Chamber and committees

Mining Scotland is currently in discussion with the Department of Trade and Industry and the Scottish Executive about financing its overall operational requirements for the year ahead.

The Scottish Executive, and before it, The Scottish Office, has always taken a close interest in the future of the Longannet deep mine and has maintained close contact with Mining Scotland. The company has kept Scottish Ministers informed on a day-to-day basis of the issues that were recently facing the deep mine. Ministers are delighted that new shareholder funding has been made available to enable the mine to continue in operation and they wish Mining Scotland well under its new ownership.

The Scottish Integrated Workforce Planning Group (SIWPG) has made its interim report to the Director of Human Resources for the NHS in Scotland, on the principles and key issues for workforce planning in the NHS environment. It has clearly identified for the NHS in Scotland that it is vital to integrate good planning and development of the workforce with service planning and redesign, to make sure that effective modern services can be provided and sustained.

The SIWPG will now research good practice and appropriate mechanisms for workforce planning. It will make evidence-based recommendations on how workforce planning should be carried out and on the structure and support it needs. It will show how service changes can best be supported by planning the workforce in the short and long tem, and by linking planning at all levels to improve the quality and standard of care provided to patients. This will give practical help to managers throughout the NHS in Scotland on how to make more effective use of existing and future investment to modernise the workforce.

Employment policy is reserved to the UK Government, which therefore takes the lead on the funding and delivery of the New Deal throughout Great Britain, although in close consultation with its partners, including the Scottish Executive. Many partner organisations at local level also provide New Deal services under contract or provide funds and other resources, including training funds to enhance the quality of New Deal in their areas. The public and voluntary sector organisations, which contribute to the New Deal in this way, fall within the remit of the Scottish Executive.Over 21,000 young people have found jobs through the New Deal for Young People up to the end of December 1999. Youth unemployment in Scotland has fallen by 5,000 since February 1998, a fall of 55%.

In the Partnership for Scotland agreement we made a commitment to promote lifelong learning through the introduction of individual learning accounts (ILAs), and we are committed to the development of a UK framework. The concept of ILAs was developed as a means of allowing people to take responsibility for, and invest in, their own lifelong learning. Accordingly we will now legislate this year to fulfil these commitments and a Learning Accounts (Scotland) Bill will be introduced shortly.

This Bill will allow Scottish Ministers to prescribe regulations covering such issues as powers to pay incentives and discounts, as well as to define learning eligible for such incentives. We aim to have the necessary legislation in place in order to allow for the UK framework to be fully operational by autumn 2000.

I understand that East of Scotland Water Authority intends to complete this project in advance of the statutory deadline of the end of 2005.

Employment policy is reserved to the UK Government which takes the lead on funding and delivery of the New Deal.The New Deal for Young People and the New Deal for the Long Term Unemployed Aged 25 plus are aimed at alleviating long term unemployment. Already in Scotland, from January 1998 to December 1999, over 21,000 young people have found work and a further 2,800 have found work under the New Deal 25 plus, since June 1998.

Manufacturing industry plays a vital role in the Scottish economy, both as a direct employer and indirectly as a customer for services. The Scottish Executive recognises that the manufacturing sector in Scotland, as in the rest of the UK, faces intense global competition and that its future depends on it becoming more competitive, more innovative and more responsive to the needs of the marketplace. Manufacturing needs to take its rightful place as part of the knowledge-driven economy of the future. The Executive is determined to support manufacturers in achieving this.Last June I announced in Parliament that we would be consulting business leaders, trade associations and trade unions to help us develop a way forward for manufacturing. Today we are publishing the results of this work in a report entitled Created In Scotland - The Way Forward for Scottish Manufacturing in the 21st Century. The report describes the great strides forward many firms have made towards improving their performance and how the Executive, in partnership with the UK Government, is committed to improving public support. We shall make improvements in the business environment to minimise overheads on business. We shall encourage acceleration of the use of knowledge and technology to help manufacturers keep pace with new developments. We shall improve the links between the science base and companies, to enhance commercialisation of new ideas. We shall enhance skills and training to help the workforce keep pace with developments. Lastly we intend to draw up a campaign to raise the image of the manufacturing sector.Created in Scotland makes reference to the need for improvement in dealing with potential and actual redundancies, and today we are also publishing a best practice guide entitled Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE). This report results from a wide-ranging consultation exercise with practitioners and other interested parties and identifies a number of proactive methods for dealing with potential and actual company difficulties. PACE does not set out to provide a detailed and prescriptive plan for local agencies, instead it provides a checklist of issues to be considered, a summary of best practice experience, and a toolkit of possible responses which can be adapted and tailored to suit local circumstances. It is vital that all key agencies work together to ensure a coherent and consistent approach to potential and actual job loss and closure announcements across Scotland.Copies of the two documents are available in SPICe and on the Scottish Executive website.

The Best Value Task Force published its final report on 10 December. We are considering the recommendations and intend to report soon. In the interim the Scottish Executive have continued to work in partnership with CoSLA, the Accounts Commission, the various Inspectorates and all of Scotland's local authorities to help develop and promote improved service delivery.

The number of 18-24 year olds in Scotland claiming unemployment related benefits has fallen by 19% over the last two years to 31,200.