Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government’s commitment to teacher employment has now been agreed by all three parties to the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers. The agreement will ensure that there will be a sufficient number of vacancies for all teachers seeking employment in 2011 to apply for.

Recruitment to these vacancies will be in accordance with each local authority’s existing locally agreed procedures which need to comply with current equality and employment legislation.

In May 2011 2,218 potential probationary teachers were allocated places on the Teacher Induction Scheme for 2011-12. The number that finally take up their places cannot be confirmed until the start of the new school term in August 2011.

The following table shows the number of Bachelor of Education/MA (four years) and Professional Graduate Diploma in Education (one year) course places the Scottish Funding Council will fund through its main teaching grant in the General Fund for Universities and those over baseline numbers which will be funded separately by the Scottish Government in 2011-12.

Total Full-Time Equivalent BEd/MA and PGDE Student Places, 2011-12

The Scottish Government does not hold complete data on the number of applications for places on teacher training courses. However, the following table shows the data we do hold based on annual returns from higher education institutions. The returns do not always cover all institutions or courses. They also include people applying to two or more institutions who will therefore be counted twice or more often.

We have not carried out such a survey. Support under the Air Discount Scheme is granted to individual consumers under the European Commission’s Aid of a Social Character mechanism and we believe that it is not intended to extend to business-related travel.

The analysis of the judgement in the case between The Queen (on the application of TA Gwillim and Sons) and the Welsh Ministers has shown that it is not necessary to make any announcement about the conclusions. This is because there is no read-across between the judgement and Scottish producers whose Single Farm Payment (SFP) entitlements may have been affected by agri-environmental commitments.

In essence, the circumstances in the Welsh case were unique to Messrs Gwillim (indeed there were no other cases similarly affected in Wales) and to certain arrangements for claiming support payments in Wales. On this latter point, the Welsh authorities allowed landlords to participate in agri-environment schemes and tenants to claim under direct support schemes: effectively the same land supporting two beneficiaries which in the Welsh case led to Messrs Gwillim’s SFP being adversely affected by the actions of his landlord in relation to an agri-environment scheme (“Tir Gofal”) that required limitations on livestock in order to enhance the landscape and wildlife of the land. The Welsh authorities no longer allow this dual claiming of land which brings them into line with the position as it has been in Scotland. My officials have satisfied themselves, therefore, that a “Gwillim” scenario could not have arisen here, given the bar on dual claiming of land and the way SFP was implemented in Scotland.

ODS Consulting carried out independent research for the Scottish Government on four of the low-cost initiative for first time buyers (LIFT) schemes in 2010-11. The four schemes were new supply shared equity, open market shared equity, shared ownership and grants for rent and ownership. The evaluation focused on the outcomes achieved by these LIFT schemes, and looked specifically at six key areas:

Meeting people’s needs;

Allowing for mobility;

Affordability;

Additionality;

Mixed communities, and

Value for money

It involved a desktop review, telephone interviews with 151 individuals who had purchased properties through one of the LIFT schemes, and stakeholder consultations. A copy of the report can be found at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2011/01/18143303/0.

The independent evaluation of low-cost initiative for first time buyers by ODS Consulting demonstrated that in particular the shared equity schemes had delivered their objectives by meeting buyers’ housing needs. Whilst recognising that there are still some areas of Scotland where shared ownership was popular, the Scottish Government decided to focus its resources on those schemes which were effective in delivering key outcomes, such as helping first time buyers and delivering mixed communities; which offered the best value for taxpayers’ money; and which were shown to be most affordable to buyers.

The independent evaluation of low-cost Initiative for first time buyers (LIFT) by ODS Consulting found that new supply shared equity, grants for rent and ownership (GRO) and shared ownership schemes have all contributed to creating mixed communities. We will therefore still be able to support mixed communities through shared equity funding. We will also highlight examples of good practice and lessons learnt in the creation of mixed and sustainable communities in our LIFT procedures.

The independent evaluation by ODS Consulting identified concerns about how the shared ownership scheme met purchasers’ needs. It found that shared ownership does not offer the best value for money for either the Scottish Government or for the purchaser compared to shared equity schemes. A significant proportion of those sharing owners interviewed raised concerns about the scheme; with only half feeling shared ownership had definitely been the right option for them.