Chamber and committees

The percentage of recruits who leave before the end of their training is not held centrally but is likely to vary from year to year. In 2003-04 there were 966 recruits to the Scottish Police Service. In the same year, 34 recruits (equivalent to 3.5% of the number joining in that year) left through voluntary resignation. However, the initial training period for new recruits lasts for up to two years, and some of these leavers may have been recruited in 2002-03.

Information relating to those who may have been required to resign or who may have transferred to other forces outside Scotland is not held centrally.

There have been 134 ministerial functions held in Bute House since 1999. Private functions held in Bute House are arranged, and the costs met, by the First Minister. Records are not kept of private events held in Bute House.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-13645 answered on 1 February 2005. All answers to written parliamentary questions can be found on the Parliaments website, the search facility for which can be found at:http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Yes.

Yes. In addition, Homes for Scotland, Communities Scotland and the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities were all directly involved in the Q & S 3 process.

I announced the objectives we wish Scottish Water to address in the next regulatory period in a Statement to the Parliament on the 9 February.

Of the information requested, only the number of local authority-owned dwellings is available centrally, which is shown in table 1.

Responsibility for assessing housing needs and conditions rests with local authorities as part of their Local Housing Strategies. It is an expectation set out in the guidance that, as part of a wider strategic approach to address housing need, alongside neighbourhood renewal and community planning initiatives, their strategy should consider whether the existing public and private housing stock is being managed to best effect and if there are management solutions based on that stock to existing or emerging housing problems.

Additional background information is provided in tables 1 and 2.

Table 1 shows the number of local authority-owned dwellings for each local authority, along with a breakdown showing the normal use of the stock.

Table 2 shows the number of local authority-owned vacant dwellings for each local authority, along with a breakdown for the reason for the vacancy. This table shows how many vacant properties are to be demolished or sold (although the number to be demolished cannot be obtained separately).

Table 1: Local Authority-Owned Housing Stock, as at 31 March 2004

	Total Dwellings	Normal Use of Stock
		Letting	Designated Temporary Accommodation for Homeless	Other
Aberdeen City	25,193	23,676	72	1,445
Aberdeenshire	14,315	14,194	90	31
Angus	8,737	7,806	51	880
Argyll and Bute	6,062	5,785	40	237
Clackmannanshire	5,607	5,367	51	189
Dumfries and Galloway	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Dundee City	16,754	16,451	77	226
East Ayrshire	15,313	14,782	24	507
East Dunbartonshire	5,153	5,078	75	0
East Lothian	8,671	8,609	38	24
East Renfrewshire	3,695	3,461	21	213
Edinburgh, City of	27,455	26,993	0	462
Eilean Siar	1,834	1,811	23	0
Falkirk	18,837	18,342	82	413
Fife	35,430	24,210	0	11,220
Glasgow City	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Highland	15,538	15,443	95	0
Inverclyde	8,866	8,781	85	0
Midlothian	6,604	6,565	39	0
Moray	6,567	6,559	6	2
North Ayrshire	15,333	15,119	104	110
North Lanarkshire	42,392	41,899	291	202
Orkney	838	783	42	13
Perth and Kinross	8,807	8,207	0	600
Renfrewshire	16,881	15,613	105	1,163
Scottish Borders, The	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Shetland	2,028	1,936	60	32
South Ayrshire	9,411	9,345	66	0
South Lanarkshire	30,358	29,325	239	794
Stirling	6,869	6,846	23	0
West Dunbartonshire	12,577	12,395	182	0
West Lothian	14,091	14,011	80	0
Scotland	390,216	369,392	2,061	18,763

Notes:

1. Source: Stock1 returns by local authorities to the Scottish Executive Development Department.

2. Figures for Edinburgh are estimates based on March 2002 due to outstanding returns.

3. Figures for Aberdeenshire, Shetland and West Lothian are estimates based on incomplete returns from March 2004.

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

5. Letting stock includes all dwellings which are either currently let or are available or potentially available for letting.

6. Other stock includes:

(a) Tied housing;

(b) Dwellings which are currently out of use and expected to be permanently out of use because of planned demolition;

(c) Dwellings which are currently out of use and expected to be out of use for at least a year;

(d) Dwellings which are classed as low demand, and

(e) Dwellings used solely for decant.

Table 2: Local Authority-Owned Vacant Housing Stock, as at 31 March 2004

	Total Vacant Dwellings	Reason for vacancy
		(a) Used as temp. Accomm. for Homeless	(b) To be Demolished or Sold with Vacant Possession Within Two Years	(c) Part of Modernisation or Major Repair Programme	(d) In Identified Low Demand Area	(e) Other
Aberdeen City	1,388	30	0	49	351	958
Aberdeenshire	293	18	42	9	76	148
Angus	233	1	16	22	67	127
Argyll and Bute	293	2	221	1	15	54
Clackmannanshire	204	7	0	7	157	33
Dumfries and Galloway	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Dundee City	642	8	31	92	99	412
East Ayrshire	683	0	108	0	370	205
East Dunbartonshire	45	9	0	0	0	36
East Lothian	82	1	0	31	0	50
East Renfrewshire	323	3	231	0	0	89
Edinburgh, City of	1,170	12	529	77	0	552
Eilean Siar	28	0	0	4	0	24
Falkirk	548	3	192	105	41	207
Fife	1,596	0	534	4	113	945
Glasgow City	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Highland	246	17	46	79	11	93
Inverclyde	892	2	372	2	333	183
Midlothian	46	6	0	1	0	39
Moray	33	0	3	6	0	24
North Ayrshire	204	1	81	0	0	122
North Lanarkshire	670	6	21	6	421	216
Orkney	18	8	0	1	3	6
Perth and Kinross	513	13	255	0	0	245
Renfrewshire	1,388	14	943	98	85	248
Scottish Borders, The	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Shetland	120	5	0	4	0	111
South Ayrshire	220	0	0	0	50	170
South Lanarkshire	1,150	26	669	29	70	356
Stirling	227	25	62	0	91	49
West Dunbartonshire	1,144	60	432	31	398	223
West Lothian	77	19	11	18	0	29
Scotland	14,476	296	4,799	676	2,751	5,954

Notes:

1. Source: Stock2 returns by local authorities to the Scottish Executive Development Department.

2. Figures for Edinburgh are estimates based on March 2002 due to outstanding returns.

3. Due to housing stock transfers, figures for local authority dwellings in Glasgow, Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders are not included.

4. If a dwelling falls into more than one category, it is allocated to the category that appears first in the table from left to right.

5. Dwellings are included in category (a) if they are used solely as temporary accommodation for the homeless.

6. There is no information to determine whether dwellings in category (b) could be made habitable.

7. Dwellings are included in category (c) if the modernisation or repair scheme is due to be implemented within two years.

8. Dwellings are included in category (d) if the authority has developed a strategy to deal with the low demand.

Successful applicants under the Mortgage to Rent scheme, established in February 2003, are granted the Scottish Secure Tenancy which confers the right to buy under modernised terms. The earliest that anyone assisted under the Mortgage to Rent scheme would be able to exercise their right to buy would be after they have served the five-year qualifying period, ie in February 2008.

The information requested is not held centrally.

One local authority, South Ayrshire Council, has applied for designation of housing areas as pressured under section 45 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001.

The application was made on 14 October 2004, but further information is required from South Ayrshire Council before a decision on the application can be made.