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The concordat agreement between local authorities and the Scottish Government contained a commitment to pay allowances to kinship carers of looked after children.

Funding for the payment of allowances to approved kinship carers of looked-after children has been incorporated into the total local government settlement from April 2008.

I am pleased to announce that the Scottish Government and COSLA are launching a joint policy statement on the early years framework today. The document is available at:

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Getting it right in the early years is key to improving outcomes for children. The policy statement sets out an agreed approach to developing early intervention and early years work that will provide coherent support across all services to children, parents and their families. It recognises the imperative of ensuring that all children and families receive the support they need to give every child the strongest possible start in life. This is one of the Scottish Government's strategic priorities as reflected in the national performance framework outcomes and indicators.

The joint policy statement also sets out the proposed areas of work that will form the basis of a detailed policy development phase and states how these will be taken forward. The specific areas of work will be subject to consultation until mid-April.

Thereafter the early years framework will be developed in detail with all those with an interest, including children and parents, over the coming months. The final policy detail will be published in summer or autumn 2008.

I am pleased to announce thatScottish ministers intend to bring together the existing bodies which make up Scotland’s distinctiveChildren’s Hearings system of care and justice into a single body. We intend todo this in a way which ensures that local delivery and the links with local communities,which are vital to the system, are fully maintained. This will ensure a strongerand more consistent national approach to the work of the Children’s Reporters service;to the delivery and administration of Children’s Hearings, and to the recruitment,training and support provided to the volunteer Panel members who make the localdecisions at hearings. By incorporating all these functions into one body we canrefocus on the individuals who deliver the Children’s Hearings system, rather thanon the bodies of which they are members.

Panelmembers will continue to be recruited from local communities, and will serve thoselocal communities. Local authorities will continue to have a crucial role to playin ensuring that the system works effectively in their area.

We plan to take the necessarysteps, including bringing forward any legislative proposals, to give effect to this.In the meantime, we will work closely with COSLA and other key interests to developthe detail of the new approach.

The information requested isnot held centrally. Information on the council tax banding of all domestic propertiesis held on the Scottish Assessors portal, however, it does not contain informationat the level of detail requested.

Information on small businesses in the form requested is not held centrally. However,information on the number and rateable value of non-domestic properties which maybe eligible for relief under the Small Business Bonus scheme is available for eachof the local authority areas concerned on the Scottish Assessors Portal (www.saa.gov.uk). This information is shown asfollows:

Number of Properties by Local Authority Area	Rateable Value of Property
	Up to £8,000	£8,001-£10,000	£10,001-£15,000	Total up to £15,000
Glasgow City	11,943	1,628	2,420	15,991
South Lanarkshire	4,956	626	905	6,487

Notes:

(i) The rateable value rangesshown in the table correspond to those on page 12 of the Scottish Budget: SpendingReview 2007.

(ii) The table shows the numberof non-domestic properties, except zero-rated properties, with rateable values ofup to £15,000 in each of the local authority areas in which the Rutherglen parliamentaryconstituency is situated.

(iii) The number of eligiblebusinesses will be lower than the number of non-domestic properties in each area,because some businesses have more than one property. This may affect eligibilityfor relief under the Small Business Bonus Scheme, which will depend on:

the combined rateable value ofall properties in Scotland for which the business is liable to pay rates;

whether the property is eligiblefor one of the existing rates relief schemes, and

the level of other public sectorassistance received by the business.

I am pleased that we have reachedthis agreement, which is worth over 7% to teachers over the next three years (2.25%for 2008-09, 2.5% for 2009-10 and 2.4% for 2010-11).

The deal struck by all threeparties within the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers - the teachers organisations,COSLA and the Scottish Government - demonstrates the benefits of our shared commitmentto improving the lives of Scotland’s children.

The deal is a fair one with realbenefits for pupils and schools as well as teachers and will provide the stabilityto allow a focus on improving educational outcomes for our children.

I refer themember to the answer to question S3W-7439 on 12 December 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions areavailable on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can befound at .

I refer themember to the answer to question S3W-7439 on 12 December 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions areavailable on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can befound at .

I refer themember to the answer to question S3W-7439 on 12 December 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions areavailable on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can befound at .

I refer the memberto the answer to question S3W-7439 on 12 December 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.