DAMIAN Manifesto Scotland A4 (Apr) v3:Layout 1 31/03/2011 ...1 The Scottish Conservatives are...

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Transcript of DAMIAN Manifesto Scotland A4 (Apr) v3:Layout 1 31/03/2011 ...1 The Scottish Conservatives are...

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CONTENTS

FOREWORD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

GROWING THE ECONOMY AND CREATING JOBS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Supporting enterprise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Reforming business rates - a business rate reform bill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Tackling red tape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Speeding up the planning system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Investing in infrastructure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Developing tourism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

REFORMING OUR PUBLIC SERVICES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Helping the voluntary sector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Reforming local government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Delivering better value for money . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Reforming our schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Reforming our universities and colleges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14Reforming our National Health Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Reforming our legal system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Reforming our prison and rehabilitation services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Reforming the police . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

HELPING FAMILIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Reforming tax to keep bills low . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Supporting parents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Helping carers and the vulnerable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Helping families get homes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

PROTECTING SCOTLAND’S QUALITY OF LIFE AND INTERNATIONAL IMPACT . . . . . 25Improving our local environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Reducing energy consumption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Balanced energy policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Sustaining our fishing communities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26Promoting local food . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26Encouraging participation in sport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27Enhancing Scotland’s culture and international impact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

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The Scottish Conservatives are delivering for Scotland. In the last four years, just lookat what we have achieved:

4 1,000 extra police.

4 A four year Council Tax freeze.

4 Cuts in business rates for thousands of small businesses.

4 A new drugs strategy.

4 A £60m town centre regeneration fund.

4 A £26m boost to jobs, the construction industry and first time buyers.

COMMON SENSE POLICIES FOR SCOTLAND Real help for Scotland. Common sense policies delivered byScottish Conservative votes, for Scotland. Practical help forhard pressed families, communities and business. ScottishConservative votes delivered these achievements and I amproud of them.

I want to build on that positive record and this Manifestosets out how we shall deliver even more for Scotland. Howwe shall support families, create jobs, provide opportunity,keep our communities safe and promote a greener Scotland.

I want to deliver that positive vision for Scotland. I am realisticabout the present but I am optimistic about Scotland’s

future. That is why this Manifesto is credible and costed. It is straightforward andfaces up to reality. I make no apology for that. But it also brings forward practicalpolicies, charts a way forward for Scotland and offers hope.

And to those who say to me “You can’t deliver” I say to them “Oh really, well just lookat what we have delivered for Scotland over the last four years!”

FOrEwOrd

ANNABEL GOLDIEScottish ConservativeLeader

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With an economy heavily dependent onthe financial services and public sectors,Scotland more than anywhere else hassuffered from, and is experiencing thelasting effects of, the failure of the financial regulatory regime created by the last Labour Government atWestminster and the problems stored up by its overspending. Worse, Scottishbusinesses and jobs have been hitseverely by the recession, which owing toLabour’s failure to support business andaddress welfare dependency, lastedlonger in the UK than anywhere else inthe G20.

The outgoing SNP Government atHolyrood has taken some positivesteps, following Scottish Conservativepressure, to encourage growth and jobs.However, it has not delivered fully on itspro-business rhetoric and it has failed tosee the need to take some tough, “bigpicture” decisions, such as the need tocall time on unsustainable borrowing andrebalance our economy from the public to the private sector.

With the help of the Conservatives in coalition at Westminster, we areconfident that Scotland can make thesenecessary adjustments successfully, andwill emerge as a more prosperous nationas a result, with a people whose talents are used more fully, and anentrepreneurial heritage that is broughtto life once again.

The new UK Government has done itspart to help turn the Scottish economyaround. Scottish businesses will savearound £280m from the changes we areintroducing to National Insurance andup to 59,000 Scottish businesses will benefit from our NI payment holiday for new businesses. We are cuttingcorporation tax to the lowest rate of anymajor Western economy, one of thelowest rates in the G20, and the lowestrate Scotland has ever known. WhileLabour left half a million Scots stuck onout-of-work benefits, we are reformingwelfare and are making work pay.

We have also shown our potential todeliver at Holyrood. We have consistentlyprioritised the promotion of private sectorgrowth in our contributions to the Budgetprocess. In successive Budgets, we haveused our position holding the balance ofpower to force and then consolidateaccelerated cuts in businesses rates fortens of thousands of small and medium-sized businesses. And in the most recentBudget, we secured £26m of stimulusfor business, comprising £16m of helpfor first time buyers and getting thehousing market moving, leading to5,500 jobs for Scotland’s constructionindustry and £10m for business startups, job creation and exporting which willcreate up to 5,000 jobs.

GrOwING THE ECONOMYANd CrEATING JOBS

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SUPPORTINGENTERPRISE

The rate of business start ups andentrepreneurial activity in Scotland hasflatlined since the advent of devolution,at a rate lower than that of the UKoverall. We are punching below ourweight and we need to face up to that.

We need to put our faith in ourentrepreneurs so we nurture newbusinesses, design new products andcreate new jobs. That is why we willcreate a Scottish Business Start UpFund to support individuals accessenterprise education, vocationaltraining, and to provide grants and loans to assist in the creation of new businesses.

The Scottish Conservatives arecommitted to delivering a step change in enterprise education in Scotland,following the conclusion from the HunterCentre research that enterpriseeducation doubles the likelihood of anindividual becoming an entrepreneur. Wewill achieve this by making it compulsoryto offer enterprise training at allcolleges and universities, in partnershipwith local businesses.

To achieve our radical ambitions forgrowth, it is clear to us that politicians inthe Scottish Parliament will need to take

to heart a new determination to worktogether, to work in partnership with theprivate sector, and to do everything theycan to unite all tiers of governmentbehind the push for growth.

To lead this effort, we will create a newdedicated Cabinet level Minister forEnterprise and Jobs, taking responsibilityfor Enterprise, Planning, Transport andInfrastructure. This post will replace thetwo existing junior ministerial posts.

Local government exercises severalimportant functions in regard toeconomic development and we believethat it is time that it is given an incentiveto take decisions that help, not hinder,growth. So we will create a BusinessDividend Fund, through which localauthorities will receive extra funding forexceeding targets for business start ups.

Similarly, we will place a duty topromote economic growth on all publicagencies, and require them to report onthe positive – and negative – impactsthat the decisions they have taken havehad on economic growth.

Scottish Conservatives successfullyargued for major reform to the EnterpriseNetworks in the last Parliament, and it is clear from the Scottish ParliamentEconomy Committee’s recent report thatbusiness wants the existing networks tofocus on helping business, not further

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restructuring. We will therefore retainScottish Enterprise, Highlands andIslands Enterprise, and ScottishDevelopment International. However, we expect these organisations to moveto shared services for back officefunctions, either with each other or withother public bodies.

Local Authorities have an important roleto play in helping business under the new structure, but there is scope to raisestandards. We will therefore establish a best practice audit of local authoritysupport for business to ensure that allLocal Authorities are able to delivertargeted support to business.

We will expand the Business Gatewayservice to include all businesses notcovered by Scottish Enterprise orHighlands and Islands Enterprise, bygiving credit for supporting largerbusinesses when Business Gatewaycontracts are renegotiated in 2012.Additionally, we will amend the newcontracts to recognise the value ofhelping existing companies survive.

REFORMING BUSINESSRATES - A BUSINESSRATES REFORM BILL

Under Labour and the Liberal Democrats,Scotland imposed a higher rate onbusinesses than that applying inEngland. Thanks to the ScottishConservatives, that changed – and hasbeen preserved over the last Parliament.We will legislate to ensure that themain Business Rate poundage can beno higher than in England.

We will introduce a Business RatesReform Bill to consolidate the legislationon non-domestic rates and to make thesmall business discounts we secured inthe last Parliament permanent - and todeal with some of the problems arisingfrom the 2010 revaluation. Too manybusinesses found out at very shortnotice that their valuations hadincreased. We will therefore increasethe notice period of a change in liabilityfor business rates as a result of arevaluation to at least six months.

Under the current system, even where a business appeals a higher valuation,increased rates are still payable until anappeal has been heard. This can causecashflow problems for businesses, andso we will allow businesses to deferpayment of the disputed amount in theevent of an appeal. In the event of the

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appeal being unsuccessful, a commerciallevel of interest will be charged on theunpaid amount.

The Business Rates Reform Bill will not increase the burden of business rates, and will prohibit sector specificsupplements such as the tax on retailjobs recently proposed by the SNP, andstopped by the Scottish Conservatives.We will extend the scope of the smallbusiness rates relief scheme over thelife of the Parliament as the publicfinances allow.

At the same time, because we havetaken tough decisions to tackle wastefulspending and to prioritise economicgrowth, we will expand the scope of therural business rate reliefs which helpprotect rural post offices, pubs, hotelsand petrol stations.

TACKLING RED TAPE

Scottish Conservatives are committed to cutting the red tape that inhibits thegrowth of all businesses and smallbusinesses in particular. We will retainthe Regulatory Review Group (RRG) toreview red tape and make regulationbetter focussed and less burdensome onbusinesses, voluntary groups and thepublic sector. We will ensure that alllocal authorities comply with EU rulesrequiring access to online applicationsfor forms, applications and licences.

Our aim is for 25 per cent of local andnational Government contracts to beawarded to SMEs. Improving procurementpractice within the public sector will alsohelp deliver savings.

We will allow any voluntary, private or public sector organisation to referregulations which are undulyburdensome to the Regulatory ReviewGroup. The Regulatory Review Group, notthe Scottish Government, will decidewhich regulations should be reviewed.Never again will we have a situation suchas where the SNP tried to increase taxeson Scottish retail jobs, but blocked theRRG assessing the impact of their plans.

We will take forward the RRGrecommendation and investigate moving to a system of alcohol premiseslicenses where the fees are related toalcohol turnover.

We will strengthen Business andRegulatory Impact Assessments,requiring civil servants to consult with at least 20 businesses across Scotland.We will make their use mandatory for allprimary legislation and for secondarylegislation whenever there could be a meaningful regulatory impact. TheScottish Government would have toeither implement the recommendationsor give a formal written response as towhy it is not doing so.

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We will oppose re-regulation of busservices, which would add additionalbureaucracy to transport provision, andshift resources away from publictransport to paperwork.

SPEEDING UP THE PLANNING SYSTEM

Despite the new Planning legislation, it is clear that the current regime is nothelping drive economic growth. We willtherefore establish a business-ledreview of the planning system to reportby March 2012 on how we can improvethe design and operation of the planningregime to raise economic growth whilstrecognising local needs and wishes.

To address the difficulties thatdevelopers and self-builders have ingetting new properties connected to themains water supply, we will impose upon Scottish Water a requirement tocomplete the work within three monthsof planning permission in detail beinggranted for development.

INVESTING IN INFRASTRUCTURE

Scotland’s future economic prosperitydepends on strategic investment in capital infrastructure. Previousgovernments have wasted too muchmoney on poorly planned schemes andhave refused to prioritise.

We will accelerate the introduction ofsuperfast broadband across Scotland toensure our economic competitiveness is maintained.

We will introduce by November 2011 anupdated Strategic Transport ProjectsReview (STPR), providing an indication of the relative priority and timeframe foreach project. We believe that all existingtimetabled projects can be retained.

The updated STPR will prioritiseresources on projects assessed to be ofgreatest economic benefit, which will putthe focus on maintaining and upgradingexisting core road and rail infrastructure.Scottish Conservatives believe that thereplacement Forth Crossing is Scotland’stop transport priority. In view of theimportance of the North-East economy to Scotland, and underinvestment in the area under Labour and the LiberalDemocrats, we rank the AberdeenWestern Peripheral Route Scotland’ssecond most important road project. Wewill also pilot the introduction of hardshoulder-running, initially on sections ofM77 and M8.

We will use the borrowing provisionmade available by the UK Government to enable completion of the new ForthCrossing. This will ensure that other,worthy capital projects are notunnecessarily delayed, and that we can introduce a Road Maintenance

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Fund. As a result, we can also makecommitments on the rail network, whichwill improve services and encouragemodal shift. In particular, we willcontinue the Edinburgh-Glasgow RailImprovement Programme. However,leveraging additional private investmentis also important and so from the nextrenewal, we will make the Scotrailfranchise available for an extendedperiod of 10 years, making clear that weexpect savings in subsidy or improvedinvestment in rolling stock or betterservices in exchange. We will establishan implementation group to liaise with the UK Government to maximisepotential reductions in journey times forScots as a result of new high speed raillinks to London.

We will retain existing lifeline ferryservices but will make savings in theScottish Government’s ferry subsidy,partly by tendering the CALMAC andNorthlink contracts in smaller bundles.

We will put the Bus Services Operators’Grant on a sustainable footing, andencourage Local Authorities to providefunding to supplement BSOG awards.

We will retain but reform the ScottishFutures Trust (SFT), and give it access to the full range of funding options,including PPP. We expect the SFT todeliver savings in capital procurementabove its current level and will require all

public bodies to seek advice from SFT for all procurement. Like all public bodiesunder our plans, the SFT will have todemonstrate the impact of its decisionson the Scottish economy.

We will introduce a Bill to reformScottish Water, ending the reliance on taxpayer funding while protectingcustomers with an enhanced regulatoryregime. Scottish Water will become a publicly-owned Public Interest Company,free from government control.

The Edinburgh Trams Project has becomea national embarrassment. By now, tramsshould have been running in Edinburgh.Despite a positive review on progressfrom the Auditor General in 2007, sincethen neither the Lib Dem/SNP City ofEdinburgh Council, Transport InitiativesEdinburgh, or the Scottish Governmentthrough Transport Scotland, haveexercised any leadership of the project,which is now not only delayed and likelyto be scaled back, but also substantiallyover budget. We will therefore notprovide any more central governmentgrant funding for Edinburgh trams.

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DEVELOPING TOURISM

The tourism industry is vital to Scotland’seconomy and visitor spend is currentlyaround £4.1 billion a year. It providesemployment for roughly 210,000 people,spread all over Scotland.

A growth ambition was set by theindustry and the Labour/Lib DemScottish Executive in 2005 to grow therevenue from Scottish tourism by 50 percent over ten years. We are now past thehalfway point, with zero growth.

If Scotland is going to remain a majorplayer, we believe that it has to competeon quality, not price. That means gettingskills right, getting investment into theindustry and getting a year-roundstrategy.

We need a highly trained and skilledworkforce. We have to get everythingright, from the welcome to the generalstandard of customer care. Tourismtraining in Scotland currently involvesover 400 courses provided by 40different institutions. We will establish a private sector group to deliver a wholesale rationalisation, creating a smaller number of industry-approvedcourses provided by fewer providers. Thesystem must become demand-led so that we tackle the mismatch that existsbetween the skills required by employersand the skills offered by applicants.

Investment is needed to improve thefabric of the industry, yet many tourismbusinesses are struggling to raisefinance at the moment. So we willinvestigate the viability of a ScottishTourism Investment Bank, based on theAustrian model.

We will lead development of a “Year-Round Tourism Strategy”. This will helpensure that tourism businesses make a continuous contribution to their localeconomies and will make employment inthe industry more stable and rewarding,which will in turn raise the calibre ofentrants and encourage the retention and development of staff.

We will retain the number of TouristInformation Centres (TICs), althoughencourage premises-sharing with otherorganisations. We will ensure all TICsprovide Scotland-wide information toencourage tourists to travel throughout Scotland.

To encourage more visitors to come toScotland, we will aim to establish an EUcompliant successor to the Air RouteDevelopment Fund.

Historic Scotland manages many sitesthat are in an enviable position forencouraging visitors to take advantage of a whole host of tourism opportunitiesacross Scotland. We will place a formalobligation on Historic Scotland topromote tourism across Scotland.

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HELPING THE VOLUNTARY SECTOR

Scotland has a proud and long-standingcharitable tradition and we are convincedthat charities and social enterprisesshould play a major part in our civicrenewal. Many of them have strong localroots and specialist knowledge and maybe better placed to deliver services thanthe public sector ever could be. We will therefore consult on introducing a “right to bid” for the voluntary sector.

We will encourage the use of multi-yearfunding deals for the voluntary sector,and require all public bodies to reportwhat proportion of their funding isprovided on such a basis. For centralGovernment, multi-year funding willbecome the norm. We will require allpublic bodies to report what proportionof their contracts, by value and percentage,are placed with third sector bodies.

To encourage additional investment inthe voluntary sector through privateinvestors, we will pilot “Social ImpactBonds” (SIBs). Payments will only bemade under SIBs where programmeshave been successful – payment by results.

We will review the Office of the ScottishCharity Regulator (OSCR) with a view tointroducing a less onerous regulatoryregime for small charities.

REFORMING LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Scotland’s largest cities have been letdown by their political leadership inrecent years. To give people the chanceof renewed and accountable localleadership, we will give people thechance to have a powerful, electedprovost by holding referenda in Glasgow,Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee.

Scottish Conservatives successfullyargued for the ending of ring fencing forLocal Government funding, but the SNPGovernment introduced new bureaucracyin its place. We will abolish theconcordat. It will be replaced with arequirement upon councils to set outtheir own plans and report on progress.To speed up decision-making andcommunication with business, thevoluntary sector and the public, onecriterion that councils will have to report against is the percentage ofcorrespondence that they reply to withinthree weeks.

We will review the funding formula forlocal government to ensure fairness forall parts of Scotland. Unlike the reviewundertaken in the current Parliament, we will ensure that all issues, includingrurality, are taken into account. We willseek to do this with the agreement ofCOSLA, and to phase in any changes overa period of years.

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However, all local authorities need tomake savings in order to protect front-lineservices. We will ask the AccountsCommission to report on the extent thateach council shares services with otherpublic sector bodies. We will givecouncils a further financial incentive toshare services, by amending the CouncilFunding formula. We will also extend our“transparency revolution” to localgovernment, with a £500 reportingthreshold for non-salary payments.

We believe that local authorities can domore to sustain the communities thatthey represent. We will require localauthorities to allocate a budget tocommunity councils, proportionate tothe size of the area they cover, so thatmore community councils may undertaketheir own projects. We will alsointroduce a framework for localauthorities to open “council counters”in Post Office branches.

DELIVERING BETTERVALUE FOR MONEY

We will create a new Cabinet levelposition of Minister for Finance andReform, replacing the existing Financeand Sustainable Growth portfolio, andprovide a dedicated member of Cabinetwith responsibility for decisions ontaxation and spending, and for drivingpublic sector reform.

We value people who work in the publicsector and while it would be irresponsibleto guarantee no compulsoryredundancies, we will seek to avoid themwherever possible, and to help protectjobs we will freeze public sector payuntil April 2013 for those earning over£21,000.

As well as exempting the least well offfrom the pay freeze, we will ensure thatfor new contracts paying salaries of£50,000 and above the proposed salarywill be subject to an independent payassessment and the contract prohibitsthe payment of bonuses.

Across the public sector in Scotlandthere is no single set of comparable dataon absence rates, despite the fact that a two day reduction in sickness absencerates in the public sector in Scotlandwould save £138m per annum. We willtherefore require all public bodies -including local authorities - to publishonline, on a comparable basis, absencedata at least quarterly.

At the same time, we will introduce a new target for sickness absence ratesfor each devolved public body. Thistarget will take into account existingperformance, and equivalent data fromthe private sector where comparable.Where there is no appropriate privatesector comparison, the best performingpublic sector comparator within the UK

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and Ireland will be used. To encourageservice sharing across the public sector,we will require all public bodies toreport the proportion of their budgetthey spend on shared services and how much they save by sharing.

We will abolish Regional TransportPartnerships, with the exception ofStrathclyde Partnership for Transport,which will return to its previous state assolely a provider of services rather than a co-ordination body. Local authoritieswill be encouraged to work togetherwhere this is sensible. We will alsorequire local authorities to subject road maintenance work to competitive tender.

To allow a more focussed andstreamlined approach to ruraldevelopment and regulation, we willintegrate the regulatory functions of the rural bodies in Scotland, namely theScottish Environmental ProtectionAgency, Scottish Natural Heritage, MarineScotland, Food Standards Agency, andthe Scottish Government Rural Paymentsand Inspections Directorate, into one newagency called the Scottish EnvironmentRegulator. Similarly, we will integrate thedevelopment functions of the ruralbodies into one new agency calledScottish Environment Development.Taken together, these reforms will enableus to put the functions of five quangos

into two. We will also abolish theScottish Agricultural Wages Board.

We will protect concessionary buspasses fares for all current users, byraising the qualifying age for newrecipients to 65 from April 2012. Thoseeligible for non-age related concessionarytravel will be unaffected by this change.

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REFORMING OURSCHOOLS

Educational standards will only improveacross the board if parents have agreater say in choosing a school and ifthere are more incentives and freedomsto change poorly performing schools intogood schools. Likewise, not all childrencan be successful in the sameenvironment. Children with outstandingmusical, artistic or sporting talents andthose with special needs often requiredifferent resources and different types of schools. We therefore want to see a more diverse range of schools whichbetter suit the individual needs of our children.

So we will enable educational charities,philanthropists, not-for-profit trusts andgroups of parents to set up new schoolsand allow existing state schools to berun independently of local authorities.They will all be non-selective and unableto charge fees. We will allow the sum oftaxpayers’ money which is devoted to theeducation of any child to follow them toany state-funded school of the parents’choice. We will give headteachers ofschools remaining within local authoritycontrol more powers over the running oftheir own school, particularly in terms ofdiscipline policy, recruitment of staff and control over how the school budget is spent.

SPENDING VERSUS ATTAINMENT

Source: Reform Scotland (April 2009).

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The highest quality of teaching standardsis crucial in raising standards in ourschools. So too is good qualityprofessional development and strongleadership throughout every level of theteaching profession. We support thefindings of the recent Donaldson Reportwhich stressed the need for the higheststandards of teacher literacy andnumeracy and we will continue to workwith the General Teaching Council forScotland and teacher training institutionsto raise aspirations in the profession, to provide new routes into the teachingprofession, more concurrent degreecourses and to ensure there is renewedfocus for teachers to keep up-to-date with their subject knowledge. We will ensure there are fewer barriers when it comes to teacher recruitment,by improving engagement betweenheadteachers and the teacher traininginstitutions, universities and employers.There needs to be more accurateinformation about both the short termand long term availability of teachingvacancies on a local rather than national basis.

There is growing evidence to show thatour education system is failing far toomany children. When it comes to literacyand numeracy, one in every six pupilscurrently leaves primary school unable toread, write or count properly. This meansthat too many children arrive atsecondary school when the best

opportunity to master these basic skillshas been lost. Thirteen thousand pupilsleave the Scottish schools system everyyear without acquiring good basics inreading and writing. There is growingevidence that the education systems in many comparable countries areperforming far better. For example, in the Trends in International Maths andScience Survey (TIMSS), Scottish pupilswere ranked below the global average inboth maths and science. Such statisticsare not acceptable. Greater focus onliteracy and numeracy is essential,particularly in primary school. We willreform the process of testing reading,writing and arithmetic to make it morerigorous and to ensure that by the timepupils reach the end of P7 their progressin these basic skills is measured againstnationally-agreed criteria. Whilstsupporting the principles of theCurriculum for Excellence, we want to see as much focus on acquiring relevantsubject knowledge as there is onacquiring relevant skills. We believe thattraditional core subjects should be the foundation of all pupils’ education. We will also encourage greater co-operation between different schools sothat there is more opportunity for pupilsto gain access to the Higher and theAdvanced Higher courses they requirefor college and university entrance andmore opportunity for all pupils to gainaccess to good quality sports, music and drama facilities.

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As well as ensuring that headteachersare able to decide the behaviour anduniform codes that will apply in their ownschool, we will pilot Second ChanceCentres for the small minority of pupilswho are persistently excluded fromschool and whose disruptive behaviour is preventing others from learning orteaching. The centres will be separatefrom the school environment and willenforce a strict code of discipline, whileproviding specialist help to refocusdisruptive pupils’ lives.

We believe that, as it stands, theeducation system fails to engage manyyoung people who are unsuited toacademic study or who would ratherpursue a skilled trade. This is damagingto the Scottish economy and has createda skills shortage that frustrateshouseholders and business people. We will encourage schools to introducea more flexible curriculum structurewhich allows pupils to select either anacademically-focussed path from S2onwards or a more vocationally-focusedpath and we will work with SQA to ensurethere is an examination system whichreflects this. Pupils should be free toleave school at age 14 provided theyengage in a monitored apprenticeship ora full-time vocational or technical trainingprogramme which can provide them withthe necessary skills for the world of work.

According to the outgoing ScottishGovernment’s own figures, over 70percent of Education MaintenanceAllowance (EMA) payments are going tohouseholds defined as ‘not deprived’. Inkeeping with its original purpose, we willreform the EMA so that it is targeted tohelp those most in need.

REFORMING OURUNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES

Scottish universities have a proudtradition but that can only continue ifthere are additional sources of funding.The status quo is not tenable and theintroduction of up-front tuition fees isunacceptable. We will thereforeintroduce a graduate contributionfacilitated through income-contingentloans. The contribution will be variable byinstitution but will only be paid post-graduation once earnings are over a given threshold and at a rate affordableto the graduate. This will make universityfunding more sustainable andprogressive. This will also enable us tointroduce a system of enhanced bursarysupport for those students most in need.

In Scotland, undergraduate degreestypically take four years to complete,however there is much scope for changeand for greater flexibility in the examsystem. We will introduce greater

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flexibility into the exam system by, forexample, providing more scope for S6pupils with appropriate AdvancedHighers or equivalent qualifications andstudents who possess an HNC or HND tofast track into second year of university.We believe that there is much scope forgreater cooperation between universitiesin Scotland in terms of research fundingand administration on a regional basis.We will encourage, and where possible,will help to facilitate this cooperation.The Independent Budget Review report,the Scottish Chambers of Commerce,and a number of university principalshave all stated that there is a need forencouraging greater private sectorinvestment in our universities. We willsupport greater private sectorcooperation and investment in theuniversity sector.

Our colleges are a vital and integral partof Scottish education and their strengthlies in their adaptability to the economicand social needs within different regionsof Scotland. We want to encouragegreater scope for colleges to work with local schools, universities andbusinesses to enhance their economicand social contribution and to open upnew opportunities to students throughbetter integrated learner pathways.

REFORMING OURNATIONAL HEALTHSERVICE

Scottish Conservatives are committed to delivering better healthcare forScotland’s communities. We are proud of the excellent service provided by ourNHS and those who work within it.

But the NHS can always be improved. Webelieve that reducing management costswill allow more money to be freed up toinvest in front-line services, and protectvital local facilities. We also believe thatproviding a stronger service on the frontline of primary care, through earlyidentification of potential health concerns,will enable the NHS to work with familiesand individuals more effectively in lookingafter their own health.

The ultimate responsibility for anindividual’s good health rests with thempersonally. It is up to the individual totake an interest in their own healthcareand make appropriate lifestyle choicesfor their own wellbeing. Government’srole is to support individuals in thesechoices, provide information and support,but also provide a greater degree ofassistance for the vulnerable such aschildren and those from disadvantagedgroups.

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The NHS under the ScottishConservatives will be protected fromfunding cuts, will fill gaps in servicewhich currently exist, such as a lack ofhealth visitors or poor access to vitalcancer drugs, and will provide a newfocus on improving the nation’s generalhealth and wellbeing.

Because the Scottish Conservativesvalue the NHS, we will protect healthspending, increasing it annually in linewith inflation.

However, we still need to use this moneyefficiently. We start by reducing top-levelmanagement costs by 30 per cent inthe Scottish NHS over the Parliament.All savings will go direct to frontline NHS services.

We opposed the SNP’s abolition ofprescription charges, which took millionsof pounds out of the NHS. We wouldreintroduce prescription charges at the2009 level of £5 for a single item and£48 for a prepayment certificate – re-injecting £37m into the NHS. At thesame time, we will review the list ofconditions which are exempt fromprescription charges to removeanomalies and widen the range. Noindividual or group who would have beenexempt from charges prior to abolitionwill pay under our plans.

We also support the further developmentof the role of pharmacists when it comesto prescribing medication. This will allowmore money to be saved through the useof generic drugs.

We propose free universal health checksfor those aged between 40 and 74.Working with Community Pharmacy, wewill deliver a range of drop-in servicescatching the early signs of potentialproblems and saving our NHS substantialsums in the long run.

We have supported moves by theScottish Government to restrictDistinction Award payments and we will study the proposals from the UKGovernment when published. Ourpreference is for a UK wide reform ofthese payments.

As we have been prepared to make toughdecisions elsewhere in the NHS, we willbe able to introduce a Cancer DrugsFund of up to £10m to ensure thatScottish patients have at least the sameaccess to clinically effective drugs aspatients in England and establish a newIVF Fund to broaden access to fertilitytreatment, giving additional funding to those Health Boards providing aminimum standard of IVF access in their area.

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We need to remove the inappropriateemphasis on ideology and targets andshift the focus to clinical discretion andwhat really matters: patient outcomes.With this in mind, we will ensure NHSBoards have the freedom to commissionvoluntary and private sector care andremove the ban on entities other thanGP partnerships providing primary care.

To improve access to healthcare, we willpilot walk-in treatment centres in ourmajor cities, which could be set up eitherby the NHS or by independent providersusing their own capital. We will reviewthe provision of out of hours services,and will seek to amend the contract forScottish GPs if necessary to ensureadequate services are provided. Inreturn, we will give GPs a greaterleadership role in Community HealthPartnerships.

We will work with the British DentalAssociation and local health boards toensure that every Scot has access to a Dentist, at the same time as pushing for much greater emphasis on thepreventative measures needed toimprove oral health.

For too long, mental health services havealso been given insufficient attention bypolicymakers. We will promote increaseduse of talking therapies within the NHS.We will encourage health boards to makegreater use of telehealth and telecare

to improve access to healthcare forpatients, particularly those in remote andrural areas.

To deliver these improvements, it is clearthat some structural changes arerequired. We will review the ScottishNHS structure with a view to reducingthe number of health boards and healthquangos. Equally, we will look torationalise the non-geographic NHSboards. While we will allow the pilots forpart-elected NHS boards to continue inNHS Dumfries and Galloway and NHSFife, we will assess their success duringthe next Parliament before taking a viewon the suitability of part-elected boardsacross the NHS in Scotland.

We also believe that members of thegeneral public need to be given thepower to trigger Independent ScrutinyPanels when major service changes areunder discussion. We will achieve this myintroducing a threshold petition system.

The NHS needs a culture of continuousquality improvement to drive upstandards and NHS workers must beconfident that they can raise concernswithout fear of recrimination. To ensurethat this is a reality, we will make iteasier for NHS workers to “whistleblow”by requiring all NHS Boards to adhere toa consistent national whistleblowingprocedure.

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We will take action across all parts ofgovernment – the criminal justice systemas well as the NHS – to help tackleproblem alcohol consumption. To supportthis, we want to see Scotland follow the UK Government’s lead and ban the sale of alcohol below the cost of dutyand VAT.

REFORMING OUR LEGAL SYSTEM

The Scottish Conservatives remain theparty of vigorous action against crime.We have always stood for the protectionof the citizen and the defence of the ruleof law. We are proud that during the lastfour years we have been instrumental indelivering 1,000 extra police officers anda new strategy to tackle drug addiction inScotland. However, crime remains a realconcern for many people in Scotlandtoday. The challenge for the next fiveyears is to step up the fight againstlawlessness and violence, so that ourcitizens can live free from fear.

We must tackle crime at its roots. Toomany offences are carried out to feed a drug habit or are connected to alcohol.Unless we adequately address theseissues, we will not break the cycle of re-offending. We must also ensure thatchildren are adequately supported whena parent is sent to prison so that they do not get sucked into the culture of criminality.

We must ensure that the sentence fitsthe crime. A long prison sentence willremain appropriate for dangerouscriminals, and fines and a tougher regimefor punishment outside prison availableas an alternative for less serious crime.

Victims of crime are too often forgottenabout and we want to give them a strongvoice at the heart of the criminal justicesystem. Further, local communitiesshould have a much greater say over how decisions are made about their local policing priorities.

We must restore public confidence in ourjustice system. So we will re-introduceprison sentences of less than threemonths, so that custody can be usedinstead of community service whereappropriate. However, we will also offertougher community sentences that thecourts and the public have confidence in:offenders will carry out meaningful jobslike litter picking, snow shovelling andbeach cleaning, wearing a high-visibilityuniform.

Now that such sentences will beavailable, the case for community courtsbecomes even stronger. We will pilot a community court in Glasgow.

Knife crime is a problem which blightstoo many communities across Scotland.The outgoing SNP Government has failedto take any action to address the

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concerns of the victims of knife crime ordeter those who want to carry a knife.This needs to change. We will start byholding a nationwide knife amnesty toremove as many knives from the streetsof Scotland as possible. As well as givingback to courts their full sentencingpowers including short term sentences,we will end automatic early release so that more offenders are actuallyspending more of their sentence behindbars being rehabilitated and punished.The public expect knife carriers to go to jail and we, whilst recognising thesentencing discretion of the courts, willensure that our reforms reflect this.

We will channel an element of fundsconfiscated under the Proceeds ofCrime Act 2002 directly to charities andsupport groups that help the victims ofcrime. We will also create high-profile,Scotland-wide projects on which a significant number of those oncommunity service can be employed,ensuring that community service is hardwork for those sentenced to it, andconsolidating the work of many of thoseinvolved in it into a benefit that isdemonstrable to the Scottish public as a whole.

We will reform legal aid, in particular the scope of civil legal aid.

We will encourage better partnershipworking between the different agencies

to ensure that anti-social behaviour istackled swiftly and effectively. In order to tackle anti-social behaviour in someresidential areas, we will amend theLand Reform Act (Scotland) Act 2003to remove urban access lanes from itsscope. We will also legislate to tacklethe problem of high hedges where noagreement can be reached betweenneighbours.

REFORMING OUR PRISONAND REHABILITATIONSERVICES

We are committed to the newInverclyde, Highland and Grampianprisons and we will redevelop older partsof the prison estate when economicconditions permit in order to make themmore focussed on rehabilitation.

We need to revolutionise therehabilitation culture in our prisons. We will move responsibility for theoperation of community sentences from social work departments in localauthorities to a new Scottish Prison andRehabilitation Service (SPRS) to enablethis change of culture. We recognise that for too long prisons have failed toproperly rehabilitate criminals which iswhy the re-offending rate in Scotland isso high.

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We will hold be a national review of all rehabilitation schemes currently offered to prisoners whilst in prisons and following release with a view todetermining those that work and thosethat don’t. We will guarantee that all prisoners get meaningful and constructive rehabilitationopportunities, irrespective of the typeand length of their sentences. The newunified Scottish Prison and RehabilitationService will also run community-basedsentences and this will help us makethem more rehabilitative too. We will also ensure access to properrehabilitation after sentences, which is extremely patchy at present.

We will create an official portal,controlled by the new Scottish Prison and Rehabilitation Service, through which community groups can “bid” forcommunity service participants or evenprisoners to undertake specific work.Those serving the sentence would all bemonitored. It depends on an assessmentof individuals and their records, but inmost cases the groups benefiting fromthe work would not administer theoffenders on their own, rather there willbe supervision in place by employees ofthe SPRS.

We will introduce compulsory drugstests for all inmates on arrival anddeparture from prison. We will extenddrugs free wings in prisons and

implement the national drugs strategy in every prison. In prison and outside, we will institute a national review on the implementation of the national drugs strategy.

REFORMING THE POLICE

Scottish Conservatives were responsiblefor delivering 1,000 additional PoliceOfficers in Scotland over the last fouryears as a result of our budgetnegotiations, and we are committed tomaintaining Police numbers over thenext Parliament. In order to ensure wecan achieve this at a time when thepublic sector has to make savings, wewill merge Scotland’s eight police forcesinto one.

We are committed to local policing andlocal accountability, so we will replacePolice Boards with elected local Police Commissioners, each covering a distinct local area. Individually, policecommissioners will hold local police toaccount such as by setting the localarea’s target for crime reduction. Policecommissioners will not be involved inpolice operational issues. They wouldalso work with the new sentencing andrehabilitation service. Collectively, theywould provide strategic directionthroughout Scotland, sharing bestpractice. They would be elected at localelections and share terms of office with councillors.

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Giving people democratic control of thepolice is a huge step forward, but it is notenough. We need to give local people theinformation and direct powers they needto challenge their neighbourhood policeteams to cut crime. So we will oblige the police to publish very detailed localcrime data statistics every month,including crime maps, and require policeteams to have regular neighbourhoodbeat meetings so they know whatpeople’s priorities are.

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HElPING FAMIlIES

REFORMING TAX TOKEEP BILLS LOW

We will not use the existing or futureScottish Parliament tax powers toincrease income tax in the nextParliament or impose new taxes, suchas the discredited local income tax.

Scottish Conservatives first called for a Council Tax Freeze in 2003. UnderLabour and the Liberal Democrats,Council Tax increased by 62 per cent inScotland. In the face of opposition from the same two parties, ScottishConservatives have ensured that theCouncil Tax has remained frozen since2007, and we will now go further. We will freeze the Council Tax until atleast 2013. However, the Council Tax Freeze can’t continue indefinitely.Looking ahead to when it eventually hasto come to an end, we will change thelaw to give local residents the power to stop bills rising faster than inflation.

Eligibility for Council Tax Benefit is higherfor pensioners than for the population asa whole, but take-up of the benefit is notuniversal. To help tackle this, and toensure that those who have contributedto society over the years get a fair dealon tax, we will legislate to introduce a Pensioner Discount from 2013-14,initially set at £200 per household.The discount will be available to all

households where all adults havereached the State Pension Age. Studentsliving in the household, and others whoare ignored for Council Tax purposes, willnot affect eligibility.

We will not hold a council tax revaluation,nor will we introduce new bands orchange the ratios between the bands.We will make no changes to thestructure of Council Tax which wouldincrease bills.

We will remove the power to chargedrivers for using existing roads from thestatute books.

SUPPORTING PARENTS

We will devote £20m to enable us togive all parents a guaranteed level ofhealth visitor support until their childreaches the age of five. We will ensurethat all health visitors are attached to GP practices, allowing for greatercommunication between the healthvisitor and the family doctor. Alongsidethis, we believe that more information ongood parenting should be available in allmaternity units, early years settings, GPpractices and on NHS websites.

We will retain the current entitlement of12.5 hours nursery care per week butwill ensure there is greater flexibilityregarding the times of day when parentscan use this entitlement. We also favour

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a more flexible mix of state, partnershipand private provision of nursery schoolplaces. We will extend this entitlementto two year-olds from disadvantagedbackgrounds, starting with the mostvulnerable.

We support fully the new AdditionalSupport for Learning Act as we weresuccessful in arguing for new measuresto be included in the Act to ensure thatparents of all additional support needschildren are provided with informationand support regarding their child’seducation. We will ensure that allteachers receive regular training on howto identify additional support needs in a child as early as possible.

We will encourage all schools to providecomprehensive information to parentsabout what extra-curricular activities areavailable in school and we will work with HMIe to ensure there is morecomprehensive reporting on theseactivities within school inspections.

HELPING CARERS ANDTHE VULNERABLE

We will merge health and social carebudgets, placing social care under thecontrol of the NHS. This will remove theincentive to use hospital beds whensocial care would be a more appropriate(and less costly) alternative. The moneysaved will be retained in the health and

social care budget, leaving us betterplaced to meet future demand for social care.

We value the contribution made by carersacross Scotland and we want to makeprogress in implementing the NationalCarers’ Strategy to improve services forcarers and will provide additional respitecare. The integration of social care andNHS services will help identify those inneed of extra assistance to care for their loved ones. We will work with thevoluntary sector, local authorities and theNHS to improve services for carers.

HELPING FAMILIES GET HOMES

People get a sense of pride from owningtheir own home and home ownershipgives people a stake in the maintenanceand improvement of their neighbourhood.It also fosters social mobility andenables people to build up capital.

That is why we believe that as manyScots as possible should have theopportunity to share in the benefits ofhome ownership. That must includethose who live in social housing. So wewill reinstate a “modernised Right to Buy”for new (and recently built) social housesin local authority ownership.

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HElPING FAMIlIES, CONTINUEd

Scottish Conservatives support the workof our housing associations which havea leading role to play in the provision of new affordable housing. We supportstock transfer by councils to housingassociations with tenant approval. Wewill use Right To Buy receipts, stocktransfer and institutional investment to fund construction of social housesrather than placing so much of theburden on higher rents, as the SNP is doing.

We will introduce additional weightingfor local people and people with a proven family connection in council andRegistered Social Landlords’ allocation of housing.

We will encourage the replication ofEdinburgh’s Private Sector LeasingScheme throughout Scotland. We willabolish Home Reports to help get theproperty market moving again.

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IMPROVING OUR LOCALENVIRONMENT

Scottish Conservatives promised a TownCentre Regeneration Fund in our lastmanifesto, and despite Labour and theLib Dems trying to vote down the Fund,we delivered £60m of help to highstreets across Scotland. We willinstitute at least one further round ofthe Town Centre Regeneration Fund.

To safeguard Scotland’s landscape, we will introduce national strategicplanning guidance for onshore wind toprevent inappropriately sited or sizedwindfarms. This will provide certainty to both communities and developers. We will also aim for a sensible andsustainable increase in new productivesoftwoods and promote themed daysthroughout the year to encourageenvironmental volunteering, such asbeach clean ups.

REDUCING ENERGYCONSUMPTION

The first step to decarbonising oureconomy and ensuring energy security is reducing our energy consumption. A Scottish Conservative amendment in the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 introduced the Green Council Taxdiscount and we will seek to improve

the uptake of this through a publicinformation campaign.

We will retain Home Energy Reportsdespite the abolition of Home Reportsand consolidate the various energyefficiency schemes into one system,with residential and non-residentialschemes. We will require LocalAuthorities to publish “heat maps”showing where demand is in their localareas, with a view to increasing the takeup of district heating, where appropriate.In the public sector, we will require allpublic bodies to publish details of theirenergy consumption and commit to a target to reduce it.

A BALANCED ENERGY POLICY

We are determined that Scotland shouldbe the place where a new generation ofmarine energy sources are developed.We have thousands of miles of coastlineand the highest tidal reaches almost inthe world, yet under Labour, we sawcompanies moving abroad to developwave and tidal power and we want toreverse that trend. We will take up, infull, the UK Government’s offer ofadditional funding through the GreenInvestment Bank and we will campaignfor the bank to be headquartered inScotland. And we want Britain to lead theworld in Carbon Capture and Storage.

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Our colleagues at Westminster arespending £1 billion on CCS. That’s morethan any other Government, anywhere inthe world is giving to a single plant andwe want that to be invested here inScotland, at Longannet.

We welcome the review of nuclear safetythat our colleagues in government atWestminster have ordered from the UKChief Nuclear Inspector and we areconfident that any lessons learned fromhis report will be applied to the UK’s newbuild programme. Therefore, we will end the policy of current ScottishGovernment of refusing to considerreplacement of existing nuclear power-generating capacity. Instead, we wouldconsider any proposals to build onexisting sites on their own merits.However, we would not permit any newsites to be used. Additionally, we willamend National Planning Framework 2 in order to designate the replacementof existing nuclear power generatingcapacity as National Developments.

SUSTAINING OURFISHING COMMUNITIES

We recognise the importance of fishingto the Scottish Economy. While we arenot prepared to make empty promiseslike the SNP, we are determined to do all we can to secure serious reform of the Common Fisheries Policy, withconservation and industry working hand-

in-hand. We know that we will have thesupport of UK Ministers, and believe thatthe best hope for the industry is for theUK to speak with one voice. We mustmake the reduction of discards a highpriority, while securing improvedmanagement of fish stocks and theprosperity of our fishing industry.

We are also committed to pursuingdomestic fisheries reform. In particular,we will provide Civil Service support toinvestigate the possible development ofa vertically integrated, market focused,co-operative model for the demersalsector. We will also encourage andsupport aquaculture in appropriatelysited developments.

PROMOTING LOCAL FOOD

Consumers often want to buy Scottish orlocal produce but are put off by confusingor even misleading labelling. We will legislate to ensure honesty ingeographical labelling for food. So thatgovernment shows a lead in reducingfood miles, we will encourageprocurement of local food across thepublic sector, and retain the Single Farm Payment.

To help small, local producers andimprove the viability of Scottish farmingas a whole, we will move quickly to putin place a risk-based regime for meatinspection, comparable in scope and

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simplicity with those of EU nations which have modernized their inspection services.

Finally, to help people grow their ownfood, develop their leisure time andimprove the appearance of their localarea, we will introduce a right to requestdisused publicly-owned land be put intouse as allotments. We will also provideCivil Service support to create a newSocial Enterprise, “Growing Scotland”,to run an online matching service forpeople seeking to form gardening co-operatives or to share/borrow plots.

ENCOURAGINGPARTICIPATION IN SPORT

We want to make the GlasgowCommonwealth Games a great success.We will use the Games to encouragegreater participation in sport across all age groups, and focus on leaving a lasting legacy of sporting facilities for after 2014.

We believe extra-curricular activities are an invaluable part of any child’seducation. In particular, we believe thereshould be more opportunities for schoolsport and outdoor education. We will setup a charitable trust fund, into which wewill commit an initial £2m, which willhave the specific aim of giving all pupilsthe opportunity of receiving one fullweek of residential outdoor education at

least once between the ages of 11 and15, and more opportunities to participatein grassroots sport.

Finally, we will promote sponsored bike schemes for our towns and cities to encourage greater participation in cycling.

ENHANCING SCOTLAND’SCULTURE ANDINTERNATIONAL IMPACT

We will preserve free entry to nationalmuseums and galleries. To helpGovernment funded Culture, Heritage andSport bodies secure additional revenue,we will establish a new fund to allowthem to finance expenditure which willlead to additional income in the future.A wide range of initiatives will besupported, from encouragingphilanthropic contributions to growingexisting income streams and developingnew ones.

We remain committed to the promotionof the Gaelic language and culture.Having fought hard to move BBC Alba on to freeview, we will allow, within ournew schools model, the creation of new Gaelic schools where there islocal demand.

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PrOTECTING SCOTlANd’S QUAlITY OF lIFE ANd INTErNATIONAl IMPACT, CONTINUEd

Conservatives protected the internationalaid budget at UK level, because we are committed to playing a full part ininternational development, whatever thefiscal problems we have inherited athome. Scotland too has a proud recordof overseas assistance, especially inMalawi, so we will protect the devolvedinternational aid budget for the lifetimeof the Parliament.

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Promoted by M.McInnes, on behalf of the Scottish Conservative andUnionist Party, both of 67 Northumberland Street, Edinburgh EH3 6JG.Printed by Treehouse Print, 13 Dublin Street Lane South, Edinburgh EH1 3PX.

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