funding in 2000-01 includes a one off capital grant of £400 for the provision of direct access and move on accommodation in Oban.

I refer you to my answers of 11 February and 13 March 2000 about Scottish Executive support for Neighbourhood Watch and other initiatives. Evaluations are undertaken to determine the effectiveness of all our major crime prevention initiatives. However, as with criminal justice, some benefits are indirect and may take several years to make a direct impact on law enforcement costs.

Funding in 2000-01 includes a one off capital grant of £65,000 for the provision of crisis accommodation for clients with mental health problems.

The Patients Charter guarantee of nine months for cataract surgery was breached during 1999 following the discovery of a cluster of cases of the eye infection "endophthalmitis" at Stonehouse Hospital. Routine operations were suspended while investigations were carried out to identify common characteristics of all such cases and to examine infection control procedures. The service was resumed in September 1999.

In 1998-99 Lanarkshire Health Board invested an additional £266k in improving local ophthalmological services and consequently adequate resources are in place to deal with the current backlog and to sustain compliance with Charter guarantees.

A further ophthalmologist is due to take up post on 1 May and this combined with the momentum created by the full restoration of cataract surgery means that no patient should breach the Charter guarantee by the end of this year.

Funding for new RSI projects in Glasgow will be determined in the light of the conclusions of the Glasgow Strategy Review Team which is developing a comprehensive strategy for addressing rough sleeping in the city. I expect the review team to provide advice by Easter. In the meantime current RSI projects in Glasgow have been allocated continuation funding until the end of June 2000 but no decisions have been taken for the period from July 2000 to 2001-02.

Funding in 2000-01 includes a one off capital grant of £314,000 for the provision of direct access accommodation in East Kilbride.

No. The Executive published its proposals for the Integrated Transport Bill on 10 February.

The average band D council tax figure for 2000-01, calculated on a weighted basis, is £886.

The local government settlement for 2000-01 allows for total local authority current expenditure to rise by 3.7%. This is a real terms increase when compared to the current forecast of inflation for 2000-01 of 2.5%.

Curriculum Design for the Secondary Stages: Guidelines for Schools published in June 1999 provides clear curricular goals, i.e. "schools have a responsibility to help pupils be disposed to have: a commitment to learning; respect and care for self; respect and care for others; and a sense of social responsibility." The Health Education Board for Scotland, who give a lead to many national health education efforts in Scotland is supporting a number of projects in schools designed to promote mental wellbeing and is committed to developing resources to assist teachers in recognising children who may need additional professional support.