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Finance Committee, 18 Nov 2002

18 Nov 2002 · S1 · Finance Committee

Item of business

Budget 2003-04

Thomson, Elaine Lab Aberdeen North Watch on SPTV

In the third workshop, a range of organisations representing many of the public and voluntary sector groups—including the Highland Council, Highland NHS Board, Skye and Lochalsh Council for Voluntary Organisations, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig and Lochalsh and Skye Housing Association attended. The themes that arose at the workshop are similar to those that Tom McCabe and David Davidson reported.First, we heard from the finance manager of Highland NHS Board, who said that the Arbuthnott formula has had positive effects in the Highlands. The formula has catered for the fact that not only is the area's population in general rising, but the area's elderly population is rising more rapidly than is the case elsewhere in Scotland. He said, however, that we must ensure that the extra money that is provided by the Arbuthnott formula is distributed on time—concern was expressed that there has been some slippage on the time scale.The board's finance manager said that although the money that is coming into the health service is increasing, much of that money is already required to deal with the increase in the drugs budget and various other areas. New GP budgets are being negotiated at the moment, but the Arbuthnott formula is based on the old GP contract formula, which means that there must be some flexibility or thought given to how that money will feed through. As in Orkney, we heard about the difficulty of recruiting and retaining adequate numbers of medical staff in a number of fields.The housing association told us that an estimated 45 per cent of council housing stock in the area has been sold and that there is a shortfall in the provision of public sector housing. Concerns were expressed about the implementation of the Homelessness etc (Scotland) Bill, which is going through Parliament at the moment, because it will place extra demands on local councils and housing associations in terms of provision of housing. A particular problem is the length of time that it takes to plan and develop new housing stock. There are a number or reasons for that, including the lengthy planning process and the fact that Scottish Water and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency must be negotiated with. Communities Scotland must also allow enough time for local housing providers to plan properly and it must take on board the fact that more time is required in areas such as this.Although three-year budgeting, for example, is generally welcomed, budgeting could be more definite and conducted over a longer term. One matter that was discussed in conjunction with that was the way in which Communities Scotland works. Many of its targets are based on providing units of housing, but the requirement in areas such as Skye and Lochalsh is to buy land in order to build up a land bank for future housing needs. The funding mechanism does not cater effectively for that.As for the Gaelic college, the point was well made that Gaelic is too often considered a problem, despite its being a benefit in several ways; for example, because it enhances tourism and because of its cultural aspect. Perhaps the college is slightly unusual, so identifying the correct source of funding for it can sometimes take up disproportionate amounts of time. It is not always clear whether the provision that the college makes means that it should tap cultural funds or educational funds. We discussed how the college could work within the UHI Millennium Institute and with universities elsewhere to expand its provision of courses, such as those in teacher training, on which the UHI is to build a strategic arrangement with the University of Aberdeen. At the moment, the Gaelic college is not directly involved in teacher training.The point was made that the local budget for the voluntary sector has been at a standstill for the past nine years, despite the fact that the level of activity of voluntary sector groups has doubled. That imposes constraints and causes difficulties. It emerged that village halls are important to remote and rural communities and require a fair amount of support. Funding has been provided effectively through the community access fund, but the Highlands and Islands is no longer a priority area for that fund, so accessing money to support village halls is becoming more problematic. It was also said that some voluntary sector projects could not be progressed because match funding could not be obtained from other voluntary sector providers.The impact of phasing out water charges relief for charities was discussed. Charges relate less to the volume of water that has been used and more to roof surface, so charities pay for management of surface water, rather than the volume that has been used.We also heard from the Highland Council, which generally welcomes the move to three-year budgeting and some of the initiatives that can be developed through the modernising government fund and through the joint future agenda. The council raised several issues. As has been said, the Highland and Islands is a growing economy that has all the problems that many growing economies have. It requires more infrastructure, more houses and better transport—particular difficulties relate to maintaining roads and bridges. The Skye bridge was mentioned, which Tom McCabe talked about at some length. Development of Broadford airport was discussed as being a benefit to tourism in the area and to other matters.

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Finance Committee, 18 Nov 2002

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