At-a-glance: Scottish Lib Dem manifesto

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/scotland/6544303.stm

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The Scottish Liberal Democrats have launched their manifesto for the Holyrood elections. Here are the main points of the plan.

Education

<ul class="bulletList"><li>Open 250 new and refurbished schools and bring in 1,000 new teachers to cut class sizes.</li>

<li>One hour of physical activity for every child every day.</li>

<li>Free playgroup places for two-year-olds.</li>

<li>Head teachers to have more powers to turn around poorly performing schools.</li>

<li>Give head teachers powers requiring parents to attend meetings to tackle problem pupils.</li>

<li>Primary one to primary three class size maximum of 25 pupils.</li>

<li>Raise the number of school-business partnerships to 10,000 by 2010.</li>

<li>Introduce a second language early in the primary curriculum.

<li>Open schools at evenings and weekends to offer new activities.</li>

<li>A Â£22m Young Opportunity fund to support youth projects.</li>

<li>Lower the voting age to 16.</li>

<li>Give young people new rights through legislation and youth councils.</li>

<li>Scrap the graduate endowment and increase the young student bursary by 10%.</li></ul>

Economy

<ul class="bulletList"><li>Lower business rates to 0.4p below the rest of the UK.</li>

<li>Replace council tax with a "fairer" local income tax based in the ability to pay.</li>

<li>Double value of the small business rate relief scheme by increasing the Scottish Executive contribution by Â£23m.</li>

<li>Support for small independent shops.</li>

<li>An innovation and investment agency with resources of Â£20m to deliver threefold increase in business research and development.</li>

<li>Grow Scottish tourism by half by 2015.</li>

<li>Expand modern apprenticeship programme to 50,000.</li>

<li>Small town regeneration fund of Â£20m a year and the creation of three "wi-fi" towns.</li>

<li>New Scottish food and drink promotion body.</li>

<li>Land trusts to support more affordable housing.</li>

<li>Increase public sector use of local Scottish produce.</li>

<li>Support new entrants to farming.</li>

<li>Free the arts sector from "excessive" government interference.</li>

<li>Â£102m boost for grassroots sport.</li>

</ul>

Environment

<ul class="bulletList"><li>100% of electricity from renewable sources.</li>

<li>Cut energy demands by improving efficiency and invest in micro-generation and local power.</li>

<li>Increase recycling rates to 70% by 2020.</li>

<li>Cut carbon emissions with four year targets and annual reports to Parliament.</li></ul>

Health

<ul class="bulletList"><li>An extra 200 dentists so "everyone" has access to NHS dentists.</li>

<li>100 new and refurbished local health centres.</li>

<li>Take on 2,000 extra nurses.</li>

<li>New waiting time guarantee and faster diagnosis.</li>

<li>Free fruit in primary schools and more cookery lessons.</li></ul>

Justice

<ul class="bulletList"><li>1,000 extra community police officers.</li>

<li>Tougher community sentences to make offenders work to repay their crimes and cut re-offending.</li>

<li>Knife crime crackdown, with seven-year maximum custody and community combined sentences.</li>

<li>Youth justice board and youth panels to cut youth crime.</li>

<li>Pilot "dual sentencing", where offenders return to court after a period in custody to have a community part set.</li>

<li>Licensing on the sale of airguns.</li>

<li>Double funding for drug and alcohol treatment.</li>

</ul>

Transport

<ul class="bulletList"><li>High speed train between Glasgow and Edinburgh by 2020 and support for a high speed link to London.</li>

<li>Action to improve single carriageway routes and improve safety do that no child is killed on Scotland's roads.</li>

<li>Scrap Tay Bridge tolls and abolish charges for multi-occupancy vehicles across the Forth Road Bridge.</li>

<li>Replacement crossing for the Forth.</li>

<li>Improve resources to encourage cycling.</li>

<li>A "carbon balance sheet" to show the impact of transport policies and projects.</li></ul>

Communities

<ul class="bulletList"><li>Double resources for Homestake to create 9,000 affordable homes each year.</li>

<li>Build support for the voluntary sector.</li>

</ul>

Scottish government

<ul class="bulletList"><li>Support for more powers for the Scottish Parliament.</li>

<li>Commission to investigate division of power between central and local government.</li></ul>