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: S2W-19473

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 23 September 2005
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 3 October 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average annual payment is to independent dental practitioners for providing services under the NHS.

In the year ending March 2005 the average annual payment made to independent dental practitioners for providing services under the NHS was £85,828^1,2.

Source: MIDAS (Management Information & Dental Accounting System).

Notes:

1. Consists of item of service fees, plus capitation and continuing care fees, divided by the number of non-salaried NHS general dentists (principals and assistants) who had earnings during the financial year.

2. Excludes allowances that NHS general dentists may be entitled to claim in addition to item of service, capitation and continuing care fees.

Question reference: S2W-19294

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 16 September 2005
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 29 September 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive when the inquiry into the draft Solway Regulating Order will be complete and, if the inquiry finds in favour of progressing the order, how long it will take to lay it before the Parliament.

The Sea Fisheries (Shellfish) Act 1967 under which Regulating Orders are made and which makes provision for the inquiry procedure does not stipulate a timeframe for the completion of an inquiry or the provision of advice to ministers by the inspector appointed to make an inquiry. The length of the inquiry is a matter for the inspector and it is not possible to say exactly when it will be complete. I am however aware of the need to resolve this issue as quickly as possible. We are taking steps to be in a position to do so. If I decide to approve the application, I would therefore expect to lay the Order very shortly thereafter.

Question reference: S2W-19292

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 16 September 2005
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 26 September 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to prevent gangs of illegal cockle fishers from outwith the area cockling at Powfoot on the Solway Firth.

Question reference: S2W-19293

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 16 September 2005
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 23 September 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether fishery protection staff and vessels are available at night and during weekends.

Question reference: S2W-19475

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 23 September 2005
Current Status: Awaiting answer

To ask the Scottish Executive what powers local authorities have to take action against individuals or companies that obstruct the construction of infrastructure necessary for public safety.

Question reference: S2W-19093

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 September 2005
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 20 September 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether registered social landlords can refuse to house a prospective tenant referred to them by their local authority under section 5 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 and, if so, what reasons for refusal would be considered to be valid.

Section 5 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 requires that an RSL must comply, within a reasonable period, a local authority’s request to provide accommodation for a homeless household, which is unintentionally homeless with a priority need, unless it has good reason not to. Section 5 also requires that the accommodation must be a Scottish secure tenancy (or in cases of anti-social behaviour a short Scottish secure tenancy) unless an express request for other accommodation has been made by the local authority.

Scottish ministers have issued guidance on what constitutes “good reason” for refusal of a request. This states where RSLs are unable to make appropriate accommodation available within six weeks then it has good reason for non-compliance. A RSL also has a good reason for non-compliance if the only accommodation it has available is of a specialist nature and this is not appropriate for the applicant.

Question reference: S2W-19092

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 September 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 20 September 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether grants are available to assist communities or individuals to gain satellite or wireless access to broadband in locations where the exchange will not support ADSL broadband.

BT confirms that all its exchanges are capable of supporting ADSL broadband. The Executive has a contract with BT to upgrade 378 exchanges to provide broadband by the end of the year. We are working with the company to identify communities with broadband access problems and to implement solutions appropriate to demand.

In addition, advice on broadband access is available to businesses through their local enterprise company, along with general business support.

Question reference: S2W-19064

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 September 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 20 September 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will guarantee broadband access to the community of Ewes, near Langholm, by the end of 2005.

The Executive’s aim is toallow broadband access in all Scottish communities, and to this end we have acontract with BT to enable 378 exchanges to deliver ADSL broadband by the endof this year. We are working with BT to identify communities with accessproblems with a view to implementing solutions appropriate to demand.

The Langholm exchange isbroadband-enabled and to date BT is aware of only one failed order locally. Ifevidence of a community cluster of failed orders emerges, then we shall behappy to investigate.

Question reference: S2W-18597

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 August 2005
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 16 September 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of households presenting as homeless in 2003-04 under section 5 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 were offered a secure tenancy by the local authority or registered social landlord operating in that authority's area, broken down by local authority area.

Local authorities submit an HL1 return to the Scottish Executive for each application made to them under the homeless persons legislation: this return reports on the action taken by local authorities to discharge their statutory duties. Section 5 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 allows a local authority to request that a registered social landlord provide accommodation for a homeless applicant who the local authority has a duty to house under the legislation. Under the current legislation, a local authority has a duty to secure permanent accommodation for households assessed as being unintentionally homeless and in priority need.

The following table shows the percentage of homeless applications, and those assessed as being unintentionally homeless in priority need, in each local authority reported to have resulted in an offer of local authority or registered social landlord accommodation.

Homelessness Applicants Offered Social Rented Accommodation by Local Authority: 2003-04

	All Applications in Period	Social Rented Accommodation Offered		Applications Assessed as Priority Unintentional Homeless	Social Rented Accommodation Offered
	All Applications in Period	Number	%	Applications Assessed as Priority Unintentional Homeless	Number	%
Scotland	56,297	15,499	28	25,685	11,928	46
Aberdeen City	1,855	448	24	507	441	87
Aberdeenshire	1,187	266	22	403	211	52
Angus	1,308	322	25	351	208	59
Argyll and Bute	904	180	20	307	154	50
Clackmannanshire	1,004	220	22	290	201	69
Dumfries and Galloway	1,579	502	32	556	368	66
Dundee City	1,155	311	27	300	187	62
East Ayrshire	1,017	374	37	317	247	78
East Dunbartonshire	640	139	22	186	95	51
East Lothian	889	172	19	215	136	63
East Renfrewshire	397	121	30	133	80	60
Edinburgh, City of	5,492	1,969	36	2,880	1,478	51
Eilean Siar	214	70	33	70	50	71
Falkirk	1,629	552	34	506	382	75
Fife	3,893	1,060	27	1,727	816	47
Glasgow City	12,712	2,575	20	9,046	2,001	22
Highland	2,103	608	29	581	369	64
Inverclyde	698	260	37	356	223	63
Midlothian	523	106	20	258	105	41
Moray	629	234	37	231	199	86
North Ayrshire	1,822	629	35	941	603	64
North Lanarkshire	3,147	1,037	33	1,258	831	66
Orkney	166	28	17	52	27	52
Perth and Kinross	1,449	546	38	228	168	74
Renfrewshire	1,478	428	29	502	402	80
Scottish Borders, The	856	285	33	411	257	63
Shetland	186	18	10	73	17	23
South Ayrshire	1,018	214	21	326	194	60
South Lanarkshire	2,497	703	28	920	513	56
Stirling	890	141	16	253	117	46
West Dunbartonshire	1,231	513	42	696	502	72
West Lothian	1,729	468	27	805	346	43

Source: HL1 returns submitted by local authorities to the Scottish Executive Development Department Analytical Services Division (Housing Statistics)

Note: All applications within period, including lost contact/withdrawal/resolved prior to assessment or discharge of duty.

Question reference: S2W-18598

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 August 2005
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 16 September 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of local authority and registered social landlord vacancies in 2003-04 were offered to households presenting as homeless under section 5 of the Housing (Scotland) Act, broken down by local authority area.

Section 5 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 allows a local authority to request that a registered social landlord provide accommodation for a homeless applicant who the local authority has a duty to house under the legislation. Local authorities submit a lettings return to the Scottish Executive giving the number of dwellings falling vacant during the quarter, permanent lettings made and permanent lettings to homeless households. Similar information is collected from registered social landlords by Communities Scotland through the Annual Performance and Statistical Return. The number of permanent lettings during a period tends to be lower than the number of dwellings falling vacant, and therefore, to provide a more meaningful comparison, lets to homeless households are presented as a proportion of all permanent lets.

The following tables show the percentage of permanent lets by local authorities to homeless households (Table 1) and the percentage of lets to homeless households by registered social landlords (Table 2).

Table 1 Permanent Lets to Homeless Households by Local Authority: 2003-04

	Total Permanent Lets	Lets to Homeless Households	Lets to Homeless as % of All Lets
Scotland	39,136	8,469	22
Aberdeen City	2,905	217	7
Aberdeenshire	1,522	226	15
Angus	972	247	25
Argyll and Bute	617	214	35
Clackmannanshire	487	172	35
Dumfries and Galloway	na	na	na
Dundee City	2,533	209	8
East Ayrshire	1,663	225	14
East Dunbartonshire	350	131	37
East Lothian	440	123	28
East Renfrewshire	295	69	23
City of Edinburgh	3,178	742	23
Eilean Siar	202	59	29
Falkirk	1,733	434	25
Fife	3,528	816	23
Glasgow City	na	na	na
Highland	1,376	411	30
Inverclyde	1,068	287	27
Midlothian	311	108	35
Moray	469	152	32
North Ayrshire	1,340	639	48
North Lanarkshire	4,276	599	14
Orkney	71	12	17
Perth and Kinross	668	271	41
Renfrewshire	1,666	293	18
Scottish Borders	na	na	na
Shetland	199	28	14
South Ayrshire	977	213	22
South Lanarkshire	2,689	503	19
Stirling	1,225	317	26
West Dunbartonshire	1,176	381	32
West Lothian	1,200	371	31

Source: Lettings returns by local authorities to Scottish Executive Development Department Analytical Services Division (Housing Statistics).

Note: Following housing stock transfers, figures for Dumfries and Galloway, Glasgow and Scottish Borders are not included.

Table 2 Permanent Lets to Homeless Households by Registered Social Landlords: 2003-04

	All Lets	Permanent Lets to Homeless Households	Lets to Homeless as % of all Lets
Scotland	30,544	3,418	11
Registered social landlords operating in one local authority area
Aberdeen City	2	0	0
Aberdeenshire	75	1	1
Argyll and Bute	225	4	2
Dumfries and Galloway	1,117	480	43
Dundee City	12	0	0
East Ayrshire	245	11	4
East Lothian	136	0	0
East Renfrewshire	95	1	1
City of Edinburgh	750	97	13
Eilean Siar	26	1	4
Fife	326	10	3
Glasgow City	12,333	2,128	17
Highland	147	13	9
Inverclyde	284	8	3
Moray	107	4	4
North Ayrshire	61	12	20
North Lanarkshire	424	6	1
Orkney	66	1	2
Perth and Kinross	231	70	30
Renfrewshire	795	0	0
Scottish Borders	1,367	147	11
Shetland	43	1	2
South Ayrshire	127	22	17
South Lanarkshire	332	38	11
Stirling	146	0	0
West Dunbartonshire	477	33	7
West Lothian	383	9	2
Registered social landlords operating in more than one local authority area	10,212	321	3

Source: Annual Performance and Statistical Return by registered social landlords to Communities Scotland Regulation and Inspection Division.

Note: Local authority percentages are indicative only as one-third of lets are by registered social landlords which operate over more than one local authority area. Figures from these organisations cannot be broken down by local authority.