Chamber and committees

As the then Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change indicated in his answer to the member''s question on 23 September 2010, in the last three years, we have invested over £1.8 million on maintenance and safety improvements on the A92 trunk road between Glenrothes and the Tay Road Bridge. This year we plan to spend over £1 million on this section of the A92.

The Scottish Government has announced its intention to take forward a spending review that will conclude in September 2011 and will set out detailed budgets for the period to 2014-15. This will be informed by the recommendations of the commission on the Future Delivery of Public Services and the outcomes of the government''s consultation on the future of Scottish Higher Education. Ahead of that, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth confirmed in his statement to the Parliament on 8 December 2010 that the government will publish in January illustrative figures for public spending in the years up to 2014-15.

The Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 provides the legal basis for Ministers to set the amount of non-domestic rates including powers to make different provision for different classes of non-domestic property.

The Non-Domestic Rates (Levying) (Scotland) (No. 3) Regulations 2010 were laid in Parliament on 9 December 2010. These regulations set out the stepped levels of business rates that will apply to the largest retail properties in Scotland with a rateable value over £750,000.

The information requested is not held centrally.

The Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 places a duty on individual local authorities to introduce a discount scheme for council tax for those who make their homes more energy efficient. The Scottish Government has no formal role in overseeing the introduction of such schemes, but we have been working with COSLA, local authorities, the energy companies and some other interested parties to support implementation. From the latest information we hold, we understand that all 32 local authorities will each have a scheme in place for the start of the 2011-12 financial year.

The Scottish Government also provided a small amount of funding to allow COSLA and the Improvement Service to commission a review of energy efficient council schemes in Scotland. The review has been completed and a copy of review report has been placed in Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 51226). The report states that, as at the date of publication, 15 local authorities have a scheme in place, 11 have plans which are at an advanced stage and the six remaining authorities are planning to introduce schemes for the start of the 2011-12 financial year.

The information is not available centrally.

The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth announced in the draft budget statement on 17 November 2010 plans to continue the Education Maintenance Allowance scheme, consistent with the Scottish Government''s commitment to support the least well off students in Scotland and open up opportunities for poorer families.

Information on the number of students on the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) scheme in the 2009-10 academic year will be published by the Scottish Government on 15 December 2010. Figures for the EMA scheme in 2010-11 will not be available until 2011.

Ministers recognise the substantial expertise of colleges themselves in delivering the activity which best supports the development of the economy and communities. The Scottish Government has supported this activity through measures such as the provision of funding for 8,500 extra college places in 2009-10 and 2010-11 to help colleges meet increased demand for places. We have also provided record annual funding to the college sector since 2007, bringing expenditure in 2010-11 to £693.2million, a cash increase of 6.9%.