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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 707 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S3W-35023

Asked by: Mary Mulligan, MSP for Linlithgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 June 2010
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 15 July 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it is taking to deter people from leaving litter at the side of motorways.

Question reference: S3W-34562

Asked by: Mary Mulligan, MSP for Linlithgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 June 2010
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 29 June 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) successful and (b) unsuccessful applications to its boiler scrappage scheme there were, broken down by local authority area.

The number of successful applicants to the boiler scrappage scheme, broken down by local authority area, is in the following table. Please expect these figures to change, for example, if duplicate applications are found or if applicants decide not to use their vouchers.

Only successful applications were logged by the online application system. The number of unsuccessful applications was not recorded.

Local Authority	Vouchers
Aberdeen City	254
Aberdeenshire	265
Angus	178
Argyll and Bute	79
Clackmannanshire	38
Dumfries and Galloway	148
Dundee City	140
East Ayrshire	105
East Dunbartonshire	131
East Lothian	76
East Renfrewshire	118
Edinburgh, City of	342
Eilean Siar	11
Falkirk	127
Fife	329
Glasgow City	279
Highland	138
Inverclyde	70
Midlothian	62
Moray	110
North Ayrshire	138
North Lanarkshire	209
Orkney Islands	0
Perth and Kinross	163
Renfrewshire	211
Scottish Borders	107
Shetland Islands	3
South Ayrshire	139
South Lanarkshire	302
Stirling	84
West Dunbartonshire	97
West Lothian	150
Total (local authority)	4,603

Question reference: S3W-34386

Asked by: Mary Mulligan, MSP for Linlithgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 June 2010
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 21 June 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many rent payable orders were issued in 2009.

Question reference: S3W-34474

Asked by: Mary Mulligan, MSP for Linlithgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 June 2010
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 21 June 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what average price housing associations paid for the 1,699 off-the-shelf houses purchased in 2009-10.

Of the total 1699 Off The Shelf (OTS) purchases funded by the Affordable Housing Investment Programme (AHIP) in 2009-10, 198 properties were purchased by housing associations. For these properties the average cost per unit was £120,734. The remaining 1,501 properties were not purchased by housing associations.

They are as follows:

Special Needs Capital Grant	1
Open Market Shared Equity Pilot	1,459
Council House Building	41
Total “ 1,501

Question reference: S3W-34468

Asked by: Mary Mulligan, MSP for Linlithgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 June 2010
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 21 June 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what average price per house housing associations paid for land for housing in 2009.

Question reference: S3W-34271

Asked by: Mary Mulligan, MSP for Linlithgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 June 2010
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 16 June 2010

The average level of Housing Association Grant for housing association rented units in these years was as follows:

2007-08 - £85,390

2008-09 - £78,441

2009-10 - £77,263.

Figures for 2007-08 and 2008-09 are available on the Scottish Government website at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Housing-Regeneration/HSfS/AHIP0809Report.

Figures for 2009-10 will be included in the 2009-10 Affordable Housing Investment Programme out-turn report when published.

Question reference: S3W-34269

Asked by: Mary Mulligan, MSP for Linlithgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 June 2010
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 14 June 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-33859 by Alex Neil on 2 June 2010, whether it will provide a breakdown by local authority of the 1,200 rent penalty notices issued to unregistered landlords.

Details are as follows:

Local Authority	Rent Penalty Notices Issued Between 1 April 2008 and 31 March 2010
Aberdeen City	0
Aberdeenshire	15
Angus	0
Argyll and Bute	0
Clackmannanshire	6
Dumfries and Galloway	0
Dundee City	0
East Ayrshire	56
East Dunbartonshire	69
East Lothian	189
East Renfrewshire	5
City of Edinburgh	3
Eilean Siar	0
Falkirk	0
Fife	28
Glasgow City	462
Highland	0
Inverclyde	0
Midlothian	0
Moray	0
North Ayrshire	0
North Lanarkshire	0
Orkney	5
Perth and Kinross	4
Renfrewshire	34
Scottish Borders	15
Shetland Islands	0
South Ayrshire	0
South Lanarkshire	357
Stirling	1
West Dunbartonshire	0
West Lothian	0
	1,249

Question reference: S3W-34270

Asked by: Mary Mulligan, MSP for Linlithgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 June 2010
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 14 June 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many unregistered landlords it estimates that there are in each local authority.

This information is not held centrally. Each local authority would be best placed to estimate numbers in its own area.

However, in March 2009 the Review of the Private Rented Sector in Scotland estimated the number of households living in the sector to be 233,000. Private landlords must register themselves, and all the properties that they let.

Up to 31 May 2010, 217,032 properties were approved with a further 9,660 awaiting decision. Although the exact numbers in the sector are subject to constant change, this indicates that about 97% of properties are now covered by registration based on the estimate in the review.

Question reference: S3W-34167

Asked by: Mary Mulligan, MSP for Linlithgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 04 June 2010
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 11 June 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding has been allocated to the mortgage to rent scheme for 2010-11.

Question reference: S3W-34164

Asked by: Mary Mulligan, MSP for Linlithgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 04 June 2010
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 11 June 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it is taking to help first-time house buyers in 2010-11.

The Scottish Government is planning to spend £48.8 million in 2010-11 to continue helping first time buyers in particular to access home ownership through the Low-cost Initiative for First Time Buyers (LIFT). LIFT provides support through the following low-cost home ownership schemes, which are predominantly targeted at first time buyers on low to moderate incomes:

the New Supply Shared Equity scheme

the Open Market Shared Equity Pilot scheme

the shared ownership scheme

GRO grants for owner occupation (provided through private developers)

Rural Home Ownership Grants.

As well as funding housing associations to provide new homes, the New Supply Shared Equity scheme now also includes a new innovative trial being funded in partnership with private developers.

In addition, the Scottish Government has pressed the UK Government to ensure that an exemption from stamp duty land tax on properties bought for less than £250,000 was implemented to help first time buyers to purchase a home.

An evaluation of the main LIFT schemes is being carried out this year to help inform how support for first-time buyers should best be targeted in future.