We do not hold records on attendance by officials in the Scottish Government Financial Partnerships Unit to corporate functions organised by or on behalf of PPP/PFI consortia. Any attendance by officials at these events would have been in the interests of furthering infrastructure investment and PPP policy, and would have been undertaken in the normal course of business. Any costs incurred in attending such events would not have been met by the Scottish Government other than, if relevant, those costs which would come under the government''s travel and subsistence rates.

It is the responsibility of every public sector procuring body, when entering into a contract, to ensure all payments committed through that contract are affordable. This applies to all contracts and not just PPP contracts. In a PPP contract, the total costs, including the whole life costs, under the contract are agreed locally and parcelled up into manageable, affordable, annual payments all agreed in advance. This applies whether the procuring body is the Scottish Government, local authorities or NHS boards.

The total costs in a PPP contract are usually modelled by financial advisers to the project in a financial model. This involves such calculations as sensitivity analyses on key variables within the model.

Table 1 provides median annual earnings and average house price from 1979-2006 which is the most recent whole year that data is available for. 2007 data is due to be available in April.

The preferred source for earnings estimates is the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), which is carried out by the Office for National Statistics. ASHE was developed to replace the New Earnings Survey (NES) from 2004, which included improvements to the coverage of employees. NES data for 2003 back to 1998 has been reworked using the ASHE methodology in order to provide a consistent time series from 1998 onwards. However, the data does not take account of the improved coverage. Data prior to 1998 is from NES and is not directly comparable with ASHE data. Data relates to full-time employees only.

Average dwelling price has been drawn from the Regulated Mortgage Survey. Data up to and including 1992 was based on returns from building societies only. Data from 1993 onwards are based on returns from all mortgage lenders. From September 2005, data are collected via the Regulated Mortgage Survey (RMS) of the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML)/BankSearch.

Table 1

Year	Median Annual Earnings	Average  House Price
1979	£4,550	£19,371
1980	£5,585	£21,754
1981	£6,344	£23,014
1982	£6,942	£22,522
1983	£7,504	£23,818
1984	£8,096	£25,865
1985	£8,622	£26,941
1986	£9,183	£28,242
1987	£9,771	£29,591
1988	£10,634	£31,479
1989	£11,513	£35,394
1990	£12,688	£41,744
1991	£13,796	£48,772
1992	£14,908	£50,010
1993	£15,434	£49,568
1994	£15,642	£50,651
1995	£16,297	£53,143
1996	£16,895	£56,674
1997	£17,514	£57,883
1998	£16,318	£63,585
1999	£17,108	£69,312
2000	£17,597	£69,961
2001	£18,465	£73,570
2002	£19,328	£77,655
2003	£19,828	£103,641
2004	£20,301	£118,932
2005	£21,247	£129,631
2006	£22,261	£137,192

 

No, there are no such circumstances.

on 13 December 2007, what categories of information about PFI/PPP contracts entered into by (a) the Scottish Government, (b) local authorities and (c) NHS boards are held centrally.

(S3W-09428)

John Swinney Categories of information about PFI/PPP contracts in general can be found within the standard PPP contract documentation which is available on the Scottish Government Financial Partnerships Unit''s website under the heading publications. www.scotland.gov.uk/ppp.

Scottish Government specific PPP contracts can be found on this website under the heading FOI. This is also the place to find PPP contracts for local authorities and NHS boards, where we hold this information. Information on the contract for Kilmarnock Prison is available from Scottish Prison Service''s website at www.sps.gov.uk/Default.asp?menuid=231.

This information was the subject of a Freedom of Information request in November 2007 and is still current. The response provided can be accessed on the Scottish Government Financial Partnership Unit''s website under the sub-heading PPP miscellaneous. www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/Finance/18232/FOI.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-8593 on 25 January 2008. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for whichcan be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

The Scottish Government wantschildren and young people to make full use of the internet and is committed to ensuringthat they are able to do so in a safe and responsible manner.

Wecontinue to work with a number of agencies to raise children and young people’sawareness about how to “surf safely”. Learning and Teaching Scotland provides adviceon school policies for internet use and access and links to a number of websitesthat provide advice on internet safety. Respectme the national bullying servicerecently published advice on the use of the internet to prevent cyber bullying.Chatsafer, a Scottish Government information website, is a parental guide to saferchatting on the web. “Safe and Well” guidance, whichissued to schools in 2005, includes good practice guidance on computer safety.

As part of our on-going commitmentto protect children, the draft outcomes and experiences for technology, which willbe published later this year as part of the work on the curriculum review, are likelyto include opportunities for teachers to develop young people’s knowledge of safeand responsible use of the internet.

My officials and I have had anumber of meetings with the Fire Brigades Union to discuss a range of subjects.These discussions have included pensions issues.

A kinship carer of a looked afterchild and approved by the local authority will be eligible for receipt of an allowanceequivalent to the rate paid by the local authority to its foster carers.