Chamber and committees

I have asked Angiolina Foster,Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:

The main factor in determiningthe change in Private Sector Housing Grant (PSHG) to local authorities in 2006-07is the reduction in the level of resources available for this purpose. Councilswere informed that the level of resources available for PSHG in 2005-06 (and 2004-05)was exceptional resulting from underspends elsewhere.

I have asked Angiolina Foster,Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:

In 2006-07, £67.335 million hasbeen provided to local authorities through Private Sector Housing Grant. This issummarised in the following table:

Council	2006-07 (£ Million)
Aberdeen City	2.775
Aberdeenshire	1.284
Angus	1.099
Argyll and Bute	3.187
Clackmannanshire	0.576
Dumfries and Galloway	2.252
Dundee City	2.117
East Ayrshire	0.972
East Dunbartonshire	0.809
East Lothian	1.410
East Renfrewshire	0.566
Edinburgh, City of	6.893
Eilean Siar	3.365
Falkirk	0.975
Fife	1.448
Glasgow City	10.447
Highland	4.436
Inverclyde	1.223
Midlothian	0.497
Moray	1.265
North Ayrshire	1.271
North Lanarkshire	2.603
Orkney Islands	1.138
Perth and Kinross	1.800
Renfrewshire	1.685
Scottish Borders	1.253
Shetland Islands	0.845
South Ayrshire	1.182
South Lanarkshire	4.801
Stirling	1.129
West Dunbartonshire	0.790
West Lothian	1.242
Total	67.335

 

In addition to the above funding,an additional £1 million will be allocated for gypsy/traveller sites following theassessment of bids which have been received.

I have asked Angiolina Foster,Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:

In 2005-06, £79.302 million hasbeen provided to local authorities through private sector housing grant whichincluded additional resources of £19 million for that year only. This is summarisedin the following table:

Council	2005-06 (£ Million)
Aberdeen City	2.857
Aberdeenshire	1.574
Angus	1.022
Argyll and Bute	3.791
Clackmannanshire	0.560
Dumfries and Galloway	3.555
Dundee City	2.406
East Ayrshire	1.895
East Dunbartonshire	0.822
East Lothian	1.196
East Renfrewshire	0.887
Edinburgh, City of	7.806
Eilean Siar	4.180
Falkirk	0.761
Fife	1.880
Glasgow City	11.536
Highland	5.226
Inverclyde	1.277
Midlothian	0.296
Moray	1.119
North Ayrshire	1.828
North Lanarkshire	4.117
Orkney Islands	1.396
Perth and Kinross	1.917
Renfrewshire	2.149
Scottish Borders	1.893
Shetland Islands	0.956
South Ayrshire	1.135
South Lanarkshire	5.243
Stirling	1.334
West Dunbartonshire	1.426
West Lothian	1.261
Total	79.302

 

The latest year for which suchwe have such data is 2002, taken from the Scottish Executive funded Energy Studypublished earlier this year. In Scotland in 2002 the electricity generation which was in excessof customer demand (allowing for transmission and distribution losses) was 8.034TWh.This electricity was exported to England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The precise net value of this is a commercial matterfor electricity generators and suppliers. However, according to OFGEM, the averageUKwholesale price for electricity in 2002 was £15.20/MWh, on which basis the grossvalue of sales of electricity to England, Wales and Northern Ireland is estimated at £122 million.

The allowances made in the localgovernment financial settlement for the compilation and maintenance of the electoralregister for the financial years 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07 are set out in thefollowing table, along with the projected allocation for 2007-08. These are theGrant Aided Expenditure (GAE) allocations used to distribute the grant, however,local authorities have the freedom to spend the majority of the money provided throughthe settlement according to their own local needs and priorities, providing thatthey meet their statutory requirements.

ProvisionMade in the Annual Local Government Financial Settlement

Financial Year	(£ Million)
2004-05	4.256
2005-06	4.416
2006-07	4.438
2007-08	4.473

 

No. I am very concerned aboutthe apparent leaking of part of the report by Tayside Police into the Shirley McKiecase.

The report is a confidentialpolice report and relates to an investigation into allegations of criminal conductby a number of individuals. The leaking of the report is a breach of the dutiesof confidentiality owed to the Crown and may involve contravention of the Data ProtectionAct.

These legal obligations are putin place to protect individuals who are the subject of such reports, to enable theinvestigation, detection and prosecution of crime to function effectively, to enablewitnesses to give statements confidentially and to allow police officers to makereports secure in the knowledge that they will not subsequently be made public.

Where allegations of criminalconduct are made by a state against a citizen they should only be made in a courtof law or other forum where the evidence can be tested and the rights of the citizenprotected. The apparent leaking of the report has infringed the rights of individualcitizens and subjected them to trial by media.

I believe that it is a matterof grave concern that the protections which are afforded by law to the persons whowere the subject of the report have been ignored.

Local authorities are responsiblefor the operation of community service order schemes. Information onthe total cost per year of providing working clothing to those sentenced by courtsto community service orders is not held centrally.

Responsibility for decisionson the funding of individual higher education institutions lies with the fundingcouncil. The present system of current revenue funding is designed to allow thegreatest financial flexibility to funded institutions who then make their owndecisions on the allocation of funds and places.

However, we recognise that thereare concerns about how the costs of delivery are reflected in the presentsystem. Ministers have therefore asked the funding council to take forward as apriority a review of its funding methodology. The aim of the review is todevelop an approach to funding provision by colleges and universities which is relatedas closely as possible to the actual costs of delivery. The review will beundertaken in partnership with colleges and universities and we have asked the councilto ensure that the outcomes enable local provision involving more than oneinstitution.

The Executive policy remains,as set out in the document A Partnership for a better Scotland: we willnot support the development of new nuclear power stations while wastemanagement issues remain unresolved.

Environmental monitoring forradioactivity is an operational matter for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency(SEPA). The results of this monitoring are published annually in the Radioactivityin Food and the Environment reports (RIFE). Copies of the RIFE report for 2004 ison the SEPA website http://www.sepa.org.uk/pdf/publications/rife/rife10.pdf.