Discussions are on-going with the Home Office to explore possibilities open to Scotland within the work permit system and wider UK immigration policy. Areas of mutual interest include implementation of the Fresh Talent: Scotland Scheme. Under the scheme, international students from outside the European Economic Area who graduate from Scottish institutions will be allowed to live and work in Scotland for up to two years after graduation. We are also discussing ways in which we can promote Fresh Talent through UK schemes, such as the Highly Skilled Migrants Programme, which aim to assist those who wish to live and work in the UK. In addition, we are considering with Work Permits UK ways in which we can better promote the work permit system to Scottish employers.

The Fresh Talent Scotland Scheme, which will allow non European Economic Area graduates from Scottish higher education institutions to remain and work in Scotland for up to two years, comes into effect from summer 2005. It is not possible to determine how many students from Asia will benefit from the scheme at this time. 

Scotland has been successful in attracting international students for a number of years. According to the most recent figures available, there were 7,486 students from Asia studying at Scottish higher education institutions in 2002-03. It is estimated that around 390 of those students were studying for the MBA qualification. The Fresh Talent initiative was launched in February 2004 and it is not possible to report on its impacts in relation to student recruitment atthis stage.

We do notuse the term “targeted spend”, so there is no formal definition within ourpublic expenditure framework.

Of course,our spending is targeted on our key priorities, as set out in the PartnershipAgreement and in Building a Better Scotland: Enterprise Opportunity and Fairness. Growing the Economy; DeliveringExcellent Public Services; Supporting Stronger, Safer Communities andDeveloping a Confident, Democratic Scotland–these are the issues that matter to the Scottish People, and it isright that this is where we should concentrate our resources.

Our capitalbudget is published in the annual budget documents, and actual spend is thenreported in the Executive’s accounts and when we report End Year Flexibilitynumbers to the Parliament.

For2003-04, the latest year for which provisional data is available, the DEL capital budget at the start of the year was £1.42 billion,and the actual spend by year end was £1.35 billion.

Yes; only teachers who have graduated from Scottish Higher Education Institutions with a Teaching Qualification whose training has been publicly funded are eligible for a probationer post on the Teacher Induction Scheme. However, the Teacher Induction Scheme is not the only route into the teaching profession in Scotland. Newly qualified teachers from England and Wales, once registeredwith the General Teaching Council for Scotland, can apply to local authorities to work as a probationer teacher on a supply basis or on a temporary contract.

This information is not held centrally.

All of the probationer teachers referred to in news release SEed237/2003 completed their initial teacher education course in Scotland.

We have published planning advice to local authorities on the development of contaminated land.

Where planning applications are approved, conditions should be included to ensure that any contaminated land is remediated before the commencement of any new use. In that regard, planning conditions can be used to require the safe removal of asbestos.

Table 3.05 of The Scottish Executive: Draft Budget 2005-06 sets out the spending plans in support of PPP.

It is not open to local authorities to use the schools fund to support the cost of direct council borrowing for capital investment, and there are no plans to alter that.