Chamber and committees

Information on the number of vacant and derelict non-domestic (business) premises is not held centrally.

Information on premises liable for business rates is held on the Scottish Assessors Portal, www.saa.gov.uk. However, the portal does not maintain reliable data on the vacancy history of individual properties.

Information on the number of derelict properties in Scotland where the owner cannot be traced is not held centrally.

The Housing (Scotland) Act 2006, gives local authorities new powers to take action against properties which are below the tolerable standard, in a state of serious disrepair or in need of repair and likely to deteriorate rapidly and cause damage to other properties if nothing is done to repair them. These powers would apply to domestic properties and non-domestic properties where they form part of a building containing housing which is also substandard. The Scottish Government has produced a suite of guidance to support local authorities in the implementation of the powers and continues to encourage the sharing of good practice.

In addition, the Scottish Government has granted local authorities the discretion to vary the level of council tax discount for long-term empty properties and flexibility to use the funds raised by reducing this discount for a range of purposes, including to bring empty properties back into use.

Volume four of the Scottish Government''s Review of the Private Rented Sector also suggests how local authorities can adopt a strategic approach to bringing empty houses back into supply, including methods for partnership working and data gathering. Officials are currently working with stakeholders to consider the review''s recommendation that the Scottish Government should fund a fixed-term post to provide support to local authorities to take action on empty houses.

Information on the number of derelict houses in Scotland where the owner cannot be traced is not held centrally.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-28806 on 18 November. 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.

On 23 June, the Scottish Government established the Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE) which brought together all agencies with an interest in PACE to oversee a continuous improvement programme to enhance the operation of PACE.

As part of this improvement programme, on 1 December a new data capture system will be introduced across the 21 local PACE teams. This will combine information on redundancies of 20 or more from the HR1 system with information on smaller scale redundancies based on local intelligence collected by local PACE teams. This new system will provide a more comprehensive range of information on PACE interventions across Scotland.

There is no specific guidance regarding the sourcing of local products for use in NHS Scotland. Local health boards and national NHS organisations work together to ensure a contract delivery that best suits the requirements of the NHS in Scotland. A commodity strategy is developed for each contract area which ensures full consideration of the shape of the supply market. Procurement processes continue to be reviewed to ensure SMEs have as simplified a process as possible to access public sector contracts.

It would be extremely difficult for procurement organisations to assess the direct causal impact of a contract opportunity on suppliers and it would be problematic to ensure an equity in approach across all suppliers.

The purpose of the recently launched Scottish Government Sustainable Procurement Action Plan is to build sustainability, including carbon reduction, into the procurement process. The ten point procurement sustainability plan is being implemented across the public sector in Scotland with the majority of activities due to take place by the end of April 2010.

An extensive range of support and advice services are available to Scottish businesses of all sizes, from a wide range of public and private sector organisations including: Scottish Enterprise; Highlands and Islands Enterprise; the Business Gateway; local authorities; the third sector; financial institutions; Skills Development Scotland, and other specialist sectoral advisory bodies.

The most widely used service for small and micro-business is the Business Gateway. Local authorities are now responsible for local delivery of the Business Gateway. The recently established Business Gateway Scotland Board will take forward its ongoing development and consider proposals for any review of the service as appropriate.