- Asked by: Tricia Marwick, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Friday, 10 February 2006
-
Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 6 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it carried out an impact assessment, specifically in respect of voluntary sector services, prior to the introduction of national budget reductions and local reallocation of resources in relation to the Supporting People programme.
Answer
No impact assessmentspecifically in respect of voluntary sector services was carried out, butevidence from reviews of the Supporting People programme in England and Scotlandindicated scope for significant efficiency savings. Monitoring arrangementsallow local authorities to record any adverse impact on services to informfuture funding decisions. Initial indications are that services are generallybeing maintained and no type of provider is being disproportionately affected.
- Asked by: Tricia Marwick, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 23 January 2006
-
Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 1 February 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how much private finance it is estimated will be drawn down by Glasgow Housing Assocation in 2006-07 and 2007-08.
Answer
I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:
GHA’s Consultative Draft Business Plan 2006-07, identifies private funding levels of £33.356 million in 2006-07 and £101.554 million in 2007-08.
- Asked by: Tricia Marwick, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 23 January 2006
-
Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 1 February 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what Glasgow Housing Association’s expenditure on external (a) consultants and (b) advisers has been since the stock transfer date on its (i) capital investment programme, (ii) business planning, (iii) second stage transfer and (iv) organisational development.
Answer
I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:
This is a matter for GHA, the information is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Tricia Marwick, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 23 January 2006
-
Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 1 February 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) permanent and (b) temporary or seconded staff Glasgow Housing Association employs on (i) investment and regeneration, (ii) support services, (iii) local housing organisation staffing and (iv) concierge staffing, showing how these figures compare with the numbers employed in March 2003.
Answer
I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:
Information on registered social landlords is collected through the Annual Performance Statistical Return (APSR) maintained by Communities Scotland. Information that we hold for GHA in the APSR, records the total number of staff employed by GHA in 2002-03 as 1,827, and in 2003-04 as 2,062. No further breakdown of these figures is held centrally.
- Asked by: Tricia Marwick, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 23 January 2006
-
Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 1 February 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how much private finance has been drawn down to facilitate Glasgow Housing Association’s capital expenditure on its housing stock.
Answer
I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:
GHA, in its statutory accounts to 31 March 2005, records no loans drawn from private lenders. GHA’S business plan dated November 2004 shows no requirement for private finance to the year ending March 2006.
- Asked by: Tricia Marwick, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 23 January 2006
-
Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 1 February 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what Glasgow Housing Association’s (GHA) capital expenditure has been on its housing stock from the date of transfer of the stock to GHA.
Answer
I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:
Since transfer, GHA has directly invested over £262 million on modernising and improving tenants’ homes.
- Asked by: Tricia Marwick, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 December 2005
-
Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 17 January 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many properties in (a) registered social landlord and (b) local authority housing stock currently fall below the Scottish Housing Quality Standard and how much it estimates the cost will be of bringing such properties up to the necessary standard by its 2015 deadline.
Answer
The Scottish House Condition Survey report
Information on Scottish Housing Quality
Standard failure rates and support for secondary analysis July 2004, estimated the number of properties currently failing the Scottish Housing Quality Standard in the social rented sector to be 456,000 (310,00 public sector and 146,000 registered social landlord).
Social Landlords in Scotland have also prepared Scottish Housing Quality Standard Delivery plans to show how they will achieve the standard by 2015, these plans will provide further up-to-date detail on numbers and costs and are currently being assessed and validated by Communities Scotland.
- Asked by: Tricia Marwick, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 December 2005
-
Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 19 December 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-20889 by Lewis MacDonald on 6 December 2005, which NHS boards are carrying out the pilot schemes to offer free NHS oral health checks to all those over the age of 60.
Answer
The first phase of the Oral Health Assessment pilot was with nine salaried dentists from Forth Valley, Ayrshire and Arran, Highland, Fife, Greater Glasgow, Argyll and Clyde and Highland and took place within the Postgraduate Centre in Glasgow.
The second phase was with the same dentists plus 10 high street general dental practitioners from Greater Glasgow and took place in the dentists’ workplace.
- Asked by: Tricia Marwick, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 21 November 2005
-
Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 6 December 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive how many people aged 60 and over have had a free oral health examination in each NHS board area in 2005.
Answer
None to date. The Executive commitment in relation to free oral health examinations is contained in An Action Plan for Improving Oral Health and Modernising NHS Dental Services in Scotland and is to provide free examinations for those aged 60 or over. This is currently being piloted.
- Asked by: Tricia Marwick, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 November 2005
-
Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 1 December 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether Glasgow Housing Association (GHA) will be in breach of its registration conditions with Communities Scotland if the interim management agreements expire and no new management agreements are entered into and what action is available to Communities Scotland if GHA is in breach of the conditions.
Answer
I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:
Communities Scotland, as regulator, is actively working with Glasgow Housing Association (GHA) to establish how the recent developments on the procurement of services affect GHA’s registration conditions.
An amendment has now been introduced to the Housing Bill which was discussed in Parliament on 24 November 2005. This amendment will allow ministers to direct GHA to devolve its housing management functions to another registered social landlord. This amendment protects the substance of the interim management agreements and will ensure that ministerial objectives, tenant commitments and tenant control are delivered. It should, therefore, ensure that GHA would not breach any of its registration conditions.
If GHA does not meet the conditions attached to its registration, then the regulator has a range of actions available to address this. These include making use of statutory intervention powers, if necessary.
