Parliamentary questions

Mary Scanlon

4,514 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

11 May 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the annual fund is for the Low-cost Initiative for First-time Buyers and how many first-time buyers have been able to purchase homes as a result of this initiative.

Answer · Alex Neil: The Low-cost Initiative for First-Time Buyers (LIFT) brings together a range of Scottish Government initiatives to help households get onto the housing ladder. This includes the New Supply Shared Equity scheme and Open Market Shared Equity Pilot sche…

11 May 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how the private rented sector has improved since introduction of the National Registration Scheme for Private Landlords.

Answer · Alex Neil: Private Landlord Registration is a key tool to raise standards of accommodation and management in the private rented sector. It also increases the visibility of the sector and provides local authorities with information about privately rented properties and l…

11 May 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many landlords have (a) been removed from the private rented sector, (b) reapplied for registration and (c) been reinstated under the National Registration Scheme for Private Landlords.

Answer · Alex Neil: Ten landlords have been refused registration under the private landlord registration scheme and one landlord had had their registration revoked. Of these, four landlords have reapplied for registration and two have been approved as at 13 May 2009.

11 May 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the total income to local authorities from landlord registrations has been in each year since implementation of the National Registration Scheme for Private Landlords.

Answer · Alex Neil: Local authorities receive income from Scottish Government grant and landlord fees for the purposes of implementing the Private Landlord Registration scheme. The following table summarises this income from the financial year 2005-06 to 2007-08. Under …

11 May 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many landlords have been forced to leave the sector for not providing the minimum service as a result of the implementation of the National Registration Scheme for Private Landlords.

Answer · Alex Neil: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-23804 on 15 May 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Bu…

11 May 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many landlords have been found not to be a fit and proper person to act as a landlord as a result of the implementation of the National Registration Scheme for Private Landlords.

Answer · Alex Neil: Ten landlords have been refused registration under the Private Landlord Registration scheme and one landlord has had their registration revoked. The Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004 requires local authorities to work with landlords to tr…

11 May 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many rented properties it estimates are not registered under the National Registration Scheme for Private Landlords and what action is being taken to address this issue.

Answer · Alex Neil: We have no firm data on the number of private rented properties that are not registered. However, based on statistics from the Scottish Household Survey, we estimate that approximately 85% of private rented sector properties are covered by applicati…

11 May 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether local authorities request sight of tenancy agreements with regard to the National Registration Scheme for Private Landlords.

Answer · Alex Neil: This information is not held centrally. When assessing a landlord as fit and proper the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004 prescribes the material the local authority must take into account. It is for individual local authorities to determ…

11 May 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many routine inspections of rented properties have been carried out as a result of information held under the National Registration Scheme for Private Landlords.

Answer · Alex Neil: This information is not held centrally.

11 May 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many unregistered landlords in the private sector have been prosecuted for failing to register in the first three years of the National Registration Scheme for Private Landlords.

Answer · Alex Neil: There have been no prosecutions under the Private Landlord Registration scheme.

11 May 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on how many unregistered landlords are unlawfully letting property for which local authorities pay out housing and council tax benefits.

Answer · Alex Neil: This information is not held centrally.

11 May 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that checks should be made on payments of housing benefit and council tax benefit to tenants to ensure that all privately rented properties receiving funding are managed by landlords registered under the National Registration Scheme for Private Landlords.

Answer · Alex Neil: The Scottish Government guidance for local authorities on private landlord registration encourages landlord registration teams to make appropriate links with colleagues across other council departments including housing benefit and council tax benefit officer…

11 May 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive for what purpose the income gained from registration under the National Registration Scheme for Private Landlords is used.

Answer · Alex Neil: It is for local authorities to determine locally how fee income from landlord registration will be used. However, it is the Scottish Government''s intention that the income gained from registration be used for the purposes of administering and enforc…

11 May 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many enforcement staff are employed in each local authority to ensure the implementation of the National Registration Scheme for Private Landlords contained in the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004.

Answer · Alex Neil: This information is not held centrally.

7 May 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when the HIV action plan will be published.

Answer · Shona Robison: An HIV Action Plan for Scotland will be published in June 2009.

7 May 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many reported incidents of domestic violence were recorded for (a) male perpetrator, female victim, (b) male perpetrator, male victim, (c) female perpetrator, male victim and (d) female perpetrator, female victim in each of the last 10 years.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: The following table shows the number of incidents of domestic abuse recorded by the eight Scottish police forces, broken down by gender of victim/perpetrator, for the period 1999-2000 to 2007-08. Please note that the earliest available year of information is …

5 May 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what measures are in place to identify children with mental health issues at nursery, primary and secondary school.

Answer · Shona Robison: We are promoting early identification of, and early interventions to address, mental health issues in children and young people in all school settings. The Framework for Promotion, Prevention and Care, our policy on children and young people'…

5 May 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many vacancies exist for child and adolescent psychiatrists in each NHS board.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The number of vacancies for child and adolescent psychiatrists is unavailable although information about the workforce in NHSScotland is routinely monitored by NHS boards, who are responsible for their own workforce planning, and by the Scottish Government. D…

5 May 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many young people have been introduced to illegal drugs as a result of a residential stay in an NHS psychiatric unit.

Answer · Shona Robison: This information requested is not held centrally.

5 May 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prosecutions there have been of people (a) dealing and (b) using illegal drugs in psychiatric units in each of the last 10 years.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: Details of the places that crimes were committed are not held on the Scottish Government Court Proceedings database.

5 May 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many incidents of people (a) dealing and (b) using illegal drugs have been reported in each psychiatric unit in each of the last 10 years.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: This information is not held centrally. The Scottish Government does not hold individualised data on any crimes or offences recorded by the eight police forces in Scotland, and as such does not hold information on the location at which the crime took…

1 May 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many cases of alcohol poisoning there have been in each year since 1997, broken down by (a) local authority area and (b) hospital.

Answer · Shona Robison: The number of discharges for alcohol poisoning in acute hospitals is presented by local authority area and by hospital. However, because of size constraints the table containing this information has been submitted to the Scottish Parliament Information Centre…

1 May 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people are on a waiting list for weight loss surgery, broken down by NHS board.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The information requested is not available centrally.

23 Apr 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what is being done to ensure that all appropriate patients have access to a routine post-fracture assessment for osteoporosis and the risk of future fractures.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Scottish Intercollegiate Guideline Network (SIGN) Guidelines 71 and 56, on the management of osteoporosis, and the prevention and management of hip fracture in older people respectively, recommend the use of DEXA (Dual Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry) scanning in…

23 Apr 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what is being done to bring about a national approach to adverse incident reporting in relation to managing the use of medicines in hospitals so that lessons learned from incidents are shared across NHS boards.

Answer · Shona Robison: All acute hospitals in Scotland are part of the Scottish Patient Safety Programme which includes a specific strand of work on preventing adverse drug events. In addition, NHS Quality Improvement Scotland is developing proposals to consider the feasibility of …

2 Apr 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive which of its chief officers has responsibility for NHS psychologists.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: <a name=DeadlineWarning></a>The responsibility for the regulation of NHS psychologists lies within the CMO Directorate who ensure that they comply with UK standards of practice. NHS boards, as employers of psychologists, have direct employee responsibilities.…

2 Apr 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list its chief officers with responsibility for NHS health professionals.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The Chief Officers with responsibility for NHS health professionals are as follows: Dr Harry Burns, Chief Medical Officer for Scotland with lead responsibility for Doctors and Physicians Assistants. Dr Margaret McGuire, Acting Chief Nursing …

31 Mar 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is concerned at the (a) increase of over £5 million by Highland Council’s debt in each of the last three years and (b) council’s increased debt burden.

Answer · John Swinney: Local authorities are statutory bodies with democratically elected members responsible for their administration. It is the responsibility of the elected members to ensure that decisions concerning an authority''s expenditure plans are in accordance with good …

31 Mar 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the anticipated level of debt is of each local authority in 2008-09.

Answer · John Swinney: The following table shows each council''s anticipated level of external debt as at 31 March 2009: <table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 > <thead> <tr > <td width=160 valign=top > Council </td> <td width=283 va…

31 Mar 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what each local authority’s annual interest cost is as a proportion of it’s spend in 2008-09.

Answer · John Swinney: The following table shows for each council the budgeted interest payments for 2008-09 as a percentage of budgeted net expenditure. Actual costs for 2008-09 are not yet available. The interest costs used to calculate the percentages are interest costs…