Parliamentary questions
David McLetchie
326 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
5 Sep 2007 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will discuss with City of Edinburgh Council options for partial housing stock transfers to community-based housing associations with a view to achieving debt write-off and new investment in social housing in the city.
Answer · Stewart Maxwell: I recently metwith the City of Edinburgh Council where a number ofhousing related matters were discussed, including investment in social housingin the city.</p>
31 Aug 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with the Hunter Foundation and the City of Edinburgh Council about the 20:20 Vision programme, in light of the council’s proposal to close both Wester Hailes Education Centre and Castlebrae Community High School which are recipients of funding from the programm…
Answer · Maureen Watt: We have regular discussionswith the City of Edinburgh Council and the Hunter Foundation about theon-going delivery of the 20:20 project in the city. We understand that theCouncil will not be pursuing the decision they took on 23 August 2007 to consultregardin…
18 Jun 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish a list of all requests for information under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 which were received by it from MSPs who were members of the SNP parliamentary group in the last Parliament and which were refused in whole or in part, showing the (a) name o…
Answer · Bruce Crawford: A summary of all therequests for information under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002which have been received from MSPs who were members on the SNP parliamentarygroup in the last Parliament which have been centrally recorded within the Scottish Ex…
21 Feb 2007 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it supports the principle of road pricing in Scotland.
Answer · Tavish Scott: The Scottish Executive does notsupport penalising motorists.</p><p>There will be no Scotland-wideor UK-wide road pricing in the next four years during the lifetime of the next Parliament.</p><p>We will continue to invest inpublic transport across Scotland to …
13 Dec 2006 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it continues to support the policy of housing stock transfer and, if so, whether it will work with councils to develop alternative models for stock transfer in areas where ballots have rejected stock transfer proposals.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Transfer remains a key optionfor councils to secure substantial new housing investment for the benefit of theirtenants. If councils in areas where whole stock transfer has been rejected now wishto examine alternative models for transfer, we will consider thei…
13 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what meetings it has had with councillors and officials from the City of Edinburgh Council to discuss an alternative strategy for affordable housing in the city, following the rejection of housing stock transfer, and what commitments it has made to the council in terms of securing debt wr…
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The Scottish Executive has beenin regular contact with the City of Edinburgh Council since the outcome of the stocktransfer ballot in December 2005.</p><p>I had a formal meeting with the Executive member for community safety and housing on 22 December 2005 a…
5 Oct 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has made to celebrate the 300th anniversary in 2007 of the Act of Union and when it will announce a programme of events and other commemorative activities.
Answer · Patricia Ferguson: The Scottish Executive is intendingto support this anniversary through a range of events planned by our NationalAgencies. Discussions are still on-going so a more detailed response will beissued in due course.</p>
13 Sep 2006 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it welcomes the decision of Tesco to reward customers who use alternatives to plastic bags.
Answer · Ross Finnie: We welcome moves by retailersto reduce the unnecessary use of plastic bags and to reduce packaging generally.</p>
5 Sep 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-27328 by Hugh Henry on 1 September 2006, how much funding has been allocated to each local authority for noise nuisance teams in 2005-06 and 2006-07.
Answer · Rhona Brankin: In 2005-06, 22 local authorities applied for grant fundingto cover resource and equipment requirements for the provision of an antisocialnoise service, increasing to 25 authorities in 2006-07. The following tables showthe amounts allocated to each local autho…
14 Jul 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many households have been awarded a reduction in their council tax under the Disabled Band Reduction scheme, broken down by local authority.
Answer · George Lyon: The information requested isgiven in the following table.</p><p>Households Benefiting fromDisabled Band Reduction Scheme</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td width=160 valign=top> <p>Local Authority</p> </td> <td width=95 …
11 Jul 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many restriction of liberty orders for under 16-year-olds have been (a) applied for and (b) granted in each year since their introduction, broken down by local authority area.
Answer · Hugh Henry: Provisions included in the AntiSocial Behaviour (Scotland) Act 2004 for electronic monitoring of offenders under16 years of age who are dealt with by the court system commenced in April 2005.A total of three Restriction of Liberty Orders have been imposed on …
11 Jul 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many parenting orders have been (a) applied for by local authorities and (b) subsequently granted in each year since their introduction, broken down by local authority area.
Answer · Peter Peacock: A parenting ordershould (or can) only be considered wherea parent has been offered help and support on a voluntary basis and has refusedto engage with this support. The Executive has offered funds to local authoritiesto establish such support services and man…
11 Jul 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many parenting orders have been (a) applied for by the Principal Reporter and (b) subsequently granted in each year since their introduction, broken down by local authority area.
Answer · Peter Peacock: A parenting ordershould only be considered where a parenthas been offered help and support on a voluntary basis and has refused to engagewith this support.</p><p>No parenting orders have yetbeen applied for or granted.</p>
11 Jul 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many fixed penalty notices for noise nuisance have been issued in each year since their introduction, broken down by local authority area.
Answer · Hugh Henry: The number of fixed penalty noticesfor noise nuisance under the Antisocial Behaviour (Scotland) Act2004, for each local authority area during the period April 2005 to end March 2006is provided in the following table. There are a total of 25 local authorities …
11 Jul 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many closure orders have been (a) applied for and (b) granted in each year since their introduction, broken down by local authority area.
Answer · Hugh Henry: The Scottish Executive currentlyhas no annual data on the number of applications for closure orders. Thisinformation will be available in due course. The number of closure ordersgranted under the Antisocial Behaviour (Scotland) Act 2004, by each local authori…
11 Jul 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many dispersal orders have been (a) applied for and (b) granted in each year since their introduction, broken down by local authority area.
Answer · Hugh Henry: The Scottish Executive doesnot collate information on the number of applications for dispersal orders. Upto the end of March 2006, 6 dispersal orders had been granted in 4 locationsacross Scotland. Dispersal orders were granted in the followinglocal authority…
11 Jul 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many antisocial behaviour orders for under 16-year-olds have been (a) applied for by registered social landlords and (b) subsequently granted in each year since their introduction, broken down by local authority area.
Answer · Hugh Henry: I refer the member to the questionS2W-27324 answered on 8 August 2006. All answers to written PQs are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search</p>
11 Jul 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many antisocial behaviour orders for under 16-year-olds have been (a) applied for by local authorities and (b) subsequently granted in each year since their introduction, broken down by local authority area.
Answer · Hugh Henry: The Scottish Executive hasno annual data on the number of applications for antisocial behaviour ordersfor under 16-year-olds. </p><p>In 2004-05 no orders weregranted in respect of this age group and in 2005-06 four orders were granted.Two of these were in Edi…
11 Jul 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many interim antisocial behaviour orders have been (a) applied for by registered social landlords and (b) subsequently granted in each year since their introduction, broken down by local authority area.
Answer · Hugh Henry: The Scottish Executive iscurrently collecting annual data on the use of antisocial behaviour orders(ASBOs) via a survey undertaken by DTZ Pieda Consulting and Heriot-Watt University. Dataon the number of applications for interim ASBOs is not being collected a…
11 Jul 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many interim antisocial behaviour orders have been (a) applied for by local authorities and (b) subsequently granted in each year since their introduction, broken down by local authority area.
Answer · Hugh Henry: The Scottish Executive iscurrently collecting annual data on the use of antisocial behaviour orders(ASBOs) via a survey undertaken by DTZ Pieda Consulting and Heriot-Watt University.Data on the number of applications for interim ASBOs is not being collected a…
11 Jul 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many antisocial behavour orders have been (a) applied for by registered social landlords and (b) subsequently granted in each year since their introduction, broken down by local authority area.
Answer · Hugh Henry: The available data onAntisocial Behaviour Order (ASBO) applications by Registered Social Landlords(RSLs) and applications that were subsequently granted are presented in thefollowing table. The power to apply for ASBOs was extended to RSLs on 27 June 2003. T…
11 Jul 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many antisocial behaviour orders have been (a) applied for by local authorities and (b) subsequently granted in each year since their introduction, broken down by local authority area.
Answer · Hugh Henry: The Scottish Executive iscurrently collecting annual data on the use of antisocial behaviour orders(ASBOs) via a survey undertaken by DTZ Pieda Consulting and Heriot-Watt University.This survey began in 2003-04. Figures onthe number of applications for antiso…
6 Jul 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners released on licence in each of the last six years for which figures are available are still subject to licence conditions; in how many instances the whereabouts of such individuals are unknown, and for what offences these individuals were sentenced.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: This information is not held centrally in the detail requested. The statutory supervision of offenders on licenceis the responsibility of local authority criminal justice social work services.</p>
15 May 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what powers are available to recover unpaid fines from the salaries of employed persons and on how many occasions such powers were exercised in the last year for which figures are available.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: There are currently a rangeof options open to the courts to enforcepayment of fines. These powers include being able to order that a fine may berecovered by means used to enforce non-criminal debts (known as civildiligence). One of the sanctions available und…
28 Apr 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs) have been issued on conviction by each sheriff court since the introduction of this option.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The available information isgiven in the following table.</p><p>Number of Antisocial BehaviourOrders Issued on Conviction, by Sheriff Court, 1 March 2005 to 31 March 2006</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td width=100 valign=to…
20 Apr 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much was collected in total from non-domestic rates in 2005-06 and what the projected amount is for 2006-07.
Answer · Tom McCabe: The latest estimate of non‑domesticrate income for 2005-06 amounts to £1,931 million. This figure is based on the mid-yearreturns provided to the Scottish Executive by councils in October 2005. Finalaudited returns are not due to be submitted until Febr…
13 Apr 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to upgrade the A82.
Answer · Tavish Scott: On 19 April, I announced anumber of initiatives on the A82 following the completion of the A82 RouteAction Plan Review. A copy of the Executive Summary can be found on theTransport Scotland Website at:</p><p><ahref="http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/uploads…
7 Apr 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many individuals have been prosecuted for offences aggravated by religious prejudice in terms of section 74 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003 and in how many cases a conviction was secured for the aggravated offence.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: In 2003-04 and 2004-05 a totalof 199 persons were proceeded against for an offence with an aggravation of religiousprejudice recorded. Of these 179 were convicted.</p>
2 Mar 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will amend the terms of Scottish Planning Policy SPP3: Planning for Housing to make it clear that residential gardens do not fall within the definition of brownfield land.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: There are no immediate plansto review SPP3: Planning for Housing. SPP3 gives a definition of brownfield land,which neither includes nor excludes residential gardens specifically. The main criterionfor brownfield land is “land that has been previously develope…
2 Mar 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-22760 by Mr Tom McCabe on 26 February 2006, when it expects the regulations referred to in the answer to be published; whether discussions have taken, or will take, place between the Executive and HM Revenue and Customs regarding the taxation treatme…
Answer · Tom McCabe: The Executive has taken a decisionon the recommendations made by the Scottish Local Authorities Remuneration Committee.Regulations will be published as quickly as possible. A specific date has not beenset. Preliminary telephone discussions with HM Revenue and…