Chamber and committees

The cost of producing the Omnibus Survey of Small Businesses in Scotland 2002: Rural Analysis was £3,000.

The results from the rural analysis were used by the Executive to improve the evidence base and to get a better understanding of how, if at all, businesses in rural areas differ from businesses in urban areas. For instance, the results were used in the production of our booklet, Rural Scotland – Key Facts, which brings together key facts related to rural Scotland in an accessible way, and also our Annual Rural Report 2004, which details our achievements for rural Scotland over the preceding year. This increased knowledge helps inform how we tailor our policies and interventions right across the Executive to make sure we take account of the needs of people in rural areas.

In response to the Review of Scotland’s Cities, the Cities Growth Fund was launched to provide a stable source of infrastructure investment funding for Scotland’s six cities as the keystones of a growing economy. The fund was allocated to the six cities not just because they include the four largest urban communities in Scotland but because all six are at the core of wider, mutually interdependent city-regions which play a vital strategic role in Scotland’s economic and social development.

Rothes windfarm is expected to generate an estimated 120 to 145 gigawatt hours of electricity per annum. Information about weekly output of individual windfarms is not available centrally.

On the contrary, we are consulting on proposals to enhance the rights of parents to be represented and have their views heard and taken account of. It would be for the parents in each school to decide in future whether their representative body should be called a “school board” or something else.

The Scottish Executive has no functions in relation to city status.

Our policy is to support the development of a wide range of renewable technologies. Use of these technologies, including wind power, and where they replace fossil fuel generation, will help reduce CO₂ emissions .

A report commissioned by the DTI from ILEX Consulting, in association with Professor Gorban Strbac from the University of Manchester, entitled “Quantifying The System Costs Of Additional Renewables In 2020”, found that any additional fossil fuel reserve capacity needed to balance an increase in intermittent renewables connecting to the grid would not be on a megawatt for megawatt basis. The reserve capacity will be less than the renewables capacity, meaning that overall emissions will be reduced.

Similarly, the House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology Fourth Report (2004) found that “the notion that wind power needs 100 percent back-up does not stand up to analysis” (Chapter 7, paragraph 5). The report notes that this was confirmed by the grid system operator, National Grid Transco.

Information on Executive Agencies and public bodies formally classified as non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs), is contained on the Public Bodies and Appointments website at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/government/publicbodies/.

Details of bodies notclassified as Executive Agencies or NDPBs are not held centrally by the Executive.

The law in Scotland allowshouseholders to use reasonable force to protect themselves, or another person, froman attack if they have no means of escape or retreat. If there is a threat to propertybut no threat to personal safety, reasonable force can also be used to seize anddetain the intruder.

A list of Executive Agenciesand public bodies formally classified as non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs),established since 1997 is provided below.

Details of those bodies not classifiedas Executive Agencies or NDPBs are not held centrally by the Executive.

Executive Agencies

Accountant in Bankruptcy

Communities Scotland

HM Inspectorate of Education

Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR)

Scottish Building Standards Agency

 

Non Departmental Public Bodies(NDPBs)

Bord Gaidhlig na H-Alba

Bus Users Complaints Tribunal

Cairngorms National Park Authority

Health Technology Board for Scotland1

Historic Environment Advisory Council for Scotland

Learning and Teaching Scotland2

Mobility and Access Committee for Scotland

National Waiting Times Centre

NHS 24

NHS Education for Scotland3

NHS Quality Improvement Scotland4

Risk Management Authority

Scottish Advisory Committee on Distinction Awards

Scottish Ambulance Service for Scotland

Scottish Child Care Board5

Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care

Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission

Scottish Further Education Funding Council

Scottish Local Authorities Remuneration Committee

Scottish Screen

Scottish Social Services Council

Scottish Water6

The Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority

Water Industry Commissioner for Scotland

Notes:

1. Subsequently abolished - replacedby NHS Quality Improvement Scotland.

2. Established following themerger of The Scottish Consultative Council on the Curriculum and Scottish Councilfor Educational Technology.

3. Established following themerger of The Post Qualification Education Board for Health Service Pharmacistsin Scotland, the National Board for Nursing, Midwifery and HealthVisiting for Scotland and the Scottish Council for Postgraduate Medical andDental Education.

4. Established following themerger of the Clinical Standards Board for Scotland and the Health TechnologyBoard for Scotland.

5. Subsequently abolished.

6. Replaced previous three separatewater authorities.