Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-14872 on 14 March 2005. 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/webapp/wa.search.

I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-14872 on 14 March 2005. 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/webapp/wa.search.

The level and mix of services at any new health facility are determined by NHS managers and clinicians before and independent of a decision being taken on whether it should be built using public capital or private finance. The capacity of hospital services is based on a wider assessment of overall service delivery requirements, including treatment in community based settings. In the case of Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, bed numbers have increased whereas in both Wishaw General and Hairmyres Hospitals, the bed numbers have decreased slightly, but have been complimented by more day care and out-patient treatment. Medical and technological advances and changes in the way health care professionals work means that more services are now delivered on a day case and in out-patient and community settings. This is due to normal development of the planning of health services and not as a result of the PFI process.

The law concerning physical restraint centres around the use of reasonable force. Draft guidance has however been prepared by NHS Education Scotland (NES) on the education and training standards for violence and aggression for those in the mental health setting and it has been to place a copy of the guidance in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre when finalised. That guidance will be adapted to apply to NHSScotland in general.

The Partnership Agreement makes it clear that both parties are committed to constructive dialogue between ministers and backbenchers to build a strong partnership. Regular meetings take place between Deputy Ministers and other ministers as appropriate, and backbench members of both parties.

The following table shows the position for the last three years compared to the intake for that period.

Year	Rejections	Intake	% Rejected
2002-03	35,152	273,630	12.8%
2003-04	42,933	333,623	12.9%
2004-05	53,986	357,978	14.8%

The date of registration in respect of a property is the date upon which Registers of Scotland receives the application for registration. The logging of an application on receipt secures the applicant’s interest in the property. Once an application has been received, no other party can lodge an application in respect of that property that would take precedence over the original application. This means that if the registration takes longer than usual, for example if the application is particularly complex, there is no legal disadvantage to the security of the applicant's title.

The information collated by Registers of Scotland relates to the three different types of application that can be made to the Land Register. These are as follows:

an application for first registration of previously unregistered property,

an application for registration of a dealing with the whole of a registered interest in land, and

an application for registration of a transfer of part of a registered interest in land (a sub-division following a sale).

Once a property is registered in the Land Register any subsequent transaction involving that property (a transfer of title, a standard security, a discharge of a standard security) will be submitted as an application for registration of a dealing with whole.

The following table provides details of the number of applications for registration in the Land Register since the inception of land registration in 1981.

Year	First Registration	Transfer of Part	Dealing with Whole	Totals
1981	4,247	347	236	4,830
1982	7,187	1,136	1,176	9,499
1983	10,904	3,874	1,600	16,378
1984	18,110	2,700	6,815	27,625
1985	19,916	3,511	9,915	33,342
1986-87	30,417	5,215	20,812	56,444
1987-88	29,739	7,359	28,091	65,189
1988-89	31,172	9,786	36,676	77,634
1989-90	31,178	10,194	46,263	87,635
1990-91	25,392	9,013	53,753	88,158
1991-92	19,881	8,342	53,889	82,112
1992-93	18,014	7,517	48,950	74,481
1993-94	24,391	8,032	59,329	91,752
1994-95	26,132	9,442	58,253	93,827
1995-96	28,963	10,617	61,495	101,075
1996-97	36,709	12,163	68,792	117,664
1997-98	50,032	14,349	77,661	142,042
1998-99	46,387	15,588	92,024	153,999
1999-2000	55,466	16,833	101,213	173,512
2000-01	57,400	18,418	113,368	189,186
2001-02	76,693	22,211	144,130	243,034
2002-03	80,052	22,294	179,779	282,125
2003-04	76,094	26,169	240,145	342,408
2004-05 (to February 2005)	67,591	24,032	249,443	341,066

Registers of Scotland can also identify the total number of applications to register a dealing in the Land Register that relate to standard securities which includes mortgages and re-mortgages. This information is available from the year 2000 onwards:

Year	No. of Applications to Register a Standard Security
2000-01	25,327
2001-02	34,717
2002-03	48,829
2003-04	82,213
2004-05 (to February 2005)	92,401

Re-mortgage transactions will also have been recorded in the General Register of Sasines though the difference in classification of the different types of applications does not apply in that register.

Table 1 lists all public authority dwellings sold under the Rent to Mortgage scheme from 1990 to 2004, by local authority area. The scheme was first introduced on a pilot basis by Scottish Homes in October 1989 but there were no sales recorded until 1990. Housing association dwellings are not included in the table (see note 2).

Table 1: Sales of Public Authority Dwellings, Under the Rent to Mortgage Scheme, by Local Authority Area, 1990 to 2004

Local Authority Area	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
Aberdeen City	0	5	18	76	19	48	43	27	15	19	16	15	7	4	0
Aberdeenshire	0	1	11	24	10	18	10	6	6	8	4	4	2	0	0
Angus	0	1	7	1	2	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Argyll and Bute	2	2	9	3	0	2	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Clackmannanshire	0	6	9	4	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Dumfries and Galloway	20	0	18	7	1	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Dundee City	0	0	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
East Ayrshire	0	3	11	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
East Dunbartonshire	5	1	7	9	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
East Lothian	0	7	26	2	4	8	6	3	1	0	1	0	0	1	0
East Renfrewshire	9	0	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
City of Edinburgh	0	4	3	4	4	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Falkirk	0	4	8	9	1	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Fife	12	18	46	5	4	1	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
City of Glasgow	14	2	13	6	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Highland	51	3	18	5	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Inverclyde	0	1	1	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Midlothian	0	5	14	3	3	3	1	2	0	0	3	0	0	0	0
Moray	0	0	16	2	1	3	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
North Ayrshire	0	4	3	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
North Lanarkshire	0	21	18	5	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Orkney	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Perth and Kinross	0	0	11	5	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Renfrewshire	0	4	35	5	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Scottish Borders	6	2	8	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Shetland	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
South Ayrshire	0	5	17	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
South Lanarkshire	7	17	19	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
Stirling	6	2	7	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
West Dunbartonshire	0	1	6	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
West Lothian	1	7	19	2	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Western Isles	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Totals	133	126	390	199	60	91	65	42	24	27	24	21	9	5	0

Notes:

1. The figures include public authority dwellings only (Local Authority, New Town Development Corporations and Scottish Homes dwellings).

2. Due to the nature of the housing association data collection, it is not possible to separate Rent to Mortgage sales from Right to Buy sales for housing associations (and the latter will form the majority of the sales).

2. Figures from 1990 to 1996 have been transferred from the former local authority areas to the 32 current areas.

I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to reply. Her response is as follows.

Section 89 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 requires local authorities to undertake a comprehensive assessment of housing need in their area as part of their local housing strategies. Guidance on the preparation of local housing strategies covered approaches to assessing housing need and the need to develop a clear plan of action to tackle the housing problems identified in the strategy.

Communities Scotland assessed all local housing strategies against 107 detailed criteria. This included consideration of the need for additional affordable housing units and of the links between local housing strategies and regeneration outcome agreements.