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-23891

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 15 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the prison population has been in each month in each of the last seven years.

I have asked Tony Cameron,Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is asfollows:

The information is asfollows:

Month	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05
April	6,159	6,183	5,914	6,256	6,435	6,525	6,948
May	6,061	6,058	5,894	6,250	6,599	6,394	6,909
June	6,029	6,032	6,034	6,286	6,644	6,482	6,938
July	5,972	6,045	6,003	6,298	6,567	6,588	6,837
August	5,945	5,952	5,953	6,260	6,497	6,665	6,868
September	6,052	6,012	5,853	6,200	6,487	6,666	6,838
October	6,021	6,007	5,817	6,205	6,484	6,618	6,731
November	6,029	5,999	5,730	6,174	6,484	6,623	6,679
December	5,845	5,835	5,656	5,976	6,325	6,548	6,598
January	5,859	5,659	5,644	5,920	6,237	6,547	6,483
February	6,116	5,904	5,951	6,151	6,411	6,807	6,749
March	6,241	5,996	6,136	6,239	6,514	6,973	6,774

Note:Average Prison Population.

Question reference: S2W-23985

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 support it gives to any house-building firm that wishes to construct new homes for private sale.

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-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.

Question reference: S2W-23991

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 its rationale is for encouraging local authorities such as the City of Glasgow and Scottish Borders to transfer the socially rented housing stock they manage to the management of a housing association.

Under the 1998-99 and 1999-2002New Housing Partnerships Initiatives, funding was made available to councils toassess the condition of their housing stock and the cost of bringing it up to modernday standards and maintaining it in good condition over the longer term. As a resulta number of councils, including the City of Glasgow and the Scottish Borders,concluded that they could not deliver the investment required and keep rents affordableand that transfer to community ownership offered the best way forward.

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-23966

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 support it gives to any housing association wishing to construct new homes for social rent which the association will directly manage.

Question reference: S2W-23875

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 15 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to assist in the delivery of a new railway station in Ravenscraig, identified as being desirable in Glasgow and the Clyde Valley Joint Structure Plan 2000.

Question reference: S2W-23881

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 15 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Forth and Tay road bridges are classified as either motorway or trunk roads or local roads or whether they form a different category of road.

Question reference: S2W-23876

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 15 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the ministerial statement by the Minister for Transport and Telecommunications on 1 March 2006 (Official Report c. 23596), in what ways extra revenue raised by bridge tolls is being invested in local transport improvements.

Toll revenues at the Tay Road Bridge coveressential maintenance and operational costs, and cover debt servicing costs. Thereis no additional revenue for other transport improvements.

At the Forth Road Bridge,decisions on projects that the Forth Estuary Transport Authority (FETA) mightfund are a matter for FETA. The authority has, or is already contributing to anumber of projects, including the upgrading of the A8000; extension of theFerry Toll Park and Ride facility on the north side of the bridge; a feasibilitystudy into a cross Forth commuter ferry service, and construction of a new linkroad to Rosyth ferry port.