Chamber and committees

Funding has been provided tosportscotland to support the implementation of the National and RegionalSports Facilities Strategy and the development of facilities through the Lotterysupported Building for Sport (BfS) programme. Under the Facilities Strategy £3 millionhas been allocated to each of the five indoor football facilities developments,which will include all-weather pitches. The BfS programme is a competitive programmeand each application is assessed on its own merits against set criteria. Furtherinformation on programmes and awards made can be obtained from sportscotlanddirect.

The following table sets outthe Scottish Executive’s and its External Bodies’ outturn variance against budgetfor the period from 1999-2000 to 2004-05:

Department	Under/Overspend (£ Million)1
	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-052
Justice	-56	-52	-47	-50	-27	-27
Education	-2	-92	-10	-30	-24	-14
Health	-135	-144	-124	-24	-26	-97
Enterprise (Transport) and Lifelong Learning3	-87	-154	-57	-72	-111	-91
Development4	-109	-38	-150	-25	-65	-39
Environment and Rural Affairs5	-13	-67	-123	-61	-298	-63
Finance and Central Services	n/a	-70	-66	-99	-49	-27
Administration and Associated Departments6	-16	-28	-22	-15	-18	-8
Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service	-4	-2	0	-1	-2	-2
Forestry Commission (Scotland)	6	2	-2	-2	-3	-12
Food Standards Agency	0	-2	0	-1	0	-2
Contingency Fund	0	-22	-42	-14	0	0
Total	-416	-669	-643	-394	-623	-382

Notes:

1. Underspends appear as negativefigures and overspends as positive figures and are based on variances against DepartmentalExpenditure Limits (DEL).

2. While the 2004-05 figuresare shown in the table above as DEL variances for comparative purposes, the reported positionfor 2004-05 reflected a request by the Finance Committee that variances should bereported against the Spring Budget Revision (including AME and ODEL expenditure).The reported figure for 2004-05 on the new basis was £281 million and future varianceswill continue to be reported in this way.

3. Transport moved from DevelopmentDepartment into Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Department in 2003-04.

4. Local Government and EuropeanStructural Funds sat within Development Department in 1999-2000. Local Governmentand European Structural Funds then moved to Finance and Central Services Departmentin 2000-01. And finally in 2003-04 European Structural Funds moved to Enterprise, Transportand Lifelong Learning Department.

5. The largest part of the 2001-02and 2003-04 ERAD underspends were attributable to Scottish Water.

6. Associated Departments includesGeneral Registers Office for Scotland and National Archives of Scotland.

The overall management of theirschool estate is a matter for individual education authorities. The Scottish Executivedoes not collect detailed information about their assessments of school buildingmaintenance requirements or the relative priority of such work for individual schools.

This information is not heldcentrally.

Percentage of Computers Olderthan Four Years, by School Sector

	Pre-School	Primary	Secondary	Special
1999-2000	41%	45%	45%	42%
2000-01	28%	35%	32%	41%
2001-02	N/A	23%	25%	36%

 

Until 2002, a Survey of Informationand Communication Technology in Schools, sampled publicly funded schools acrossScotland. The figures are derived from this sample survey. These results are notrepresentative at a local authority level.

This information is not heldcentrally.

The School Dental Service nolonger exists. A limited range of functions of the former School Dental Servicewere transferred to the Community Dental Service in the 1970s.

Information on the number ofCommunity Dental Service dentists employed across NHSScotland is published on the Scottish Health Statistics website under Workforce Statistics, at:

http://www.isdscotland.org/workforce.

However, information is not held centrally on how many of these dentists are engaged in service provision in schools.

Discussions have taken placewith both Aberdeen City Council and Aberdeenshire Council about the funding forthe project. These discussions are continuing and I expect an agreement to be concludedshortly.

The school dental service nolonger exists. A limited range of functions of the former school dental servicewere transferred to the Community Dental Service in the 1970s Protocols are availableto refer patients to other NHS services. However, they differ between areas dependingon need and availability of independent NHS general dental practitioners willingto accept patients. No protocols are available to refer children to non NHS services.

The connection north from Stonehavenvia Netherley was included in the public consultation held last year. Since my announcementon 1 December 2005 my officials and the AWPR Managing Agent have held discussionswith affected parties along the route and will continue to do so.

The statutory consultation willtake place following the publication of the draft roads orders towards the end ofthis year.

No.