Chamber and committees

The recommendations from the Gypsies/Travellers Strategic Group have helped to inform the Scottish Government''s National Statement and Action Plan on Race Equality.

The evaluation of the Gypsies/Travellers Site Grant was a survey on the use made by local authorities of the £2 million grant made available in 2005-06 and 2006-07. Its finding will help to inform decisions about future grant awards.

Any comments made by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing in connection with this issue were made solely and appropriately in her capacity as constituency MSP.

In 2007 the Scottish Government wrote to all Scottish local authorities to remind them of their responsibilities under accounting codes of practice, best value guidance, grant conditions and statute to maintain accurate records of all common goods assets held.

The Improvement Service for Local Government is currently considering ways to support authorities to improve all aspects of asset management, including the record keeping of the assets they hold for the common good.

Some planning applications by local authorities are notified to Scottish Ministers under the terms of the Town and Country Planning (Notification of Applications) (Scotland) Direction 2007, which is contained within Scottish Executive Planning Circular 5/2007: Notification of Planning Applications. There are no set criteria for the circumstances in which Scottish ministers will call in planning applications, but some general guidance is published in paragraphs 24-27 of Circular 5/2007 and further advice, more specific to local authority developments, is in paragraphs 40-43 of Planning Advice Note (PAN) 82: Local Authority Interest Developments. Both Circular 5/2007 and PAN 82 are available on the Scottish Government's website at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Planning.

Where any planning application has been called in by Scottish ministers, planning legislation requires that it be determined in accordance with the development plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise.

The Scottish Governmentstrategy in this and related areas was setout in the action plan for health and safety in Scotland,which was published in May and will contribute to theSmart Successful Scotland agenda, a robust strategy to deliver long-term, sustainableeconomic growth. Companies that have a good track record on health and safety tendto be the most progressive and successful. Further information about the plan canbe found at http://www.iosh.co.uk.The Scottish Government also works closely with otherorganisations such as the Health and Safety Executive, the STUC and employers organisationsto support approaches that address the promotion of health and safety in the workplace,most notably through the Partnership on Health and Safety in Scotland (PHASS) whichis chaired by the Health and Safety Commission.

An important element of the strategyis the Healthy Working Lives (HWL) programme which offers advice to employers inthe public and private sectors on ways to improve the health and wellbeing of theirworkforce. Employers are encouraged to participate in the related award scheme whichrecognises and rewards good practice. Criteria for the Award include actions topromote good mental health. At the first Healthy Working Lives Awards ceremony on15 January, the public sector was well represented amongst those gaining awards.The Scottish Government itself holds the silverlevel of the Scotland Health at Work award (the previous version) and is workingtowards obtaining the gold level of the new award.

I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

We are not aware of any difficultieswith the framework arrangements for prisoner transfer. Prisoners are normally expectedto serve their sentence in the jurisdiction in which they are sentenced. This generalposition applies throughout the world. The UK comprises three jurisdictions: Scotland, Englandand Wales and Northern Ireland. Each jurisdiction has separate legislative sentencingand release arrangements. Transfers between England and Wales are transfers withinthe same jurisdiction and prison service whereas transfers between England and Scotlandinvolve two jurisdictions. Provision is made under the terms of the Crime (Sentences)Act 1997 for the transfer of prisoners from one UK jurisdiction to another. Theprisoner must apply in the first instance to the jurisdiction in which he or sheis detained; both jurisdictions must agree to the transfer before it takes place.Transfer is not a legal entitlement. Each case is considered on its merits takinginto account the published criteria and any compelling circumstances. The linkswhich a prisoner has to the receiving jurisdiction, including family contact, playan important part in the consideration of any application.

The Scottish Government is committedto incorporating the monetary cost of carbon emissions into the policy assessmentprocess using the government’s new shadow price of carbon guidance. It may not befeasible or appropriate to incorporate the monetary cost of carbon emissions inall circumstances if, for example, the impacts can not be reliably quantified orthe policy proposal is not expected to have a significant carbon impact. We aredeveloping guidance that will set out the circumstances under which the monetarycosts of carbon emissions should be incorporated into the policy assessment process.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-8273 on 17 January 2008. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for whichcan be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

The Scottish Government is developingguidance, incorporating the government’s new shadow price of carbon, to be usedduring the next budgetary period. This guidance will set out the circumstances underwhich the carbon impacts of future devolved strategies, plans, programmes and policiesare appraised.

The Official Journal of theEuropean Union records that on the basis of available information and inaccordance with the criteria for selecting sites (including rangerepresentation at a UK scale), UK representation for dune habitats is satisfactory. Thejournal can be viewed at:http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/oj/2004/l_387/l_38720041229en00010096.pdf.