Chamber and committees

Improving Quality in Private Housing set out the views of the Housing Improvement Task Force on the main strengths and weaknesses in the way private houses are maintained and repaired as well as the house buying and selling process. It makes no recommendations for action at this stage and is intended to provide the basis for stage two of the task force's work which will look at future policy options including what, if any, changes should be made to the housing improvement and repair grant system and other possible ways of supporting and encouraging owners to maintain their homes.

The task force has been asked to complete its work and make its final report and recommendations early in 2003.

The statutory requirement in this regard is set out in The Town and Country Planning (General Development Procedure) (Scotland) Order 1992, which requires that "the application shall be accompanied by a plan sufficient to identify the land to which it relates...". In addition, Planning Advice Note (PAN) 48: Planning Application Forms provides advice on best practice on the content and layout of local authority application forms. The guidance notes on model forms contained in PAN 48 suggest that information about the address or location of the proposed development should include the postcode where possible.Copies of PAN 48 can be ordered on: Tel. 0131 244 7066 or viewed on the advice section of the Executive's Planning internet site at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/planning.

The National Cultural Strategy recognised the particular position of Glasgow and committed the Executive to work with Glasgow City Council to examine the circumstances of the museums and galleries in the city. Ministers have had a series of meetings with Glasgow City Council to hear their plans for development of the city's museums and galleries and I am pleased to say that the Executive has now awarded one-off funding of £1 million to the Kelvingrove Refurbishment Appeal Trust and £2 million towards Glasgow's Museums and Galleries Service towards realising its full educational and tourism potential.

The website can be accessed by any party.

The breakdown by planning authority area of the 830 planning applications referred to the Scottish ministers since May 1999 is as follows: Cases Notified to the Scottish Ministers since May 1999 by Council

Council	1 May 1999 - 28 Feb 2002
Aberdeen City	12
Aberdeenshire	39
Angus	21
Argyll and Bute	26
City of Edinburgh	56
City of Glasgow	98
Clackmannanshire	7
Dumfries and Galloway	18
Dundee City	14
East Ayrshire	14
East Dunbartonshire	14
East Lothian	21
East Renfrewshire	22
Falkirk	15
Fife	41
Highland	49
Inverclyde	9
Midlothian	42
Moray	26
North Ayrshire	16
North Lanarkshire	63
Orkney	8
Perth and Kinross	12
Renfrewshire	21
Scottish Borders	14
Shetland Isles	15
South Ayrshire	20
South Lanarkshire	32
Stirling	16
West Dunbartonshire	6
West Lothian	59
Western Isles	4
Total	830

This is a matter for each individual local authority.

There is no change in the position from the answer given to questions S1W-17966 on 19 September 2001 and S1W-19942 on 28 January 2002. There is specific reference to the Public Service Requirements in the conclusion of Barcelona European Council calling for agreement by the end of 2002.

With the advice of the working group I referred to in my previous answer, we have prepared a consultation paper on the implementation of Part 6 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001, which was published on 22 March this year and seeks responses by 14 June. Depending on the outcome of the consultations and any further work that may generate, we hope to implement the provisions in Part 6 as a single package in the late autumn of this year.

The Cities Review Team aim to conclude their review by the end of May. Their report will then be submitted to Scottish ministers for consideration and the findings will be published thereafter.