Scottish Parliament e-Brief 

Issue 166, 11th August 2003

SECTION 1 - BUSINESS THIS WEEK

THE CHAMBER
Parliament is in recess.

IN COMMITTEE
Parliament is in recess.

 

SECTION 2 - NEWS

Money up front for champion readers
Almost 450 schools, nurseries, libraries and youth groups across Scotland have benefited from the Executive's Home Reading Initiative and its small grants scheme.

Education Minister Peter Peacock announced yesterday that grants totalling £330,000 had been paid out from Kirkcudbright to Kirkwall.

The announcement was made on the day that First Minister Jack McConnell attended the Edinburgh International Book Festival and hosted a reception at Bute House for Scotland’s Reading Champions – authors, politicians and celebrities who are encouraging parents and children to get the most out of reading.

The small grants scheme aims to provide access to home reading materials to as many children in Scotland as possible by providing local organisations with start-up costs for initiatives to encourage and promote reading in the home. To be successful, applicants had to demonstrate the sustainability of their home reading scheme.

The majority of the grants were used to buy books and story sacks which include a book, puzzle and puppet on the same theme.

The Home Reading Initiative encourages parents and carers to share books with their child from a very early stage. The dedicated website offers ideas about reading and recommended books, alongside encouragement from Reading Champions of all ages.

Full story

Investment priorities for health research
Giving the public more say in how health research funding is spent is one of the key aims of a new strategy, published today by the Scottish Executive Health Department's Chief Scientist Office (CSO).

The Research Strategy for Health and Healthcare outlines the priority areas for research funding for the next five years and will mean the establishment of new Portfolio Steering Groups, with representation from patients, clinicians and researchers.  These Groups will cover the priority areas of cancer, CHD/stroke and mental health. There will also be a steering group for public health. The groups’ role will be to provide strategic direction to help guide where money is spent and to identify areas where targeted research is needed.

The CSO has a remit to encourage and support research, both to improve the health of the people in Scotland and the services provided by the NHS. It has a budget of around £47 million per annum. This money is spent both directly in support of individuals, projects, programmes and research Units, and indirectly by allocating money to support research in the health service.

More basic research is supported by UK-wide funders such as the Medical Research Council with whom the CSO has a close working relationship. The CSO focuses its research activity on more applied research which is likely to have a more direct impact on health and health services matters.

Full Story

 

SECTION 3 - NOTES ON THIS WEEK’S CHAMBER BUSINESS

Parliament is in recess.

 

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