Chamber and committees

The Executive,through its renewing local democracy agenda, is seeking to encourage greater participationby young people at all levels of the democratic process. We will also be lookingat this issue in our forthcoming review of community councils.

The Executive considered as part of its Affordable Housing review whether there was a case for any specific housing support for defined key workers. It was considered better to think in terms of house prices, the levels of incomesnecessary to purchase a house and the difficulties experienced by households onlow or moderate income wanting to buy a home.

The Executive is providing assistance to workers to gain access to housing through a number of areas, including:

·expansion of the Low Cost Home Ownership programme, operatedby Communities Scotland, which provides funding for developments in disadvantagedcommunities to replace or improve poor quality housing and also in areas where demand exceeds supply or where market prices are beyond the reach of local or average incomes;

·development of a range of new flexible grant mechanisms,based on the concept of shared equity, particularly aimed at increasing availability of affordable housing;

·discretion for landlords to offer priority to housingallocation to incoming workers essential to an area, subject to the requirementsin the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001;

·participation in the development of a UK-wide mobilityscheme, based on existing housing mobility schemes, which has the added benefitof offering employment as well as housing opportunities for people who wish to move around the UK, and

encouraging local authorities and Registered Social Landlords to develop Common Housing Registers within each local authority area across Scotland. Common Housing Registers will provide a single route of access to social rented housing within a local authority area.

I will consider whether further legislative action is required, in the context of the forthcoming Crofting Reform Bill, if it becomes clear that some landowners are frustrating the purpose of part 3 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003.

Disclosure Scotland is now processing applications within its service level targets, and to ensure that this improved performance is sustained a performance management system has been put in place. Disclosure Scotland managers are in regular contact with customers and registered bodies to discuss demand and other factors that affect processing times.

 

In August 2003, we announced a review of the long-term role of Scotland's national forest estate. This land, owned by Scottish ministers and managed by Forestry Commission Scotland, represents 8.5% of Scotland's land area. Staff from the Forestry Commission, Scottish Executive Environment and Rural AffairsDepartment, Scottish Natural Heritage and an external assessor from the forest industry carried out the review, under the guidance of the Forestry Commission’s National Committee for Scotland. We asked for recommendations about changes that would improve the ability of the estate to deliver the priorities set out in the Scottish Forestry Strategy, together with other Executive policies.

The review group reported to ministers in May 2004. They based their report on an extensive consultation exercise, as well as an economic analysis of the estate, carried out by independent consultants. In addition to receiving over 400 written responses to the consultation paper, the review group organised seven consultation meetings across Scotland. We are most grateful to everyone who participated in this consultation exercise.

We have now concluded our deliberations on the report and have accepted all 30 of its recommendations; endorsing the vision that "Scotland's national forests will benefit everyone in Scotland, promoting vibrant and healthy communities; enriching natural environments and our cultural heritage, and creating wide-ranging opportunities for economic development”.

Copies of the report are available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 34224) and on the Forestry Commission’s website www.forestry.gov.uk/scotland.

New rights to buy for communities under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 came into force on 14 June 2004. Since then we have published detailed guidance on the right to buy process, considered applications received and provided advice on individual cases.

Projected future demand was assessed prior to the decision to introduce new longer trains on services to Fife, but not for the period to 2009.

The Large Combustion Plants Directive is being implemented in two phases in line with the directive’s time provisions. For post-1987 plant, tighter emission limit values for sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and dust were introduced in 2002 through regulations agreed in the Scottish Parliament.

For pre-1987 plant, the directive provides the choice of tighter emission limit values at individual plants or a UK national plan for all such plant,both to take effect from 1 January 2008. The UK has submitted a draft national plan to the European Commission. We expect to reach a conclusion on which implementation route to take by the spring of 2005 at the latest.

We have stated in our partnership agreement that we are committed to reviewing existing tolls on the Erskine, Forth, Skye and Tay road bridges. The review is being carried out in two phases. The first phase will deal with existing tolls including the way they help achieve environmental objectives. The 2nd phase will look at the management of the tolled bridges in the context of the partnership commitment to establishing Transport Scotland and Regional Transport Partnerships as set out in our transport white paper – Scotland’s transport future.

Work on the review is well advanced and I expect to receive a report on the 1st phase of the review this autumn.

The remit of the fundamental look at social work which I intend to call “21st Century Social Work”, is to define the role for social work and social workers for the 21st century; to explore how to improve quality assurance mechanisms and embed a culture of continuous improvement, strengthen the leadership and management of the profession to ensure more consistently effective delivery of services, to improve the capacity and the confidence of the professionals who deliver services, to deliver services in the diverse landscape of modern service provision, and to consider whether the legislative framework, including the Social work (Scotland) Act 1968, remains fit for purpose. The role of the Chief Social Work Officer will be specifically addressed in this context.

The scope will cover the full range of client groups including children, young people and families, vulnerable adults and offenders. It will focus primarily on qualified social workers, but will also include the services provided by social care workers and the work will have implications for our partner agencies including health, education and the police.

21st century social work will be led by an independent group with the right blend of experience, knowledge and skills. The members of the group sit in a personal capacity, they do not represent any particular organisation or interest.

The following individuals have agreed to serve on the group:

Douglas Bulloch - Chair, Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration

Alan Campbell - Chief Executive, Aberdeenshire Council

Stephen Ebbitt - Chief Executive, Glasgow Simon Community

Alexis Jay - Director of Social Work, West Dunbartonshire Council, and President ADSW

Anne-Marie Rafferty - Area Services Manager, East, Glasgow Social Work Department

Deirdre Watson - Director, Who Cares? Scotland.

The group will have a professional advisor - Carole Wilkinson, Chief Executive, Scottish Social Services Council.

In addition, I expect a head teacher from an integrated community school, a senior academic and a leading representative from the private sector to join the group.

The group will be chaired by William Roe, who has extensive experience of social policy in Scotland and more widely and on strategic change and innovation in major public service organisations in Scotland, the UK and abroad.

21st Century Social Work is an important opportunity for all concerned to have their say in shaping future social work services in Scotland.