Chamber and committees

We do not expect the changesin Stamp Taxes announced in the UK March Budget to have a significant impact oneither the Executive or local authority budgets.

I refer the member to the answergiven to question S2W-7724 on 5 May 2004. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for whichcan be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.

It is not possible to anticipatewith any accuracy the annual cost to the board of cases presented to the SupremeCourt. The number of cases in any year is likely to be small and the costs willvary depending on the needs of each case. However, Scottish ministers do not expectthat the costs each year will be greater than that which would have arisen in theHouse of Lords and Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

Prior to the introduction ofStamp Duty Land Tax, there were discussions between the Inland Revenue, the JusticeDepartment and the Law Society of Scotland in relation to the implications for Scottishproperty transactions. Registers of Scotland were also consulted in respect of the impact Stamp DutyLand Tax would have on the two property Registers (the Land Register of Scotlandand the General Register of Sasines). Those discussions resulted in a special arrangementfor certain transactions where there may be a risk to the purchaser if the titledeed is not submitted quickly for registration in the appropriate property register.

Council Directive 2001/42/ECis concerned with plans and programmes, and will not apply to individual developments.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

Establishment	Cost (£ million)	Number of Cells
HM Prison Edinburgh	18	224
HM Young Offenders Institute Polmont	17	211

 

Although the Abolition of FeudalTenure etc. (Scotland) Act received Royal Assent in 2000 it will not take effectuntil 28 November 2004. Local authorities will have until November to preservecertain special types of right and even after that they will still be able to preservetheir rights over housing estates where they retain some properties. After the feudalsystem is abolished, local authorities will have to modify their practice when sellingland to take account of the types of title conditions which will be permitted infuture. The process by which authorities may preserve rights over housing estateswas simplified following consultation with authorities when the legislation wasbeing considered.

The Executive wrote to the Chief Executives and principal legal officers of all Scottish local authorities on 7 May 2003, outliningthe main areas of reform and suggesting actions which councils might wish to consider.The Executive will be producing further general guidance on its programme of propertylaw reform later in 2004.

The regulation of internationaltrade is a reserved matter. The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with theDepartment of Trade and Industry and other Government departments on a range oftrade issues, including those relating to the General Agreement on Trade in Services(GATS).

The Scottish Executive is liaising with the DTI on the progress of the GATS negotiations, and maintainsan ongoing assessment of any potential impact of GATS on its responsibilities. Thiswill continue to inform our discussions with DTI, in order to ensure that Scottishinterests are considered.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

It was a clerical error.

The Executive/STUC staffing protocolhas been implemented as part of the PPP process. I am not aware that any employeehas transferred since the introduction of the protocol.