Chamber and committees

The information requested is given in the following table.

Year	Number of Planning Applications Notified as Departures from the Development Plan*	Number Called In for Determination by the Scottish Ministers
2002 (to date)	18	5
2001	18	6
2000	34	9
1999	47	18
1998	22	3

Source: Scottish Executive Development Department.Note: *Referred to the Scottish ministers under the terms of paragraph 8 of the Town and Country Planning (Notification of Applications) (Scotland) Direction 1997.

The information requested is given in the following table.

Year	Number of Planning Applications Notified due to Local Authority Interest*	Number Called In for Determination by the Scottish Ministers
2002 (to date)	97	2
2001	101	11
2000	85	6
1999	101	6
1998	93	3

Source: Scottish Executive Development Department.Note: *Referred to the Scottish ministers under the terms of paragraph 16 of the Town and Country Planning (Notification of Applications) (Scotland) Direction 1997.

Following the publication of the Report of the HIV Health Promotion Strategy Review Group in January 2001, the Executive made an additional £7 million available to NHS boards, over the four years from 2000-01, to assist their work to prevent the spread of HIV and other bloodborne viruses. The allocation for 2002-03 is £8.1 million.Local authorities also have a key role in supporting those suffering from HIV. Substantial additional resources have been allocated in the local government finance settlements for 2001-02 to 2003-04 for all community care provision.The Executive also provides some £500,000 to a range of voluntary organisations responding to the challenges posed by bloodborne viruses, particularly HIV and hepatitis C.

We are committed to improving the educational attainment of looked-after children. By the end of this year we expect local authorities to ensure that looked-after children receive full-time education, that they have a care plan covering their educational needs, and that each school has a designated teacher to look after their interests. In 2001-02 we gave local authorities £10 million to support the education of looked-after young people. The spending review allocated money to improving outcomes, including educational attainment, for looked-after children. This year we have collected information on the educational attainment of looked-after children for the first time and we have commissioned Who Cares? Scotland to survey looked-after children to find out about their experiences of education, what they want from education and how it can be inspired.

We have no such plans. However, the Executive is committed to promoting the development of a range of renewable energy technologies. We have already funded a photovoltaic project at a new ferry terminal under our Scottish Clean Energy Demonstration Scheme. We have also put in place a Community Renewables Advisory service to stimulate more renewables development across our communities. We expect solar projects to benefit from the support and expertise which this new service will offer.

The remit of the Ad Hoc Committee of Ministers on Flooding Issues is: (a) To consider current arrangements for addressing flood risk and how advice and support is provided to those at risk from, and affected by, flooding, and(b) To provide advice to Cabinet by the end of February 2003 on how those arrangements can be improved.The Ad Hoc Committee of Ministers will consider general flooding issues within the terms of the group's remit, including, but not restricted to, those issues which affect transport.The members the Ad Hoc Committee of Ministers on Flooding Issues are:Deputy First Minister (Chair)Minister for Finance and Central ServicesMinister for Environment and Rural DevelopmentMinister for Social JusticeDeputy Minister for Environment and Rural DevelopmentDeputy Minister for Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong LearningDeputy Minister for Health and Community Care (McAveety)The Ad Hoc Committee of Ministers on Flooding Issues met for the first time on 13 November 2002.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-30486 on 7 November 2002. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.

This year's Spending Review required all departments to prepare statements on the way in which their programmes and spending plans contribute to the achievement of the Executive's commitments to sustainable development outlined in Meeting the Needs... Priorities, Actions and Targets for Sustainable Development in Scotland. These statements will be published shortly. We will build on this work by ensuring that we do examine all of our activities to ensure that they contribute to sustainable development.The European Directive 2001/42/EC, on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment (commonly known as the Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive (SEA)) is due to be implemented by 21 July 2004. The Executive is fully committed to this and work is in hand. As part of this, the Executive has commissioned consultants to develop and trial a SEA methodology and to draft advice for implementing the directive for structure and local plans. They have been asked to identify SEA principles and environmental objectives/criteria that should form the basis of SEA for plans and programmes, other than structure and local plans, which come within the scope of the directive. We expect that the results will be available next summer. The Executive is also setting up a national database of SEAs (including environmental appraisals, etc) for current structure and local plans and a library of examples.

The first meeting of the forum on 24 July heard presentations on Meeting the Needs..., the Do a Little, Change a Lot campaign, the UK Sustainable Development Commission and preparations for the World Summit on Sustainable Development. Participants had wide-ranging discussions on these subjects and on the role of the forum itself. Participants were invited to send comments on this to the Sustainable Development Team in the Executive.

The Executive consults widely across its range of policies, offering many opportunities for stakeholders to engage on sustainable development issues. The Sustainable Development Forum is simply one mechanism to engage stakeholders in taking forward thinking and action on sustainable development.