The Scottish Governmentrecognises the strong historical and cultural bond that exists between the peopleof Scotland and Northern Ireland and we are committed to working with the Northern IrelandAssembly government to build on this relationship. The First Minister signed a jointstatement with Northern Ireland’s First Minister and Deputy First Minister on June18 2007 which commits the two governments to consolidating and strengthening thesocial, educational and cultural relationship between the two countries.

Historic Scotlandare actively engaged in raising awareness of cultural and historic links betweenScotland and Northern Ireland. The Scottish government is also raising awarenessof common cultural and historical links between Scotland and Northern Ireland through the promotion of minority languageinitiatives. There is significant minority language activity in both Scotland and Northern Ireland at present and frequentcontact and discussions take place between both jurisdictions.

The timetable (actualand estimated) for the completion of new school buildings under PPP schemes canbe found on the Scottish Executive Financial Partnerships Unit’s website at:http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/Finance/18232/futuredealsfor those schools PPP projects in procurement and at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/Finance/18232/donedealsfor those schools PPP projects which have reached financial close.

I refer the memberto the answer to question S3W-2573 on 14 August 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 Government hasquickly confirmed that we will honour existing offers of financial support for schoolPPP projects. As a result, we do not anticipate any delays.

The government’s commitmentto freeze council tax levels at 2007-08 levels will be taken forward as part of the Spending Review. The outcome of the Spending Review will be announced laterthis year. Discussions with local government are on-going as to how best the counciltax freeze can be achieved.

Discussions areon-going with local government on how best to deliver a council tax freeze. Throughoutthese discussions I have made it absolutely clear that we are working towards astrategic agreement on a range of measures that will enable local authorities todeliver a council tax freeze while maintaining and improving frontline services.

This is a decisionfor South Lanarkshire Council which has a statutory responsibility to provide andmaintain school buildings.

I refer the memberto answer to question S3W-1134 on 26 June 2007. Following consideration of the material referred to,conclusions will be published.All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website the search facilityfor which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

The last progressreport on implementation of the recommendations of the Homelessness Task Force isavailable on the Scottish Government website at:http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Housing/homeless/H-M-G/HMG23HTFandHMGprioritiesandhttp://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Housing/homeless/H-M-G/HMG23HTFandHMGprioritiesa.

The last progressreport on implementation of the recommendations of the Homelessness Task Force isavailable on the Scottish Government website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Housing/homeless/H-M-G/HMG23HTFandHMGprioritiesand http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Housing/homeless/H-M-G/HMG23HTFandHMGprioritiesa.