Chamber and committees

The First Ministerwrote to the Prime Minister on 19 September 2007, amongst otherthings to seek support for a welfare disposal scheme and to request funding at UK level. I have had a number of conversations with theSecretary of State during which I have argued the case for a welfare scheme andoutlined our plans for such a scheme. My officials have maintained contact withtheir counterparts in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs inorder to keep up-to-date with developments in England. Officials worked with that department to ensure that the State aid communicationon the Sheep Welfare Scheme was passed quickly to the European Commission. The schemeopened on 9 October 2007.

I refer the memberto the answer to question S3W-4728 on 17 October 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

The Sheep WelfareScheme that began on 9 October 2007 is a voluntary scheme thatoffers farmers £15 per head for lambs under 25kg. We believe that figure representsa fair price for producers withoutproviding an incentive for culling animals for which a market can be found.

The Scottish Governmentand its public sector partners has an obligation to provide value for money in pubicservice delivery. The overall public spend on Public Notices advertising and recruitmentwas £47 million in 2005-06. This is against a background of decreasing circulationof local newspapers with only 13 out of 68 recording circulation increases year-on-year.

Work undertaken acrossthe Scottish public sector in 2006 identified a key opportunity for efficiency gainsand service improvements within public information notice (PIN) advertising. Localgovernment have collectively identified a way of maintaining or improving the currentprovision of public notice information whilst saving money.

The opportunity toutilise e-recruitment will not restrict opportunities but will make it easier toaccess more comprehensive information on job availability, whilst reducing the costto the public sector in advertising.

Anyone who wishesto access public information notices and recruitment opportunities will be ableto do so at any local authority office including public libraries.

Both the public informationnotices portal and the recruitment portal were identified as priorities forlocal government by the previous administration. The projects align with the policiesof the new administration and continue to be supported.

Anyone who wishesto access public information notices and recruitment opportunities will be ableto do so at any local authority office including public libraries. In addition,recruitment opportunities will continue to be available at job centres where appropriate.

The opportunity toutilise e-recruitment will not restrict opportunities but will make it easier toaccess more comprehensive information on job availability, whilst reducing the costto the public sector in advertising.

Both the public informationnotices portal and the recruitment portal were identified as priorities forlocal government by the previous administration. The projects align with the policiesof the new administration and continue to be supported.

Anyone who wishesto access public information notices and recruitment opportunities will be ableto do so at any local authority office including public libraries. In addition,recruitment opportunities will continue to be available at job centres where appropriate.

The opportunity toutilise e-recruitment will not restrict opportunities but will make it easier toaccess more comprehensive information on job availability, whilst reducing the costto the public sector in advertising.

The increase inbroadband availability in Scotland means that we dominate a top ten league of ADSLbroadband take up of counties around the UK. Those that for geographical or socialreasons cannot access the internet at home or in the workplace will be able to doso from public buildings for example public libraries.

Both the public informationnotices portal and the recruitment portal were identified as priorities forlocal government by the previous administration. The projects align with the policiesof the new administration and continue to be supported.

The Scottish Governmentand its public sector partners has an obligation to provide value for money in pubicservice delivery. The overall public spend on Public Notices advertising and recruitmentwas £47 million in 2005-06.

In the changing communicationlandscape the Scottish Government has set itself key challenges to deliver efficientmodern services that are responsive to the needs of citizens. Both central and localgovernment have made significant investments in the e-government agenda and believethis needs to be supplemented by a reduction in compulsory paper based administrativerequirements so that more flexible and effective methods can be used to deliverinformation.

In the short-termwe will continue to use local newspapers where legislation requires this, but willreview advertising procedures and content to allow us to develop best practice toensure value for money is secured across the public sector. Any proposed changesto the legislation will provide Parliament with an opportunity to consider how thepublic sector can save money and improve communication both now and in the future.

Both the public informationnotices portal and the recruitment portal were identified as priorities forlocal government by the previous administration. The projects align with the policiesof the new administration and continue to be supported.

We will work withpartners to tackle the issues around the digital divide and ensure all citizensbenefit from the opportunities technology can bring, including rural areas.

For example, we arelooking at ways of extending broadband availability to the less than 1% of householdsexperiencing difficulties with broadband access. For those without access to a computerat home, the Library Service’s People’s Network and Learndirect Scotland learningcentres provide access to computers and learning support across all areas of Scotland, and both offer outreach services to rural communities.

I refer the memberto the answer to question S3W-3256 on 18 September 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament’s website the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

I refer the memberto answer to question S3W-3256 on 18 September 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament’s website the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.