Chamber and committees

The amount ofCommunity Regeneration Funding allocated to Community Planning Partnerships(CPPs) over the last two years is provided in the following table. Localauthorities are the accountable body for this funding which is linked to eachPartnership’s Regeneration Outcome Agreement.

As part of therecently completed Strategic Spending Review, the Scottish Government hasannounced a new £145m per annum fund to regenerate communities and tacklepoverty which will replace the Community Regeneration Fund (CRF). Allocationsfrom the new fund will be notified to CPPs in due course.

As an interimmeasure, one quarter of the baseline 2007-08 CRF allocation has been guaranteedfor each CPP in advance of a final decision on allocation of the new Fund.

Note:

1.The amounts above (rounded to the nearest £000) relate to original allocationsannounced in April 2005 and include Integration for Asylum Seekers support in Glasgow.

In addition to thisallocation, an additional £200,000 was allocated in 2006-08 (£100,000 per annum)to help support suicide prevention action in the Highlands and to help increase knowledge aimed at improving suicide prevention inother remote and rural areas of Scotland. This additionalresource reflects the specific challenges of preventing suicide in these communities.

Funding for suicideprevention work continues in 2008-09. The national functions will be funded at almost£1 million. The £3.2 million approximately that has been given to local authoritiesin 2006-07 and 2007-08, with guidance that it should be spent on suicide prevention,has been rolled into the total budget for local government in 2008-09. We wouldhope that local authorities would still see suicide prevention as a priority andwill work with them on that basis.

From April 2008 theMental Health Specific Grant (formerly Mental Illness Specific Grant) will be absorbedinto the main local government settlement. The funding will continue to have animportant role in continuing to provide local, community based services and supportfor people with a mental health problem, their carers and families.

The provisional allocationsfor the 2008‑09 overall settlement will be confirmed at the time of the LocalGovernment Finance settlement announcement planned for mid-December. However, theintention is that where a previously ring-fenced grant has been absorbed withinthe settlement, the funding associated with that grant will be distributed betweencouncils in the same way as in 2007-08.

The ScottishGovernment will be providing local government in Scotland with record levels of funding over the period covered by the spendingreview 2008-11. The vast majority of the funding, including any funding for mentalhealth funding, will be provided by means of a block grant. It is theresponsibility of each local authority to allocate the total financialresources available to it on the basis of local needs and priorities havingfirst fulfilled its statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set ofnational and local priorities including the Scottish Government’s key strategicobjectives and manifesto commitments.

The 2003 act makeprovision for protection orders to be reviewed or revoked in whole or in partat any time.