We intend to begin a review ofour planning guidance on radio telecommunications development in late 2006.

This is an operational matter for the Care Commission, which is responsible for the regulation of care services in Scotland. The Care Commission regulates care services, including care homes, against the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001, taking account of the National Care Standards, which are prepared and published by Scottish Ministers.

I have asked Jacquie Roberts, Chief Executive of the Care Commission, to respond to the member directly on this matter.

Buying a home, whether through the right to buy or by another means, can afford a number of benefits to buyers. In recent years, many buyers have profited from home ownership, due to house price rises, which have allowed personal wealth to increase for many. Those in poverty, however, may be unable to buy their home through the right to buy, because they are required to raise the remainder of the purchase price themselves, whether by using savings or through a mortgage.

The Executive recognises that renting is just as valid a choice of tenure as home ownership. That is why over 16,500 homes for affordable rent are being provided over this and the next two years, as part of the Executive’s £1.2 billion investment in affordable housing.

The Personal Expenses Allowance for care home residents is normally increased in April each year. No decision has yet been taken on the April 2006 uprating.

Local authorities have a duty under Section 12A of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 to assess the needs of people. Older people needing care have their needs assessed under Single Shared Assessment. The resultant care plan and arrangements for its review should ensure re-assessment when there is a significant change. When nursing care is likely to be needed, the views of a medical practitioner are sought as part of the assessment.

The Care Commission regulates and inspects care homes, whether or not nursing care is provided. A resident who is concerned about the quality of their care, or a relative or third party, may complain to the Care Commission. The commission has a duty to investigate all such complaints.

Yes.

The Scottish Executive does not maintain regular statistics on right to buy resale levels in each local authority. As part of their local housing strategies councils, through their local housing systems analyses, can assess the importance of different aspects of housing supply in meeting identified needs and may monitor and review the impact of right to buy resales as part of this.

In 1995 the Scottish Executive commissioned research into a sample of right to buy resales, which looked at issues such as the rate of resales, who purchased them and resale prices. The results of the research were published in 1997 (Pawson, H., Watkins, C. & Morgan, J. (1997) Right to Buy Resales in Scotland).

Natural Heritage notes that planning authorities should seek to protect trees, groups of trees and areas of woodland where they have natural heritage value or contribute to the character or amenity of a particular locality. It recognises that ancient and semi-natural woodlands have the greatest value for nature conservation.

The Executive is committed to introducing secondary legislation in order to make the Forestry Commission a statutory consultee where development involves the felling of an area of trees covering more than 0.25 ha. This would apply to all woodlands including ancient woodlands.

Ministers announced the objectives for Scottish Water’s next investment programme, to the Parliament on the 9 February. Amongst these is an objective which requires Scottish Water to provide sufficient strategic capacity to meet the needs of all estimated new development.

The announcement also noted that funding of £14 million would be made available in each year of the next investment programme specifically to reflect the cost of local water and sewerage infrastructure required by affordable housing projects grant aided through Communities Scotland funding programme. This would be in addition to any contribution from Scottish Water, which will be in line with the approach set out in February for funding new connections to the public network, and the forthcoming Provision of Water and Sewerage Services (Reasonable Cost) (Scotland) Regulations 2006.

The following tables show the percentage of permanent lets by local authorities to homeless households (Table 1) and the percentage of lets to homeless households by registered social landlords (Table 2) for 2004-05. Data on private sector lets to homeless households are not available centrally.

Table 1 Permanent Lets to Homeless Households by Local Authority: 2004-05

	All Permanent Lets	Lets to Homeless Households	Lets to Homeless as % of All Lets
Scotland	33,872	9,454	28
Aberdeen City	2,650	266	10
Aberdeenshire	1,246	271	22
Angus	882	325	37
Argyll and Bute	523	202	39
Clackmannanshire	442	197	45
Dumfries and Galloway	na	na	na
Dundee City	1,886	167	9
East Ayrshire	1,487	222	15
East Dunbartonshire	314	124	39
East Lothian	461	143	31
East Renfrewshire	250	87	35
City of Edinburgh	3,397	1,088	32
Eilean Siar	132	47	36
Falkirk	1,359	489	36
Fife	3,117	695	22
Glasgow City	na	na	na
Highland	1,364	415	30
Inverclyde	759	207	27
Midlothian	242	131	54
Moray	373	176	47
North Ayrshire	1,165	489	42
North Lanarkshire	3,680	1,356	37
Orkney	62	17	27
Perth and Kinross	610	322	53
Renfrewshire	1,489	279	19
Scottish Borders	na	na	na
Shetland	199	28	14
South Ayrshire	829	239	29
South Lanarkshire	2,492	482	19
Stirling	460	136	30
West Dunbartonshire	1,123	428	38
West Lothian	879	426	48

Source: Lettings returns by local authorities to Scottish Executive Development Department Analytical Services Division (Housing Statistics).

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

Table 2 Permanent Lets to Homeless Households by Registered Social Landlords: 2004-05

	All Lets	Permanent Lets to Homeless Households	Lets to Homeless as % of All Lets
Scotland	29,299	3,505	12
Registered social landlords operating in one local authority area
Aberdeen City	3	-	-
Aberdeenshire	128	2	2
Argyll and Bute	221	11	5
Dumfries and Galloway	1,271	431	34
Dundee City	12	-	-
East Ayrshire	210	24	11
East Dunbartonshire	44	-	-
East Lothian	112	-	-
East Renfrewshire	118	2	2
City of Edinburgh	680	80	12
Eilean Siar	40	6	15
Fife	274	12	4
City of Glasgow	10,672	1,883	18
Highland	167	15	9
Inverclyde	341	30	9
Moray	40	4	10
North Ayrshire	72	10	14
North Lanarkshire	434	43	10
Orkney Islands	95	2	2
Perth and Kinross	214	45	21
Renfrewshire	866	27	3
Scottish Borders	1,354	244	18
Shetland Islands	62	2	3
South Ayrshire	206	20	10
South Lanarkshire	318	11	3
Stirling	149	-	-
West Dunbartonshire	535	106	20
West Lothian	336	41	12
Registered social landlords operating in more than one local authority area	10,325	454	4

Source: Annual Performance and Statistical Return by registered social landlords to Communities Scotland Regulation and Inspection Division.

Notes:

1. Local authority percentages are indicative only as one third of lets are by registered social landlords which operate over more than one local authority area. Figures from these organisations cannot at present be broken down by local authority.

2. The following symbols are used in the tables:

-nil.

*less than 0.5%.

..missing.