Chamber and committees

Dumfries and Galloway Community Safety Partnershiphas been awarded funding as detailed in the following table:

	Funding Granted
2005-06	£85,353.57
2006-07	£103,916.88
2007-08	£93,525.19
Total	£282,795.64

 

Dumfries and Galloway Council received a total of £1,963,000from the Changing Children’s Services Fund in 2006-07 and will receive £1,943,000in 2007-08. The slight reduction in the 2007-08 allocation reflects the formulaagreed with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities for the increased proportionof the Fund distributed through Grant Aided Expenditure.

Reducingalcohol-fuelled crime and antisocial behaviour is a key priority for this government.We are funding local agencies in the Highlands and Islands to provide a range of services aimed at delivering this outcome.

A Code Of Practice In The Appointment And EmploymentOf Locum Doctors - NHS Circular: PCS (DD) 1998/1 was issued to health boards in Scotland on 23 January 1998. A copy ofthis guidance is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib.number 43515). The code providesgood practice guidance for employing locums. It does not provide guidance on thecircumstances in which locumsshould be appointed; this is a matter for health boards as NHS Scotland employers.

The appointment ofconsultants is governed by the National Health Service Appointment of Consultants(Scotland) Regulations 1993. These regulations requirethe appointing authority to constitute an Advisory Appointments Committee, whichmust include members drawn from a National Panel List, to make recommendations onappointments.

General guidance onmedical and dental appointments, including appointment of consultants under theregulations, is published annually along with a National Panel List. Copies of thecurrent guidance and list are available in the Scottish Parliament InformationCentre (Bib. numbers 43505 and 43504 respectively).

A review of the NationalHealth Service Appointment of Consultants (Scotland) Regulations 1993 is currently being undertaken which will include researchinto best practice recruitment principles.

Dumfries and Galloway received £600,000 per annum from the Working for Families programme in 2006-07and 2007-08.

I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond.

Her response is asfollows:

Where a registered social landlord (RSL)does not comply with a request to provide housing for a homeless person within areasonable period or has no good reason for not complying with the request, andthe RSL and the local authority are unable to reach agreement, the local authorityand the RSL must appoint an arbiter to determine the issue. If the local authorityand the RSL cannot agree who to appoint as the arbiter, Communities Scotland, asregulator, must, on request of the local authority, appoint an arbiter.

If an RSL fails toimplement an arbiter’s decision Communities Scotland may use the powers containedin section 71 of the 2001 act to appoint a manager to the RSL to ensure that anarbiter’s decision is enforced. The RSL’s overall approach to meeting its obligationstowards homeless persons can also be reviewed, if this is required.”

Members of thearmed forces serving overseas are treated the same for council tax purposes asany other citizen. This means that if they own an empty property in Scotland, it will be exempt from council tax for up to six months. If it is still emptyafter that, it becomes liable for 50% council tax for a further six months. Ifit is still empty after 12 months in total, it then becomes liable for council taxin accordance with the policy of the local authority, i.e. for between 50 to 90%of the full council tax liability for that property.

The Scottish government continues to support work at aUK-level following the then Prime Minister’s announcement in October 2006 thatthe UK Government would look into providing support for the council tax costsof service personnel on operations overseas. Discussions between officials fromthe Department of Communities and local government and the Ministry of Defence,which also involve officials from the Scottish Executive, are on-going.

Section 5 of the Housing(Scotland) Act 2001 requires that a registered sociallandlord (RSL) must comply, within a reasonable period, with a local authority’srequest to provide accommodation for a homeless household, which is unintentionallyhomeless with a priority need, unless it has good reason not to. Section 5 alsorequires that the accommodation must be a Scottish secure tenancy (or in cases wherethere is  antisocial behaviour order or where there has been an eviction on  antisocialbehaviour grounds in the last three years, a short Scottish secure tenancy) unlessan express request for other accommodation has been made by the local authority.

Scottishministers have issued guidance on what constitutes “good reason” for refusal ofa request. This states that, where an RSL is unable to make appropriate accommodationavailable within six weeks then it has good reason for non-compliance. An RSL alsohas a good reason for non-compliance if the only accommodation it has availableis of a specialist nature and this is not appropriate for the applicant.  antisocialbehaviour is not one of the grounds which provide good reason not to comply.

Section 5 of the Housing(Scotland) Act 2001 requires that a registered sociallandlord (RSL) must comply, within a reasonable period, with a local authority’srequest to provide accommodation for a homeless household, which is unintentionallyhomeless with a priority need, unless it has good reason not to.

Scottishministers have issued guidance on what constitutes “good reason” for refusal ofa request. This states that, where an RSL is unable to make appropriate accommodationavailable within six weeks, then it has good reason for non-compliance. An RSL alsohas a good reason for non-compliance if the only accommodation it has availableis of a specialist nature and this is not appropriate for the applicant.