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: S3W-15549

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 15 August 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 10 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Clyde Fastlink project (phases 1, 2 and 3) will be considered in the strategic transport projects review.

Question reference: S3W-15550

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 15 August 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 10 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects to be in a position to publish the strategic transport projects review reports.

Question reference: S3W-15657

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 August 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 9 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will require new homes funded by Housing Association Grant to meet higher build and design standards, as referred to in the answer to question S3W-13390 by Stewart Maxwell on 4 June 2008, now that it has indicated that previous levels of grant are unsustainable.

Question reference: S3W-15648

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 August 2008
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 9 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-13282 by Nicola Sturgeon on 2 June 2008, whether evidence that registered social landlords (RSL) apply tenancy conditions strictly and take action where necessary to stop antisocial behaviour is examined as part of the inspection of performance of RSLs and what weight is given to this relative to other factors in evaluating their overall performance.

I have asked Karen Watt, Chief Executive of the Scottish Housing Regulator to respond. Her response is as follows:

The Scottish Housing Regulator assesses performance on the management of antisocial behaviour, including use of tenancy conditions and legal action, in its inspection of registered social landlords (RSLs). Together with a number of other important tenant and service use outcomes, this forms a major part of the regulator''s assessment of RSLs'' overall performance as set out in the inspection grade it awards to each inspected landlord.

Question reference: S3W-15656

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 August 2008
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 9 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people under the age of 18 in the Strathclyde Police area have had alcohol confiscated in the last three years for which figures are available, broken down by local authority area.

The available information is given in the following table, which shows all offences recorded under section 61 of the Crime and Punishment (Scotland) Act 1997.

The police have powers under section 61 of the Crime and Punishment (Scotland) Act 1997 to confiscate alcohol from under 18s in a public place and dispose of it. Under this section, the police also have powers to confiscate alcohol from persons aged 18 or over, in a public place and dispose of it if that person has supplied, or intends to supply, alcohol to under 18s. If the alcohol is surrendered to the police, it is not an offence and so is not included in the recorded crime statistics. It is, however, an offence to fail to comply, for example by failing to surrender the alcohol or by failing to give his name and address if requested. The number of these criminal offences are shown in the following table. It should be noted that this cannot be assumed to be a true representation of the number of incidents where alcohol was confiscated.

Number of Offences Recorded by Strathclyde Police under Section 61 of the Crime and Punishment (Scotland) Act 1997, by Local Authority Area, for 2004-05 to 2006-07.

Local Authority Area	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07
Argyll and Bute	1	0	0
City of Glasgow	3	0	1
East Ayrshire	1	0	0
East Dunbartonshire	0	0	0
East Renfrewshire	0	0	0
Inverclyde	0	1	0
North Ayrshire	0	0	0
North Lanarkshire	1	1	0
Renfrewshire	0	0	0
South Ayrshire	0	0	0
South Lanarkshire	1	2	1
West Dunbartonshire	0	0	0
Strathclyde	7	4	2

Question reference: S3W-15566

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 15 August 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 9 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many approvals for new affordable houses under the Affordable Housing Investment Programme were announced by the previous administration in 2007 for the year 2007-08; how many houses were constructed under this programme in 2007-08, and how many houses it expects to be constructed under this programme in 2008-09.

The number of approvals of new and refurbished affordable houses announced by the previous administration in 2007 for the year 2007-08 was 8,000 and 5,670 completions were achieved. During 2008-09 it is expected that 6,070 units will be approved and 7,000 units will be completed.

The following is the original answer (published on 9 September 2008); see below

The number of approvals of new and refurbished affordable houses announced by the previous administration in 2007 for the year 2007-08 was 8,000 and 5,482 completions were achieved. During 2008-09 it is expected that 6,070 units will be approved and 7,000 units will be completed.

Question reference: S3W-15564

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 15 August 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 9 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the figure provided for the average Housing Association Grant per unit in 2007-08 of £80,410 in the answer to question S3W-13734 by Stewart Maxwell on 19 June 2008, what its estimate is for the average Housing Association Grant per unit for (a) 2008-09 and (b) 2009-10.

Question reference: S3W-15568

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 15 August 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 9 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-14279 by Stewart Maxwell on 8 July 2008, what level of Housing Association Grant per unit is considered sustainable if the Scottish Government is to meet the challenge of homelessness and its aspiration to increase the supply of new affordable homes.

Housing Association Grant requirements vary depending on a range of circumstances including location, house size, client group and rent levels. In general terms, reducing the amount of public subsidy per unit will enable more houses to be built, and quicker and more sustainable progress made towards increasing supply and meeting the challenge of homelessness. We will consult later this year on new methods of allocating subsidies for affordable housing in the future.

Question reference: S3W-15654

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 August 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 8 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-13317 by Stewart Maxwell on 3 June 2008, whether the figures given for building affordable homes for rent and low-cost ownership, uprated for inflation and multiplied by the relevant number of homes for rent and low-cost ownership that the Scottish Government claims will be built using public funds in 2008-09, equals the amount of funding the Scottish Government is making available in the current financial year and, if not, how these figures match up.

There is no direct correlation in any given financial year between the cost of units approved and spend. Expenditure in any given year will pay for a range of costs associated with projects approved in previous years, projects approved in the current year and costs to acquire sites for development in future years. Targets for approvals and completions for 2008-09 are achievable with the funds available.

Question reference: S3W-15650

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 August 2008
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 8 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-13282 by Nicola Sturgeon on 2 June 2008, what practical steps it has taken to address the difficulties registered social landlords have due to different statutory requirements and policies in preventing or stopping antisocial behaviour through the strict application of tenancy conditions or other action, including eviction and suspension of applicants from housing allocation.