Chamber and committees

The need to reform fire safety legislation was among a range of issues considered and recommendations made in the policy paper The Scottish Fire Service of The Future which we published on 29 April. We do not, however, plan to bring forward proposals for legislative reform on this subject during the current Parliament.

Since the introduction of the Housing (Scotland) Bill on 18 December 2000, 25 Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) have applied for charitable status, 19 of which have had consent given. The remaining six RSLs have applied for consent and are being processed.

I am satisfied that the provision of legal aid in Scotland to asylum seekers is compatible with Article 14 of the convention.

Deprived areas will be identified using the results from our programme of work to develop area-based deprivation measures, which will be available in time to allow us to develop baseline information for 2003-04.

No appeals have been made by Scottish Executive staff to the Civil Service Commissioners in the period since May 1999.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-31405 today. 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/search_wa.

We were first made aware of the Competition Commission Appeal Tribunal's judgement on 20 September 2002. The tribunal's judgement in the case of Bettercare Group Ltd and the Director General of Fair Trading stated that the Competition Act 1998 applied in the particular circumstances of that case. The director has decided not to appeal that decision. One implication is that, potentially, local authorities' commissioning of care services could be subject to the Competition Act, but each case would need to be decided on its particular facts. The judgement did not comment on whether the North and West Belfast Health and Social Services Trust or, in our context, other local authorities, are presently contravening the act. The Office of Fair Trading will now reconsider the issue of the alleged anti-competitive conduct of North and West Belfast Health and Social Services Trust. I understand that the European Court is currently considering a similar case and that an outcome is expected by next spring. This may help to clarify whether the act applies to the commissioning functions of public bodies.Against this background, no general assessment has been made of the implications of the ruling and we remain in close contact with our counterparts in Northern Ireland and the other UK administrations on this issue.In the meantime, we would continue to expect councils to apply Best Value principles when providing or purchasing care services and to operate in full concordance with the spirit and terms of the Competition Act.

The Minister for Health and Community Care would lead any such discussions.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-31405 today. 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/search_wa.

Neighbourhood wardens in Scotland will have no powers beyond that of the ordinary citizen. The police must remain the only body with powers to intervene in situations without consent. Other persons may only intervene with consent or under whatever arrangement lies between the employer of the warden/patrol and the citizen.