The Executive is providing £160,000 per year core fundingfor the Scottish Maritime Museum. We have also agreed to continue funding of £30,000 in2006-07 for its curator post. I am pleased to say that the Executive will also provideadditional funding for maintenance of the collection in 2006-07 and we shall writeto the Scottish Maritime Museum with a formal grant offer as soon as possible.

I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-25490 on 9 May 2006. 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.

In the Cultural Statement on19 January 2006 I announced that future funding for non-national museums, includingScotland’s industrial museums, would focus on supporting significant “national standard”collections. In addition to funding of £440,000 set aside for industrial museums,the Executive will make available further funding of £500,000 per annum over thenext two years to continue to support our  non-national museums and to enable thelaunch of the museums’ recognition scheme on which the Scottish Museums Councilhas consulted on our behalf. Future funding for the Scottish Maritime Museum will beconsidered in this context.

The Scottish Executive currentlyhas no plans to develop specific guidance in this area.

Within early education and childcare,the National Care Standards for Early Education and Childcare up to the age of 16require that activities provided by staff allow children and young people to enjoyboth organised and free play. The Care Commission’s role in inspecting servicesincludes ensuring that risks are appropriately managed.

A number of existing initiativestakes account of the significance of play in children’s lives. There are currentlytwo initiatives where policy in this area is being further developed.

The existing three to five curriculumrecognises the powerful contribution that play makes to children’s learning. Thecurriculum review will extend the approaches used in pre-school to the initial stagesof primary emphasising the importance of opportunities to learn through purposeful,well-planned play.

Draft Scottish Planning Policy11, due to issue for consultation shortly, will ask local authorities to preparean audit of open space to inform their strategy for local provision. The draft policywill also include national minimum standards for open space provision within certaintypes of new development.

The three to five curriculumrecognises the powerful contribution that play makes to children’s learning. Thecurriculum review will extend the approach used in pre-school to the initial stagesof primary. Any changes to the curriculum, including any relating to the benefitsof play, and amendments to national policies covering pre-school and the early yearsof primary education will be reflected in teacher training courses.

The Scottish Qualifications Authority(SQA), working in partnership with the relevant sector skills councils, Skills Activefor playwork and Skills for Care and Development for early education and childcare,update and where appropriate develop new training courses to meet the needs of thesector. This is an on-going process designed to ensure employers, the current workforce,including nursery staff, and new entrants are appropriately trained.

Teachers are contractually obligedto undertake 35 hours of continuing professional development (CPD) each year. Eachteacher, in discussion with his/her line manager, produces an annual plan of CPDactivity based on personal need taking account of school, local and national priorities.The Executive is providing  £13.5 million in 2006-07 to allow local authoritiesto co-ordinate and provide CPD for teachers. This could include the developmentof training resources for teachers and other school staff relating to the valueof play.

The Executive monitors therange of services provided by local authorities for people with learning disabilitiesin a number of ways. Monitoring of services for people with learningdisabilities is delivered through the inspection of services by the Social WorkInspection Agency (SWIA). A pilot multi-agency inspection of learningdisability services led by the SWIA and involving service users, carers, theCare Commission, NHS Quality Improvement Scotland, Her Majesty’s Inspectorateof Education and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, is currently underwayin Ayrshire. An evaluation of this multi-agency inspection will be carried outprior to further inspections.

The Scottish Executivecollects annual statistics on implementation of The same as you? and the2005 statistical release is due for publication at the end of May. The NationalOverview of the Partnership in Practice agreements will also includeinformation on the way the Change Fund is being spent by each local authority.

The work of The same asyou? National Implementation Group, Users and Carers Group, and Partnershipin Practice Network helps to highlight the range and quality of services thatare available in each local authority area, and to consider areas where furtherdevelopment is needed.

The Executive is currentlyin the process of drafting a National Overview of the Partnership in Practice(PiP) agreements for 2004-07. The agreements indicate local authorities are generallymaking good progress and identify locally agreed priorities for action. TheNational Overview will highlight areas of good practice and draw attention tonational initiatives that assist local authorities in developing their Partnershipin Practice agreements for 2007-10.

In addition to writtenreporting, the Executive holds Partnership in Practice Network meetingsregularly. These meetings enable local authority and NHS board representativesto discuss positive local initiatives and also give the Executive regularopportunities to receive and give feedback on the PiP process.

Local authorities receive£16 million Change Fund per annum, to help implement the recommendations in Thesame as you? review of services for people with learning disabilities.Additionally they are to receive an extra £4.2 million in 2006-07 and £5 million2007-08 to take account of the increasing population and of post-hospitalclosure demands. The additional change funds are included with general localgovernment grant aided expenditure. A breakdown of Change Fund allocations by localauthority can be found in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 39507).

With this exception, nospecific funding allocation is made to local authorities for learningdisability services. Funding comes from community care allocations and it isfor local authorities to allocate these resources as appropriate for their localarea.

A table showing net revenueexpenditure figures for learning disability services, by local authority area,has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 39534).