Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S3W-17842

Asked by: Cathy Jamieson, MSP for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 27 November 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been spent on rehousing those made homeless in each month since May 2007, broken down by local authority.

Question reference: S3W-17839

Asked by: Cathy Jamieson, MSP for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 27 November 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have presented themselves as homeless in each year since 2002, broken down by local authority.

National statistics relating to households applying to local authorities under Scottish homelessness legislation are currently available to March 2008. The following table sets out this information by local authority. It should be noted that not all applications will result in the household being accepted as homeless.

Local Authority	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08
Aberdeen City	1,579	1,841	1,623	2,074	2,298	2,361
Aberdeenshire	1,162	1,187	1,394	1,468	1,646	1,554
Angus	1,213	1,406	1,539	1,251	1,116	1,226
Argyll and Bute	668	906	977	1,120	1,000	1,029
Clackmannanshire	966	1,005	1,125	1,160	1,069	703
Dumfries and Galloway	1,594	1,578	1,694	1,623	1,566	1,508
Dundee City	957	1,154	1,461	1,938	2,101	2,388
East Ayrshire	950	1,017	1,185	1,252	1,187	988
East Dunbartonshire	517	640	554	604	656	693
East Lothian	834	890	999	1,115	1,143	1,117
East Renfrewshire	395	397	404	368	373	327
Edinburgh (City of)	4,911	5,485	5,171	5,040	5,511	5,186
Eilean Siar	171	216	260	246	275	252
Falkirk	1,506	1,632	1,626	2,027	1,976	2,476
Fife	3,763	3,984	4,127	4,168	4,393	3,636
Glasgow City	13,006	12,716	10,680	11,223	10,502	9,948
Highland	1,389	2,103	2,308	2,461	2,217	2,286
Inverclyde	661	698	839	878	743	523
Midlothian	444	547	615	643	686	734
Moray	715	629	986	1,126	805	859
North Ayrshire	1,803	1,825	1,724	1,636	1,516	1,434
North Lanarkshire	2,670	3,139	3,999	4,092	3,749	3,535
Orkney	147	166	210	197	232	119
Perth and Kinross	1,220	1,452	1,467	1,347	988	1,216
Renfrewshire	1,021	1,478	1,697	1,641	1,666	1,037
Scottish Borders	593	857	801	991	988	1,083
Shetland	166	187	162	191	232	230
South Ayrshire	984	1,018	1,081	1,030	959	912
South Lanarkshire	2,369	2,496	2,278	2,412	2,404	2,735
Stirling	848	868	1,043	1,056	1,091	886
West Dunbartonshire	1,256	1,231	1,431	2,270	2,402	2,246
West Lothian	1,648	1,885	1,964	1,979	2,064	1,655

Question reference: S3W-17841

Asked by: Cathy Jamieson, MSP for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 27 November 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been spent on rehousing those made homeless in each year since 2002, broken down by local authority.

Question reference: S3W-17957

Asked by: Cathy Jamieson, MSP for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 27 November 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive when updated powers relating to derelict buildings as introduced by the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 will come into force.

The Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 does not introduce new powers relating specifically to derelict buildings. New powers to deal with sub-standard housing, including work notices, maintenance orders and the designation of Housing Renewal Areas are due to come into force from early 2009.

In the meantime local authorities have powers under the Building (Scotland) Act 2003 to deal with defective and dangerous buildings and under the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987 to deal with houses in serious disrepair.

Question reference: S3W-17941

Asked by: Cathy Jamieson, MSP for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 26 November 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive which local authorities have applied for funding to create and improve Gypsy/Traveller sites since May 2007.

Applications for gypsy/traveller site grant have been invited on two occasions since May 2007. In September 2007, local authorities were invited to bid for a small amount of funding that had become available during the year. In August 2008, local authorities were invited to bid for funding for the period 2008-10. The latter bids had to be submitted by 30 October 2008 and are currently being considered.

The local authorities which bid for funding on each occasion are set out in the following table.

2007-08 Grant Applications	2008-10 Grant Applications
Aberdeen City Council	Aberdeen City Council
Angus Council	Argyll and Bute Council
City of Edinburgh Council	City of Edinburgh Council
Clackmannanshire Council	Clackmannanshire Council
Dundee City Council	Dundee City Council
East Dunbartonshire	East Lothian Council and Midlothian Council (joint bid)
Falkirk Council	East Lothian Council and Midlothian Council (joint bid)
Fife Council	Falkirk Council
Highland Council	Fife Council
Perth and Kinross Council	Highland Council
South Ayrshire Council	Perth and Kinross Council
Scottish Borders Council	South Ayrshire Council
South Lanarkshire Council	South Lanarkshire Council
Stirling Council	Stirling Council
West Lothian Council	West Lothian Council

Question reference: S3W-17958

Asked by: Cathy Jamieson, MSP for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 26 November 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what additional powers to deal with derelict buildings will be granted to local authorities under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006.

The Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 does not introduce new powers relating specifically to derelict buildings.

The act will allow local authorities to issue a work notice, which gives them revised, more flexible powers to deal with a house which is below the tolerable standard, in serious disrepair, or in need of repair and likely to deteriorate rapidly into serious disrepair or cause damage to other premises if nothing is done to repair it.

Local authorities will also have a new power to issue a demolition notice for a house which is in serious disrepair and ought to be demolished, provided that this is within a housing renewal area. This is in addition to existing powers to require the demolition of any housing which is dangerous or below the tolerable standards and ought to be demolished.

There will be a new power to issue maintenance orders to secure the maintenance of a property for a period of up to five years. This should give local authorities more scope to prevent a house falling into disrepair in the first place.

Question reference: S3W-17943

Asked by: Cathy Jamieson, MSP for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 26 November 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive when it next expects local authorities to assess the accommodation needs of Gypsies/Travellers in their areas.

Local authorities are required to assess the accommodation needs of gypsies/travellers in their areas as part of the housing need and demand assessment, which informs the local authority''s local housing strategy (LHS) and development plans. The Scottish Government published new guidance in March 2008 to support local authorities to undertake improved housing need and demand assessments. The majority of local authorities are now currently undertaking, or preparing to undertake, new or updated assessments to inform the further development of their LHS.

Question reference: S3W-17181

Asked by: Cathy Jamieson, MSP for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 October 2008
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 18 November 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-11852 by Jim Mather on 24 April 2008, how much funding has been allocated to themed events for Homecoming Scotland 2009 in Ayrshire.

Question reference: S3W-17185

Asked by: Cathy Jamieson, MSP for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 October 2008
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 18 November 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what total amount of funding it has allocated to support events organised by communities and other organisations that will feature as part of Homecoming Scotland 2009 in (a) East Ayrshire and (b) South Ayrshire.

Homecoming events in East Ayrshire have been allocated £40,000, while events in South Ayrshire have been allocated £259,000 of Homecoming funding. These events include signature, themed and rolling programme events. Information on which of the organisers of these events could be classified as community organisations is not available.

An additional themed event will take place at locations across Ayrshire as part of Doors Open Days. Locations will be announced by organisers soon, so at this time it is not possible to include a breakdown of the funding that will go to the Ayrshire events.

Question reference: S3W-17184

Asked by: Cathy Jamieson, MSP for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 October 2008
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 18 November 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-11977 by Jim Mather on 1 May 2008, when it will be possible to identify how much of the funding from the grant of £1,335,338 awarded to VisitScotland for Homecoming Scotland 2009 through the European Regional Development Fund Programme 2007-13 for Lowlands and Uplands Scotland under Priority 4 rural development funding will be allocated to communities in (a) East Ayrshire and (b) South Ayrshire.

The application to the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) is part of a national, strategic project focusing on the marketing and promotion of Homecoming. Those events taking place in the eight eligible areas, including East Ayrshire, will benefit from marketing activity supported with ERDF funding.

This marketing activity would not be happening to the extent it is without this funding. ERDF funding is claimed back after the expenditure has occurred.