- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Mary Mulligan on 12 February 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how the Tenements (Scotland) Bill will benefit homeowners.
Answer
The overalleffect of the bill will be that every tenement in Scotland will have a management scheme. Thiswill make it easier for owners to take decisions on repairs and on othermatters of mutual interest and concern. Majority decision making will becomethe norm and I hope that this will lead to many outstanding repairs beingcarried out. Under the existing common law all owners must consent beforerepairs can be carried out and unanimity can often be difficult to achieve.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 January 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 12 February 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive why fewer NHS beds were available to deal with winter pressures in Greater Glasgow in 2003 than in the previous year.
Answer
NHS Greater Glasgow, alongwith all other NHS boards, makes additional beds available each winter to dealwith anticipated seasonal pressures. I understand there are no fewer bedsavailable in NHS Greater Glasgow than were available this time last year. Inaddition, there are more clinical staff working within Glasgow’shospitals now than there were a year ago, as a result of investment fromvarious national initiatives, such as cancer, stroke and coronary heartdisease.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 5 February 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is a role for greater mediation in the civil courts system.
Answer
The Executive believes that mediation cancontribute to the effective and efficient administration of justice in thecivil courts. That is why we strongly support its use and are keen to encourageit where feasible and appropriate. The Executive already provides support andfunding for a range of mediation and advice services. We are activelyconsidering what further action might be taken to encourage greater use.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 22 January 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 5 February 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive when the final report of the task group reviewing the licensing provisions contained in the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 will be published.
Answer
I understand that theindependent task group now expects to report in May or June. The intention isto publish the report and make it available on the Scottish Executive website. Ministers will thereafter consider the report’s recommendationand respond in due course.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 22 January 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 4 February 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive when the report of the Summary Justice Review Committee will be published.
Answer
The Summary Justice ReviewCommittee held its final meeting on 22 January. I have now received a copy of the text of the Committee’s final report. Arrangements for publication arecurrently being considered.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 January 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 28 January 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-4968 by Malcolm Chisholm on 19 January 2004, what services will be funded by the National Services Division from 1 April 2004.
Answer
All of the services listedin the answer given to question S2W-4968 will continue to be funded by NationalServices Division from 1 April 2004. All answers to written parliamentary questions areavailable on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can befound at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 16 January 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Mary Mulligan on 27 January 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it will take to eradicate fuel poverty among tenants in the social rented sector (a) Glasgow and (b) all local authority areas other than Glasgow who have been unable to benefit from the Warm Deal Initiative as a result of housing stock transfer.
Answer
The investment programmes of the registered social landlords which have acquired stock in the three wholetransfers to date include a commitment to both central heating and other energyefficiency measures.
The Warm Deal managed byEaga delivers insulation measures across all sectors of the housing stock.Local authority stock that has been transferred and the stock of registeredsocial landlords will benefit from that part of the Warm Deal programme.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 05 January 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 26 January 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to improve protection for private rented sector tenants against any landlords who retain deposits unfairly.
Answer
We see the management of tenancy deposits as an integral part of good management and so do not at present have proposals to establish a separate system for controlling the management of deposits.
We are committed to encouraging high standards of management in the private rented sector. The work done so far to take forward the partnership agreement commitment to develop core standards for voluntary accreditation schemes has included the issue of tenancy deposits and their return. The Housing Improvement Task Force has recommended strengthened powers of regulation to complement the voluntary route of accreditation and, as I said on 16 December when I announced by response to the task force proposals, we will explore the possibility of a national registration scheme for all private landlords.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 05 January 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Hugh Henry on 22 January 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether community service orders as an alternative to custody have been effective in reducing crime.
Answer
The statistics suggest thatoffenders given community service orders generally have lower reconvictionrates than those discharged from a custodial sentence, although this differenceis less pronounced when the age and number of previous convictions of offendersare taken into account.
The figures are in the StatisticalBulletin CrJ/2003/1 published in March 2003 which provides data on reconvictionrates of offenders discharged from custody or given non-custodial sentenced in1997. The statistical bulletin is available in the Parliament’s ReferenceCentre (Bib. number. 27185).
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 January 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 21 January 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what the timescale is for considering whether any lessons can be learned from the experience of community courts in the United States of America.
Answer
The Executive is alwaysinterested to learn from the experience of other jurisdictions. This is why I amvisiting the United States of America next month to see at first hand if there are lessonswe can learn for the Scottish criminal justice system, including from theoperation of community courts.
