Kenneth Gibson

13 Dec 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive why Glasgow and North Clyde Region of Scottish Homes/Communities Scotland has reduced its investment from #78.406 million in 2000-01 to #75.115 million in 2001-02 as identified in Scottish Homes Investment Programme 2001-02 and what impact this reduction will have on the quality of housi…

Answer · Iain Gray: I have asked Mr Bob Millar, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. His response is as follows:<P>The Glasgow and North Clyde Regional programme is developed in close consultation with partners and reflects a broad range of existing partnership ar…

13 Dec 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive why Scottish Homes/Communities Scotland investment on owner occupied properties will fall from #29.571 million in 2001-01 to #16.539 million in 2001-02 as identified in Scottish Homes Investment Programme 2001-02 and what impact this reduction will have on the owner occupied sector.

Answer · Iain Gray: I have asked Mr Bob Millar, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. His response is as follows:<P>This reflects increased ministerial priority for the provision of affordable rented housing and the temporary suspension of the Grants for Rent or Ow…

13 Dec 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what impact the suspension of new approvals within the grants for owner occupation programme would have on the owner occupied sector.

Answer · Iain Gray: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-20386 on 29 November 2001.

13 Dec 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much Scottish Homes invested in (a) urban and (b) rural housing in each year from 1996-97 to 2000-01 in real terms and what Scottish Homes and Communities Scotland's planned investment is in each year from 2001-02 to 2003-04.

Answer · Iain Gray: I have asked Mr Bob Millar, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. His response is as follows:<P>Scottish Homes and Communities Scotland's investment in urban and rural areas in the period 1996-97 to 2003-04, in 2000-01 real terms is as follows:<…

13 Dec 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will report on its discussions with the European Commission regarding the future of grants for owner occupation (gro grants).

Answer · Iain Gray: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-20386 on 29 November 2001.

13 Dec 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when the report of the Housing Improvement Task Force will be published.

Answer · Margaret Curran: The work of the Housing Improvement Task Force is in two stages. The first stage is now nearing completion and I expect the task force to publish the "issues" report for wider consultation in early 2002. The second stage of the work will be carried on through…

7 Dec 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the most up to date waiting list times are for people suffering from drug and alcohol abuse to obtain a place in a residential care home, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Hugh Henry: The information requested is not held centrally.

7 Dec 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made in improving the employment prospects of single parents.

Answer · Wendy Alexander: In Scotland, New Deal for Lone Parents has helped almost 13,300 lone parents to find work by September 2001.<P>The Scottish Executive launched in July a new £24 million package of initiatives which aims to encourage lone parents into Scotland's universities a…

5 Dec 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much private investment it estimates will be attracted in real terms in each year from 2001-02 to 2003-04 by (a) housing associations or co-ops for rented housing, (b) housing associations or co-ops for low cost home ownership, and (c) other housing providers grant-funded by Communiti…

Answer · Iain Gray: The following table sets out, in 2000-01 real terms, the private finance expected to be committed to projects approved in 2001-02. No estimates are available beyond this.<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=609><TR><TD WIDTH="11%" VALIGN="TOP"><FON…

5 Dec 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much private investment was attracted in real terms in each year from 1992-93 to 2000-01 by (a) housing associations or co-ops for rented housing, (b) housing associations or co-ops for low cost home ownership and (c) other housing providers grant-funded by Scottish Homes.

Answer · Iain Gray: The following table sets out, in 2000-01 real terms, the private finance committed to projects approved in each of the following years:<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=609><TR><TD WIDTH="14%" VALIGN="TOP"><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=2><P ALIGN="JUS…

5 Dec 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) outturn expenditure was in each year from 1992-93 to 2000-01 and (b) estimated outturn expenditure will be in each year from 2001-02 to 2003-04, where relevant shown in real terms, in respect of (i) the Scottish Homes/Communities Scotland approved development programme, (ii) …

Answer · Iain Gray: Where available, the information requested is set out in the following tables. The figures are all expressed in cash terms.<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=346><TR><TD WIDTH="24%" VALIGN="TOP"><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=2><P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Year</…

3 Dec 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether receipt of state benefits will be one of the criteria used to determine the contribution to expense of works of any applicant for improvement grants under Part 6 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 and, if so, what percentage of owners of former local authority housing stock bough…

Answer · Iain Gray: Part 6 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 made a number of reforms to the improvement and repairs grants, including provision for the introduction of a test of applicant's resources to determine the level of grant awarded. During the passage of the act, we pr…

28 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to ensure any valuations of large scale voluntary transfers by Communities Scotland make provision for irrecoverable costs associated with any repairs to owner-occupiers' property held in common with rented housing association stock.

Answer · Iain Gray: I have asked Bob Millar, chief executive of Communities Scotland to respond. His response is as follows:<P>Communities Scotland, on behalf of Scottish Homes, commissions from a panel of professionally qualified independent valuers valuations of the rented hou…

28 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what advice it provides to prospective homeowners who currently rent from a registered social landlord or local authority on the maintenance requirements of owning a home.

Answer · Iain Gray: The Scottish Executive has published a booklet, <I>Your right to buy your home</I>, which all prospective homeowners considering the right to buy option are encouraged to read. This contains a section on the additional costs of buying your home, including adv…

28 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to reduce the incidence of lung disease.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Smoking is the greatest single cause of preventable disease and ill health in Scotland. The Executive's comprehensive range of measures to reduce smoking levels will help reduce the incidence of lung disease.

21 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance it has issued to local authorities on the funding of agencies that provide non-housing debt advice.

Answer · Iain Gray: Working with COSLA, advice agencies and other partners, including the financial sector, the Executive is supporting a pilot project which will ensure that people get free, high quality telephone debt advice. No specific guidance has been issued to local autho…

14 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps have been taken to seek an exemption for Glasgow Underground from the draft European Transport Regulation.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: As stated in the answer to question S1W-17966, Ms Boyack highlighted the Glasgow situation when she addressed the EU Transport Council in Luxembourg in June as part of the UK delegation. The case for Glasgow Underground being exempted is supported by the Depa…

8 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the actual cost was to the NHS in each of the past five years of patients failing to keep appointments and what steps it is taking to reduce these occurrences.

Answer · Susan Deacon: Information is not available centrally on the cost to the NHS of patients failing to keep appointments. Information is available on the numbers of patients who did not attend their first out-patient appointment with a consultant, and on the average cost of a …

8 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what targets it has set for improving the educational attainment of children in care.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: Our social justice milestone is that all young people leaving local authority care should achieve at least English and Maths standard grades.

8 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to ensure that persistent young offenders are brought before the courts more speedily than at present.

Answer · Colin Boyd: Most offenders under 18 are not subject to criminal proceedings. There is a presumption that cases reported against offenders under the age of 16 will be dealt with by the Reporter to the Children's Panel unless there are compelling reasons in the public inte…

8 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the relationship between class si'e and examination results.

Answer · Jack McConnell: No assessment has been made of the impact of class sizes on examination results in Scotland. As part of the agreement <I>A Teaching Profession for the 21st Century</I>, the Scottish Executive has agreed to commission research into the correlation between clas…

8 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its current estimates are of the rate of return on capital in schools funded wholly or partly through the Private Finance Initiative.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: Information on individual projects is commercially confidential. However, the estimated average pre-tax Project Internal Rate of Return for those projects for which full financial information is held by the Scottish Executive is 7.01% (real) and 9.61% (nomina…

8 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it plans to implement those aspects of the Report of the Renewing Local Democracy Working Group not concerned with proportional representation.

Answer · Peter Peacock: If we judge it appropriate to announce some decisions earlier than others then we shall do so. The majority of the recommendations dealing with widening access to council membership are for bodies other than the Executive to take forward.

7 Nov 2001 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to implement the recommendations in the report Early Endowment by the Scottish Council Foundation.

Answer · Jackie Baillie: We are examining the recommendations in this report, supported by two of our Social Inclusion Partnerships, which relate to services for pregnant women and infants.

5 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it has taken to ensure that there is no repetition on the wider motorway network of the traffic gridlocks recently experienced by drivers on the M8.

Answer · Sarah Boyack: The trunk road maintenance contracts require the Operating Companies to carry out safety inspections of the trunk road network to ensure, as far as is reasonable, that incidents similar to those recently experienced on the M8 motorway causing severe traffic d…

24 Oct 2001 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there will be any delay in the establishment of Disclosure Scotland.

Answer · Jim Wallace: Disclosure Scotland is being established within the Scottish Criminal Record Office for purposes of issuing criminal record certificates under Part V of the Police Act 1997. It had been intended that certificates would be available from January 2002 but we ha…

4 Oct 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of (a) the adult working age population and (b) its own staff are registered disabled.

Answer · Angus MacKay: Since the introduction of the Disability Discrimination Act in 1995, there has been no centrally held register of disabled people. It is estimated that there are around 616,000 disabled people of working age in Scotland (19% of the working age population). Of…

4 Oct 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will detail the process by which it arrives at a figure for the number of children currently in poverty, including the method of calculation and any other factors which may affect the final figure.

Answer · Iain Gray: The Social Justice Annual Report 2001 and its annex, entitled "Indicators of progress: definitions, data, baselines and trends information", were both published on 26 November 2001. They provide the latest data on the range of milestones used to measure child…

4 Oct 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made on the establishment of a separate database to assist in the collection of statistics on poverty, as recommended in the First Report 1999-2000, Poverty in Scotland, by the Select Committee on Scottish Affairs; what representations it has made to Her Majesty's …

Answer · Jackie Baillie: The Scottish Executive made a bid to HM Treasury's Evidence Based Policy Fund to fund a research project to develop a database of Scottish household income and a modelling capacity to address the increased need for income and poverty related analysis.<P>The b…

4 Oct 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many children live in poverty according to the most recent figures available and whether it will show this figure using the headline measure recommended by the Statistical Programme Committee of the European Community.

Answer · Iain Gray: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-18843.