Elaine Murray

2 Apr 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it wishes to encourage the expansion of the private rented sector.

Answer · Keith Brown: The Scottish Government wishes to encourage growth of a higher quality private rented sector by increasing new housing supply and raising standards of service. The Scottish Private Rented Strategy Group recently published a consultation on a strategy for the …

2 Apr 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S4W-06109 by Keith Brown on 2 March 2012, who represents the organisations of which the Private Sector Strategy Group is comprised.

Answer · Keith Brown: The answer to S4W-06109 provided the organisations which make up the Scottish Private Rented Sector Strategy Group, as well as the name of the independent chair of the group. It is a matter for those organisations which individuals they choose to represent th…

26 Mar 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it responded to the UK Government’s consultation on welfare reform and, if so, whether that response has been published.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The Scottish Executive responded to the UK Government’s consultation on welfare reform. This response has not been published.

7 Mar 2012 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to prioritise the completion of the A75 Hardgrove to Kinmount Improvement scheme.

27 Feb 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) investigations have been carried out, (b) control notices have been issued and (c) authorised officers have been employed by each local authority since the commencement of the Control of Dogs (Scotland) Act 2010.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: Individual local authorities have provided information in the following table that provides a breakdown of the number of investigations carried out by each local authority, the number of authorised officers employed by each authority, and the number of Dog Co…

23 Feb 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many homes for mid-market rent procured through its National Housing Trust initiative will be (a) completed and (b) available for let in each year of the current parliamentary session.

Answer · Keith Brown: The 614 homes procured through the first round of the National Housing Trust initiative, and their current expected completion dates in each year of the current parliamentary session, are detailed in the following table. These dates may be subject to change a…

23 Feb 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress its National Housing Trust initiative is making with the second phase of procurement of homes for mid-market rent.

Answer · Keith Brown: A second round of procurement under the National Housing Trust initiative was launched during November 2011. The pre-qualification questionnaire stage of the bidding process is nearing completion and tender stage will be reached this month. It will be possibl…

22 Feb 2012 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Executive who has the right to dispose of historic buildings that have been gifted to communities.

20 Feb 2012 · First Minister's Question

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to improve confidence in the construction sector.

18 Feb 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive for what reason the NHS does not (a) provide or (b) maintain defibrillators for community first responder schemes.

Answer · Michael Matheson: There remains uncertainty around the benefits of Public Access Defibrillators (PADs) and around the best places to put them. While it is likely that places with high footfall such as shopping centres, stadiums and railway stations are potential locations, it …

18 Feb 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of the 6,000 affordable homes to be built in each year of the current parliamentary session will be fully accessible to wheelchair users.

Answer · Keith Brown: Within our Strategy and Action Plan Homes Fit for the 21st Century we have highlighted the importance of new supply to meet the needs of our people. In particular we recognise the requirement to produce enough specialist or adapted housing for older and disab…

13 Feb 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive for what reason only members of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors Scotland are permitted to issue domestic energy performance certificates for non-rental properties.

Answer · Derek Mackay: This is not the case. An Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) may be issued by any party identified as technically competent to do so through membership of an Approved Organisation. There are currently ten organisations approved by Scottish Ministers. Howeve…

8 Feb 2012 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on the backlog maintenance risk profile of NHS Dumfries and Galloway, as reported in The State of the NHSScotland Estate 2011.

1 Feb 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a level 4 breakdown of how it will allocate the £4.5 million announced for road transport in the spring revision to the 2011-12 Scottish budget on 31 January 2011.

Answer · Keith Brown: £2 million to local authorities for potholes. (Level 4 budget line routine and winter maintenance). £2 million for road maintenance on the trunk road network. (Level 4 budget line road improvements). £0.5 million for A96 Dunkeld land purchase. (Level 4 budg…

1 Feb 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the level 4 allocation for adaptations was in the supporting transitions budget line (housing and regeneration) in the Scottish budget 2011-12 prior to the announcement of a further £2 million in the spring revision announced on 31 January 2012.

Answer · John Swinney: The level 4 allocation for adaptations within the Housing and Regeneration Supporting Transitions line of the 2011-12 Scottish budget, prior to the announcement of a further £2 million in the Spring Budget Revision, was £8 million.

1 Feb 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the level 4 allocation for regeneration programmes was in the supporting economic growth/housing supply budget line in the Scottish budget 2011-12 prior to the announcement of a further £0.9 million in the spring revision announced on 31 January 2012.

Answer · Alex Neil: The level 4 “Regeneration Programmes”, to which some of the £0.9 million funding will be attributed, had a budget of £25 million. The £0.9 million figure announced on 31 January 2012 is a combination of housing and regeneration funding. The regeneration budge…

1 Feb 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the level 4 allocation for affordable housing supply in the Scottish budget 2011-12 was prior to the announcement of a further £10 million in the spring revision announced on 31 January 2012.

Answer · John Swinney: Prior to the spring budget revisions the Housing Supply/Economic Growth budget was £274.5 million of which £249.5 million was for housing supply. This excludes the allocations for the Home Owners Support Fund and Open Market Shared Equity scheme which sit wit…

1 Feb 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many affordable homes procured under the first phase of the National Housing Trust initiative have been completed, broken down by local authority area, and when the remaining procured homes will be completed.

Answer · Keith Brown: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-05390 on 23 February 2012. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusin…

1 Feb 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many affordable homes have been procured in each local authority area under the first phase of the National Housing Trust initiative.

Answer · Keith Brown: 614 affordable homes have been procured to date in the following local authority areas under the first phase of the National Housing Trust initiative: Local Authority Number of Units Aberdeen City Council 41 The City of Edinburgh Council 422 Falkirk Co…

1 Feb 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what standards exist regarding noise insulation between upper and lower flats in socially rented properties and whether it plans to review these.

Answer · Derek Mackay: In 2010 enhanced noise standards and guidance were introduced into Scottish building regulations. These cover all tenures, not just social rented housing. They apply to the wall and floor construction that separates dwellings, when new building work is carrie…

31 Jan 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Scottish Ambulance Service is required to meet a target response time for category A call-outs and, if so, what the target is; whether it is legally binding, and what penalties might be imposed if it is not achieved on a consistent basis.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The national response time target for category A calls (life threatening) across mainland Scotland is that 75% of all incidents should be reached within eight minutes. This target is not legally binding but the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) is expected to …

27 Jan 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether decisions of the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman can be investigated and to whom he is responsible.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: A complainant may ask the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) to review their decision if it was based on inaccurate evidence or facts or the complainant has new and relevant information. If they remain dissatisfied they may seek a judicial review of th…

25 Jan 2012 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the implications are of the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Bill for police support staff numbers.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: The Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Bill will create a single police service for Scotland which will require fewer support staff. It will be for the new service to plan its own staffing requirements.

18 Jan 2012 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much Scottish Government funding was held by the Treasury in the central unallocated provision at the end of the financial year 2006-07.

17 Jan 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the mechanism of appeal is against a decision by the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland.

Answer · John Swinney: The Keeper of the Registers of Scotland is responsible for 16 public registers, the largest of which are the two Scottish property registers (the Land Register of Scotland and the General Register of Sasines). The mechanism of appeal differs according to the …

11 Jan 2012 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made to the relevant authorities regarding the kidnap of former Dumfries resident Khalil Rasjed Dale in Pakistan on 5 January 2012.

6 Dec 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive which trunk roads in Dumfriesshire were gritted between 7.00 pm on 5 December 2011 and 7.00 am on 6 December 2011 and at what times.

Answer · Keith Brown: Winter treatment was carried out on the A701, A75, A751, A77 and A76 trunk roads in Dumfries and Galloway at 2pm on 5 December and 4am to 6am and 10am on 6 December. An additional three gritters patrolled continuously on the A75 east, A701 and A76 on these da…

5 Dec 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to its consultation on amending the implied terms of the Mobile Homes Act 1983, whether it plans to bring forward legislation and, if so, to what timescale.

Answer · Keith Brown: The Scottish Government intends to introduce secondary legislation to update the Mobile Homes Act 1983 as soon as possible in 2012. Work to frame the legislation has been undertaken in partnership with the Mobile Home Stakeholder Working Group, which include…

2 Dec 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it will take to ensure that its network of marine Natura sites and nature conservation marine planning areas under the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 will be ecologically coherent in terms of assessment under the Oslo-Paris Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of…

Answer · Richard Lochhead: I indicated in my Ministerial Statement on the creation of a network of Marine Protected Areas, which was laid in Parliament on 1 September 2010, that new nature conservation MPAs, along with existing protected sites such as marine Natura sites will “deliver …

2 Dec 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is aware of work under the Oslo-Paris Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic (OSPAR) regarding the assessment of ecological coherence of marine planning areas.

Answer · Richard Lochhead: The Scottish Government is aware of OSPAR work and guidance on ecological coherence of marine protected area networks including assessment of coherence. I laid a Ministerial Statement on the Creation of a Network of Marine Protected Areas in Parliament on 1 S…