Chamber and committees

We are taking forward a number of measures, in consultation with the veterans community, Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and the Ministry of Defence (MOD), to support those leaving the armed forces to access suitable accommodation including:

issuing a revised housing circular (HAR1/2009) to all social landlords in Scotland in February 2009 on Housing for People Leaving the Armed Forces;

bringing forward an amendment, through the current Housing Bill, to homelessness legislation which will allow service personnel to form a local connection through employment or residence;

providing housing resettlement sessions in conjunction with the MOD''s Joint Service Housing Advice Office (JSHAO);

working with the Ministry of Defence and Registered Social Landlords to ensure that Service personnel or veterans on low to moderate incomes who are thinking about buying a property are fully aware of the opportunities available to them through the Scottish Government''s Low-cost Initiative for First Time Buyers (LIFT);

developing a national housing options leaflet for those leaving the armed forces and ex-Service personnel to help them access the right information and advice to find suitable housing, and

developing a new practical guide to social housing allocations. This will consider allocations as a whole but will also aim to support social landlords to understand and develop appropriate responses and partnerships to meet the needs of those leaving the armed forces and veterans.

All NHS boards receive and annual allocation of funds. It is for each NHS board to decide how best to utilise these funds. No specific budget is allocated for integrated care and emergency services associated with winter pressures and the influenza A (H1N1) virus.

This information is not collected centrally. Local authorities may, through contract specifications, insist on seatbelts being fitted to vehicles used for dedicated school transport. However, there is no requirement in law for all buses to be fitted with seatbelts. Legislation relating to the fitting of seatbelts on buses is reserved to the UK Parliament. When the current UK legislation relating to seatbelts on buses was introduced in the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2001, buses specifically designed for urban use with standing passengers were excluded.

The information requested is not held centrally.

However, analysis for the UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills suggests that there are around 8,000 jobs in the wind energy sector in Scotland.

Sustainable tourism or green tourism is critical to the development and maintenance of any successful tourism destination. VisitScotland encourages tourism businesses to take part in the GTBS and Going Green Schemes. It is also about to launch a programme of sustainable tourism activity across Scotland which aims to promote business growth through the development of sustainable tourism practices. This work involves a number of other partners including Scottish Enterprise, the Energy Savings Trust and Scottish Natural Heritage. Currently, there are 15 accommodation providers and 12 visitor attractions in Ayrshire that participate in the Green Tourism Business Scheme.

The information requested is not held centrally. Community benefit agreements for wind farms are a private matter between the developer and communities concerned. The Scottish Government has no legal powers to compel parties to disclose the commercial details of such agreements.

The Scottish Government welcomes the commitment shown by developers through these voluntary agreements and has published guidance and models for delivery online at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/261186.

Applications for onshore wind farms in excess of 50 megawatts (MW) are considered by Scottish ministers under Section 36 of the Electricity Act (1989) and a total of 30 wind farms in Scotland have been consented in this way.

Information on such developments is available by local authority areas. Of the 30 consented wind farms (under Section 36) five are located in South and East Ayrshire local authorities, representing about 17 per cent in terms of wind farms, 25 per cent in terms of turbine numbers and 11 per cent in terms of installed capacity.

Applications for wind farms below 50 megawatts are considered by the relevant local planning authority.

This is a matter for the relevant planning authorities to consider when preparing their spatial policies.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-31063 on 9 February 2010. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

It is for planning authorities to ensure that, where relevant, applicants adequately address the cumulative impact that their proposal would have on the area. When doing so, authorities should take account of existing wind farms, those which have permission and valid applications for wind farms which have not been determined.