Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S2W-23884

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 16 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive in whom the ownership of opencast coal is vested; what royalty is paid to its owner by those exploiting it, and how it will ensure the reinvestment of these royalties back into communities affected by opencast mining operations.

This is a reserved matter.However the freehold ownership of virtually all unworked coal is vestedthroughout the UK in the Coal Authority, a non departmental publicbody which was established upon privatisation of the British Coal Corporationin 1994. Royalties, or production related rents, payable to the Authority bythe operators licensed to extract that coal varies between sites. There is noprovision in the relevant legislation which would allow the authority tohypothecate production related rent receipts for investing in miningcommunities. However, further information can be obtained from the authority atthe following address: 200 Lichfield lane, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, NG18,4RG.

Question reference: S2W-23661

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Colin Boyd on 15 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Lord Advocate or the Solicitor General offered advice to the Cabinet or individual ministers over the Shirley McKie case and, if so, what that advice was.

Question reference: S2W-23837

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 15 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-22494 by Tavish Scott on 30 January 2006, whether this answer indicates that its sole rationale for bypassing Muirhead, Chryston and Moodiesburn is for the practical purpose that “the appropriate standards could not be achieved by an online upgrade” on the route of the A80 at these towns and whether, if it was possible to upgrade the A80 to full motorway status along the entirety of its route, this would be its preferred option, meaning that no bypass would be built at these towns.

Question reference: S2W-23842

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 15 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S2W-21717, S2W-21718 and S2W-22016 by Cathy Jamieson and Mr Tom McCabe on 19 January, 20 January and 31 January 2006 respectively, what information it has on the total cost of the accommodation and meals provided to the 7,896 English and Welsh police officers deployed in Scotland in relation to policing the G8 summit and related events; whether this cost is additional to the £21,495 million spent on mutual aid to English and Welsh forces, and who met these costs.

Question reference: S2W-23834

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 15 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-21753 by Cathy Jamieson on 2 February 2006, why it does not consider it appropriate to state an opinion on claims made by Senator Marty, given the possible implications of some of his claims for the administration of law and justice.

Question reference: S2W-23963

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 15 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average level of rent was for council housing in each local authority area in each year since 1995.

The following table shows averageweekly rents for local authority dwellings between 1996-97 and 2004-05. Data forcurrent local authority areas is only available from 1996-97 onwards.

Average Weekly Rents byLocal Authority; 1996-97 to 2005-06

Local Authority Area	1996-97	1997-98	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05
Scotland	31.11	33.6	35.4	36.43	38.05	38.88	40.43	40.96	42.64
Aberdeen City	25.83	27.75	33.10	32.89	34.77	36.48	38.55	39.90	42.67
Aberdeenshire	28.12	29.75	30.63	31.58	32.62	34.45	36.10	38.03	40.31
Angus	23.50	25.14	27.04	28.42	30.58	33.60	34.18	35.72	37.33
Argyll and Bute	34.00	35.05	36.58	36.49	37.70	39.39	41.10	42.57	44.20
Clackmannanshire	27.99	29.48	30.74	31.78	32.16	34.71	37.74	38.61	40.19
Dumfries and Galloway	35.67	36.79	32.77	34.29	35.30	40.41	39.05	na	na
Dundee City	32.60	32.62	38.03	38.65	39.52	37.14	42.16	43.42	44.72
East Ayrshire	34.99	36.42	28.96	30.43	34.24	35.48	36.89	38.24	41.91
East Dunbartonshire	24.95	26.95	32.78	34.39	36.65	38.09	39.95	42.58	44.79
East Lothian	28.54	29.76	30.25	31.80	32.73	34.19	35.53	36.79	36.70
East Renfrewshire	26.58	28.87	31.12	32.50	34.84	35.83	39.16	40.71	42.74
Edinburgh, City of	26.92	28.64	45.65	45.65	46.02	45.91	47.24	48.23	49.44
Eilean Siar	41.34	45.35	37.40	38.05	39.27	41.38	42.95	45.61	45.61
Falkirk	26.09	29.44	30.90	32.03	35.40	37.01	39.61	41.10	42.68
Fife	28.29	30.11	31.13	32.45	34.04	34.93	37.09	38.94	41.44
Glasgow City	36.94	40.23	42.63	43.96	45.71	47.33	48.60	na	na
Highland	35.97	38.37	40.19	41.11	42.46	43.11	43.98	45.82	47.54
Inverclyde	31.09	34.58	38.54	40.06	42.22	44.51	47.08	48.44	54.17
Midlothian	22.33	25.20	27.25	27.14	28.62	31.29	31.00	31.57	33.77
Moray	27.10	27.75	29.00	29.27	30.19	31.12	32.06	33.18	34.34
North Ayrshire	28.86	30.22	31.10	31.10	32.79	33.26	35.02	36.77	38.60
North Lanarkshire	29.54	31.14	33.11	35.43	37.16	38.78	39.29	40.86	42.44
Orkney Islands	32.92	33.20	32.85	34.98	34.54	36.05	37.74	38.70	40.11
Perth and Kinross	27.12	28.19	29.81	30.71	31.90	33.27	33.59	35.59	37.59
Renfrewshire	28.90	32.45	34.46	35.86	38.60	38.66	41.37	42.41	44.82
Scottish Borders	27.97	29.57	30.97	30.99	33.53	34.87	37.56	na	na
Shetland Islands	34.29	35.94	40.25	44.41	45.95	45.97	48.30	49.51	50.75
South Ayrshire	29.05	31.69	32.89	33.38	34.70	36.16	37.37	38.38	39.84
South Lanarkshire	31.59	35.47	37.24	38.50	39.40	40.18	41.15	41.15	43.57
Stirling	32.83	34.05	33.46	35.11	36.42	37.34	38.26	42.41	42.40
West Dunbartonshire	32.71	32.93	33.23	34.24	35.74	37.44	38.53	39.98	42.18
West Lothian	28.31	32.07	32.96	34.39	37.32	38.62	43.47	45.12	46.70

Source: Scottish Executive DevelopmentDepartment, HRA returns.

Note: Due to housing stock transfer,Dumfries and Galloway, Glasgow and Scottish Borders are not included for 2003-04 onwards.

Question reference: S2W-23930

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 15 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many council houses have lain vacant and available for rent in each local authority area in each year since 1995.

The following table shows numbersof vacant local authority dwellings available to let by local authority area, 1996to 2005. Data for current local authorities is only available for 1996 onwards.The figures exclude dwellings which are vacant to be demolished, refurbished orwhich are to be used as temporary accommodation for the homeless.

Vacants (Available for Let) asat 31 March by Local Authority Area; 1996 to 2005

Local Authority Areas	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Scotland	9,831	9,721	10,336	12,821	14,666	13,453	12,229	10,312	8,756	8,993
Aberdeen City	649	808	768	878	854	1,298	1,197	1,252	1,309	1,606
Aberdeenshire	18	59	53	83	100	180	213	273	224	186
Angus	33	23	67	67	170	219	279	272	194	97
Argyll and Bute	68	48	70	53	102	125	67	277	69	82
Clackmannanshire	68	57	88	84	103	94	132	204	190	186
Dumfries and Galloway	86	86	109	131	147	150	157	116	0	0
Dundee City	1,139	731	957	853	501	519	406	414	511	282
East Ayrshire	468	330	390	459	642	638	637	650	575	348
East Dunbartonshire	36	41	68	56	20	36	23	39	36	17
East Lothian	83	117	77	123	49	68	75	86	50	72
East Renfrewshire	124	79	68	121	167	243	89	75	89	121
Edinburgh	1,638	1,623	1,210	864	780	429	552	645	585	413
Eilean Siar	186	591	55	56	56	38	29	38	24	17
Falkirk	474	470	170	141	182	314	363	363	248	145
Fife	1,247	1,253	833	814	837	945	788	960	1,058	989
Glasgow City	150	152	1,255	2,960	3,684	2,073	1,743	0	0	0
Highland	421	402	119	171	266	299	356	250	104	190
Inverclyde	49	35	655	509	694	618	434	305	516	672
Midlothian	26	17	58	42	37	48	32	51	39	26
Moray	303	184	19	20	20	31	42	28	24	22
North Ayrshire	600	659	288	288	226	352	133	107	122	73
North Lanarkshire	25	9	668	646	830	606	643	639	637	608
Orkney	120	165	17	18	13	6	8	13	9	7
Perth and Kinross	451	484	99	137	201	247	278	333	245	0
Renfrewshire	146	138	505	740	1,152	1,348	924	759	333	1,321
Scottish Borders	93	40	177	255	282	358	353	0	0	0
Shetland	0	0	102	114	119	144	102	122	111	76
South Ayrshire	367	409	137	148	240	239	303	305	220	232
South Lanarkshire	148	0	574	662	845	802	815	595	426	324
Stirling	497	533	50	139	90	93	88	134	140	186
West Dunbartonshire	79	50	592	507	724	686	859	888	621	667
West Lothian	39	47	38	41	16	30	28	82	29	28
Scottish Homes	0	81	0	641	517	177	81	37	18	0

Source: Scottish Executive DevelopmentDepartment; Stock 2 return.

Question reference: S2W-23987

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 15 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what areas it has identified as having the most acute shortage of affordable housing and what plans it has to remedy this.

Our 2005 Housing Policy Statementset out the comprehensive range of actions that we are taking to improve housingsupply and affordability in the market and to increase provision of affordable housing.The policy statement built upon the findings of a wide ranging review of housingsupply and affordability in Scotland. Our review revealed a very mixed picture, with largeparts of the country having a net surplus of affordable housing (most notably inthe Greater Glasgow area), while elsewhere there was a sizeable net shortfall (mostnotably in Edinburgh and the Lothians). Even within local authority areas thereare geographical imbalances and the pattern of shortage and surplus is extremelycomplex. We are continuing to improve our evidence base and have commissioned Heriot-Watt University toupdate their affordability model for us to inform future policy. The update willbe available later this year.

In addition to a significantincrease in investment in affordable housing, the actions set out in our policystatement include planning reform, revised planning advice on affordable housing,a shared equity home ownership scheme and a commitment to address infrastructureconstraints. We continue to explore further measures that might ease affordabilitydifficulties and on 7 March I announced my intention to chair a joint planning andhousing forum involving local authorities which will seek to identify and resolveobstacles in the most pressured areas. Local authorities too have an important strategicrole to play in the delivery of affordable housing, informed by soundly-based LocalHousing Strategies.

Question reference: S2W-23992

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 15 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what level of debt each local authority has incurred in respect of the construction of council housing in each year since 1980.

Question reference: S2W-23990

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 15 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to encourage local authorities to transfer the entirety of the socially rented housing stock that they presently manage to the management of a housing association.

Decisions on the future ownershipand management of council housing are for councils themselves and their tenants.Councils are required to ensure that their houses will meet the Scottish HousingQuality Standard by 2015. Transfer is one means of accessing substantial new housinginvestment to improve the stock whilst keeping rents affordable. Councils choosingto develop a transfer proposal can apply for financial assistance for this purposethrough the Community Ownership Programme.