Chamber and committees

The UK government has signed up for Part II (general principles) of the charter with regard to Scots and Gaelic and Part III which seeks to translate the general principles into specific undertakings, for Gaelic. The Scottish Executive is committed to policies which will assist the UK government to meet the charter obligations for which it has responsibility in relation to Gaelic and Scots. The Scottish Executive considers Gaelic and Scots to be important aspects of Scotland’s distinctive linguistic and cultural heritage and seeks to give expression to the general principles in its policies. In relation to Gaelic the Scottish Executive is also taking action in areas such as education, media, public services and cultural activities. These actions include the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Bill and a National Languages Strategy. The UK government will provide a detailed report to the Council of Europe on Charter compliance in 2005.

The Executive, in partnership with the Scottish Arts Council, Scottish Enterprise Edinburgh and Lothian, EventScotland, the City of Edinburgh Council and the Association of Edinburgh’s Festivals, had already agreed to commission a study to consider the future development and growth of the Edinburgh Festivals.  This is intended to lead to the identification of a strategy to maintain Edinburgh’s competitive advantage as the leading Festivals City by the year 2020.

The proposal for an Institute for the Languages of Scotland was made by a group of Scottish language interest groups and universities on the basis of an opinion survey. The proposal is uncosted and assessing its feasibility and value for money would require substantial further work. The Executive will consider how best to proceed in the context of its commitment to develop a National Language Strategy.

There are no records of any correspondence between the office of the First Minister and Wark Clements.

The eight Scottish Fire Brigades have confirmed that they have completed visits to all eligible registered care home premises as set out in the table.

Brigade	Number of Visits
Central Scotland Fire Brigade	84
Dumfries and Galloway Fire Brigade	71
Fife Fire and Rescue Service	123
Grampian Fire and Rescue Service	255
Highland and Islands Fire Brigade	157
Lothian and Borders Fire Brigade	256
Strathclyde Fire Brigade	643
Tayside Fire Brigade	164
Total	1,753

 

This represents approximately 97% of care premises registered by the Care Commission in Scotland. The remaining 3% were not visited because they no longer offer overnight residential care, have closed, or have had some other change in status which means they did not require a visit. In approximately 76% of the visits, reports were raised about potential fire hazards but these were mainly of a minor nature. The Care Commission has moved to formal enforcement action in only one case. However, for all visits which resulted in reports being raised, the Care Commission wrote to the care provider requiring them to complete an action plan within 10 days detailing the remedial action to be taken.

The information requested is set out in the following table. Although there are 13 pools over 75 years old, some such as Portobello Swimming Pool have been extensively refurbished. In any event, the owners and operators of swimmingpools have a duty of care over users of the facility.

Local Authority	No. of pools
City of Edinburgh	5
Dundee City	1
Glasgow City	5
Inverclyde	1
Renfrewshire	1
	13

 

Scotland has national physical activity targets for adults andchildren and swimming can make a contribution to daily activity.

As part of the National PhysicalActivity Strategy for Scotland, the Scottish Executive has committed £24 million fundingto sportscotland to develop Active Schools in Scotland. Activeschool co-ordinators will build opportunities for school pupils to engage in physicalactivity including swimming.

Scottish Swimming features inthe Active Schools Training Guide offering a range of courses for potential activityleaders.

The Scottish Executive is working in partnership with Scottish Swimming, to develop a new resourcesupporting active lifestyles. The resource, for use at poolside, is directed attarget groups that may not be reached by commercial products already on the market.The first phase of the programme targets adults aged 25 to 40.

Building on the First Minister’s speech on St Andrew’s Day 2003, the Executive is committed to providing access to cultural excellence in pursuit of its wider objective to build a better Scotland. We have therefore set ourselves targets, within the Building a Better Scotland Spending Proposals 2005-2008, both for increasing access and maintaining the excellence of our cultural offering. Asregards access, our target is to increase by 3% the numbers of people takingpart in cultural activities funded by the Executive, by March 2008, maintainingthe balance of participation across the population. As regards excellence, ourtarget sets out to increase the number of cultural successes by 3%, by March2008. Our agencies are committed to playing their full part in delivering thesetargets, and delivery will be monitored. The spending proposals also specify the funding that has been committed in order to meet ourobjectives.

The Cultural Commission has been asked explicitly, in the remit for its on-going review, to take into account our top priority for “both access and excellence to be a constant throughout cultural provision in Scotland”. This imperative is also central to the ongoing cross-portfolio agenda which I am pursuing with cabinet colleagues further to the First Minister’s statement that every ministerial portfolio would make a contribution, recognising its role and responsibilities in helping to strengthen and support the development of cultural activity in this country. Ways to celebrate and promote Scotland’s cultural output, here and overseas, also feature in this broad agenda.

From April 2005, Architecture and Design Scotland will become the nation’s champion for good architecture and design in the built environment, taking over and expanding the present activities of the Royal Fine Art Commission for Scotland. The aim of Architecture and Design Scotland will be to inspire higher design quality across the public and private sectors, so as to improve the overall quality of our built environment.

Historic Scotland is responsible for safeguarding the nation’s historic built environment, and the Executive’s investment in Historic Scotland will increase from £39.6 million in 2004-05 to £47.7 million in 2007-08. Part of this increased funding will be used to boost Historic Scotland’s spending on Historic Building Repair Grants, which support the repair of Scotland’s most important historic buildings and areas, and the enhancement of the quality of Scotland’s historic city centres.

I have asked Dr Paul Stollard, Chief Executive of the Scottish Building Standards Agency, to answer. His response is as follows:

There are no regulations, at present, which cover the mandatory installation of thermostatic mixing valves.