To date, the Scottish Government has committed to invest over £13 million in the CashBack for Communities programme which includes diversionary and participatory projects for young people across Scotland.

£3 million of this investment was allocated to YouthLink Scotland. Funding distributed through the YouthLink local youth project grant scheme is recorded by local authority rather than parliamentary constituency. The following organisations in East Ayrshire received funding in the 2009 phase:

Drongan Health Initiative	£21,976.00
The Zone Project/Bellsbank Adventure Playground Ltd	£15,912.00
East Ayrshire Community Safety Partnership	£6,185.45
Four Connections Youth Group	£3,235.00
Galston Youth Forum	£8,695.50
Cumnock Mini/Midi Rugby Club	£5,500.00
Cumnock Landward Community Association	£7,816.05
Volunteer Centre East Ayrshire	£8,600.00
Kilmaurs Community Association	£2,580.00
Extreme Valley Riders	£1,500.00
Total	£82,000.00

 

A further £1 million has been allocated to YouthLink for a second grant programme which is currently open for applications.

In addition, the Scottish Football Association (SFA) are using CashBack funding to deliver a programme of diversionary football activities in East Ayrshire including Midnight Leagues (eight venues in 2008 and three venues in 2009) and Street Football (11 venues in 2008 and 22 in 2009) which were allocated a combined total of £8,800 for 2008-09.

East Ayrshire also hosts the South West School of Football, which is based at Cumnock Academy and has been allocated £18,200 in 2008-09. A total of £6,675 has been allocated to the Soccer One programme in East Ayrshire, in which nine schools are participating. CashBack funding has also enabled SFA football development officers to work with East Ayrshire Council''s New Sporting Futures team to increase existing successful activities. They have also collaborated to develop a pilot street football project called Killie Icon, which offers talented players the chance to win a full week''s training with Kilmarnock Football Club.

Scottish Rugby are investing £7,082 of CashBack funding in a range of diversionary school and club rugby activities in East Ayrshire. Between August 2008 and April 2009, nine Street Rugby sessions took place and 2,212 primary and secondary pupils participated in school-based rugby activities. The local development officer, apprentices and community coaches are working together to ensure that there are sustainable opportunities for young people to pursue an interest in rugby long-term. Two young people who participated in Street Rugby sessions in Cumnock went on to join Cumnock RFC.

Basketballscotland is working to promote basketball participation across Scotland through the deployment of four regional co-ordinators funded by CashBack, including one in west Scotland which will benefit young people in the East Ayrshire area.

The second culture strand of CashBack was announced in March 2009. The Creative Identities Project is an 18-month programme of creative learning activities, targeting young carers in particular but open to all young people. East Ayrshire is included in the West Central Programme Plan, which will be led by Glasgow-based partners Tramway and Glasgow Film Theatre. They have been allocated a total of £343,600 to deliver projects across the region.

The equalities impact assessment was published in March and can be accessed here:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/People/Equality/18507/EQIADetails/Q/Id/241.

The Scottish Fuel Poverty Forum has established an Equalities Working Group which will meet shortly to discuss equalities issues. The group will be chaired by Age Concern and Help the Aged in Scotland and will have a range of representative members including the Scottish Disability Equality Forum and Inclusion Scotland.

Service developments since February 2003 include the employment of a CFS/ME nurse specialist in NHS Fife and the development of a CFS/ME assessment clinic in NHS Lothian. A programme for people with CFS/ME has also been developed by the Centre for Integrative Care at the Homeopathic Hospital, Glasgow. We are funding an evaluation of that programme to help promote its dissemination.

In order to encourage further progress in the development of services, we commissioned the Scottish Public Health Network (SPHN) to undertake a needs assessment for CFS/ME, and last month it issued a draft for consultation. It contains recommendations on a proposed model of care for Scotland, including the development of a Managed Clinical Network approach to ME-CFS (to use the Network''s preferred terminology).

In tandem with the needs assessment, we have also provided Action for ME with funding to produce a first edition of a Good Practice Statement on ME-CFS. This is intended to help general practitioners with the management of ME-CFS until such time as the evidence base allows the development of a clinical guideline by the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network.

The Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (SLCC) consulted the relevant parties under Section 29 (4) of the Legal Profession and Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 2007 in January 2009. There is no requirement under the Act for a copy of the consultation to be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre. The finalised budget was laid in Parliament in April 2009 in accordance with Section 29 (10) of the Act.

Under Section 32 (1) of the Legal Profession and Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 2007 the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission is required to publish its rules and make them available to the public in a form that is readily accessible. There is no requirement under the Act for the consultation to be published and there is no intention to place it in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.

Under Section 32 (5) of the Legal Profession and Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 2007 the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission is required to consult various parties before publishing its rules. There is no requirement under the Act for the consultation to be published. The rules have been published in accordance with Section 32 (1) of the Act and are available on:

http://www.scottishlegalcomplaints.org.uk.

The website of the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission is fully operational and can be located at www.scottishlegalcomplaints.org.uk. The website is constantly under review and further adjustments are expected to be completed by the autumn.

Under Section 29 (8) of the Legal Profession and Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 2007 the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (SLCC) is required to publicise the responses to its consultation with the professional organisations relating to its budget by 31 March each year. The responses from the Law Society of Scotland and the Faculty of Advocates were published on the SLCC''s website (www.scottishlegalcomplaints.org.uk) at the beginning of March 2009 and the finalised budget, which was laid in Parliament on 8 April 2009, was also published on the SLCC''s website.

Under Section 32 (1) of the Act the commission must publish rules as to its practice and procedure following consultation with various parties named at Section 31 (5) of the Act. The rules are available on the SLCC''s website.

I understand that some of the larger retail outlets already accept the euro in every day transactions. Most banks make available foreign exchange and international banking facilities for many major currencies “ including the euro.

These can help to facilitate retail outlets in the acceptance of other currencies as payment, in that they provide the means for the acceptor to obtain value.

Historic Scotland (Scottish Government agency) properties throughout Scotland have been accepting euro notes since 1 July 2002 in relation both to entrance fees and retail outlets. The decision to take the euro was based on the desire to provide the highest standards of customer service. There has been a strong take up of this service especially at sites with substantial numbers of European visitors.

The Scottish Government engages with the retail industry on a range of issues. Scottish Government and Scottish Retail Consortium officials are due to meet in early June and this matter will be discussed.

As a result of the 16+ Learning Choices: First Step Activity and Financial Support consultation, we announced on the 13 May 2009 several changes which target our support system more effectively at those young people who are most in need. This includes taking account of the number of dependent children in the household. The details of these and other changes are set out in a letter sent to the Convener of the Education, Lifelong Learning and Culture Committee, a copy of which is available from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 48116).