Chamber and committees

There is no straightforward definition of a sustainable community. Scottish Planning Policy 1 – The Planning System (SPP 1) states that planning should encourage sustainable development by:

· promoting regeneration and the full and appropriate use of land, buildings and infrastructure;

· promoting the use of previously developed land and minimising greenfield development;

· conserving important historic and cultural assets;

· protecting and enhancing areas for recreation and natural heritage;

· supporting better access by foot, cycle and public transport, as well as by car;

· encouraging energy efficiency through the layout and design of development;

· considering the lifecycle of development from the outset, and

· encouraging prudent use of natural resources.

The Scottish Sustainable Communities Initiative is being taken forward currently and a framework document inviting local authorities and their partners to submit proposals for new sustainable communities will be published in the next few weeks.

The NHS LIFT initiative operates in England only.

The Scottish Government announced on 20 May 2008 that the hub initiative would be implemented as part of the development of the Scottish Futures Trust. The hub initiative is a more flexible approach to the development and financing of community based premises. Procurement is expected to commence in December 2008.

The consultative draft Scottish Planning Policy 3 for Housing (SPP3), published in January 2007, and available at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/01/07141036/0 defines affordable housing as “housing of a reasonable quality that is affordable to people on modest incomes” and details the different categories of affordable housing. These categories are broadly defined as social rented, subsidised low cost housing for sale (discounted, shared ownership and shared equity), low cost housing without subsidy (entry level housing for sale) and private rented accommodation available at lower costs than market rents (mid market rent).

Affordability is a relative rather than absolute measure and in developing housing policies to increase the supply of affordable housing and the supply and affordability of housing more generally, the Scottish Government takes into account a range of factors including other household costs and low earnings levels.

There are currently no plans to expand the road equivalent tariff (RET) pilot to include more island communities. However, the pilot will be monitored continuously and the coverage of the pilot routes kept under review.

The Scottish Government has received a number of representations from residents on islands such as Colonsay about their exclusion from the road equivalent tariff (RET) pilot. In responding to these representations we have made clear that -

We sympathise with their concerns about the cost of ferry travel and that is why we are carrying out a study into RET that includes a pilot exercise.

There is no previous experience of RET in the UK and work was required on how the concept would translate into actual fares charged. The initial desk-based study has been comprehensive and very informative but only a real world pilot will tell us how island residents, tourists, businesses and local economies will react to a significant reduction in fares. It is also important to assess the impact on areas not being funded through the RET mechanism.

While we appreciate that island communities such as Colonsay are disappointed at not being included in the pilot the very nature of pilots mean that they are selective and it is not possible to include all the routes at this time.

The pilot will inform the possible future roll out of the scheme across the rest of the Clyde and Hebrides and Northern Isles networks. It is vitally important that we fully assess all the impacts before decisions are made on any future roll out.

No research is being carried out at present.

Where beekeepers have suffered larger than normal post winter losses, in the vast majority of cases the loss was due to poor husbandry or varroa management or other bee diseases or pathogens.

In the small number of cases where the loss could not be explained beekeepers have been invited to send samples to SASA (Scottish Agricultural Science Agency) for diagnostic analysis.

The available information is given in the following tables. Information on the number of charges is not held centrally. The following tables show the number of such crimes recorded by the police and the number of persons proceeded against in Scottish courts. Retailers cannot be identified separately from other types of licence holders from the data held centrally. The statistics dealing with recorded crime and court proceedings are not directly comparable as a person may be proceeded against for more than one crime involving more than one victim and there is the possibility that the crime recorded by the police may be altered in the course of judicial proceedings. Also a crime may be recorded by the police in one year and court proceedings concluded in a subsequent year.

Number of Offences Recorded by the Police for Persons Aged Under 18 Buying Alcohol or Consuming in a Bar, by Police Force Area, 2002-03 to 2006-07

Police Force Area	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07
Central	2	-	-	3	4
Dumfries and Galloway	2	-	1	-	2
Fife	2	5	-	2	1
Grampian	7	4	8	11	24
Lothian and Borders	3	4	6	9	20
Northern	4	7	8	8	8
Strathclyde	33	44	65	60	66
Tayside	11	5	14	13	6
Scotland	64	69	102	106	131

 

Number of Offences Recorded by the Police for Persons Aged Under 18 Buying Alcohol or Consuming in a Bar, by Local Authority, 2002-03 to 2006-07

Local Authority	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07
Aberdeen City	1	1	3	8	7
Aberdeenshire	4	3	2	-	13
Angus	4	3	3	6	3
Argyll and Bute	5	5	2	10	1
City of Edinburgh	3	1	-	3	4
City of Glasgow	3	8	15	19	16
Clackmannanshire	-	-	-	-	-
Dumfries and Galloway	2	-	1	-	2
Dundee City	4	1	2	2	1
East Ayrshire	7	2	3	2	3
East Dunbartonshire	6	3	1	1	1
East Lothian	-	-	-	2	6
East Renfrewshire	-	-	1	1	5
Eilean Siar (W.Isles)	-	-	-	-	2
Falkirk	2	-	-	-	1
Fife	2	5	-	2	1
Highland	4	5	7	8	5
Inverclyde	1	-	2	-	2
Midlothian	-	2	-	1	5
Moray	2	-	3	3	4
North Ayrshire	1	2	8	6	1
North Lanarkshire	-	-	5	13	12
Orkney Islands	-	2	-	-	-
Perth and Kinross	3	1	9	5	2
Renfrewshire	1	1	3	3	10
Scottish Borders	-	-	5	3	3
Shetland Islands	-	-	1	-	1
South Ayrshire	8	7	4	2	2
South Lanarkshire	1	13	20	3	12
Stirling	-	-	-	3	3
West Dunbartonshire	-	3	1	-	1
West Lothian	-	1	1	-	2
Scotland	64	69	102	106	131

 

Persons Aged Under 18 Proceeded Against in Scottish Courts for Buying Alcohol or Consuming in a Bar¹, by Police Force Area, 2001-02 to 2005-06

Police force area	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Central	-	-	-	-	-
Dumfries and Galloway	-	-	-	-	-
Fife	-	-	-	-	-
Grampian	-	-	-	-	-
Lothian and Borders	-	1	-	1	3
Northern	-	-	-	-	-
Strathclyde	2	5	1	1	3
Tayside	1	-	2	-	1
Scotland	3	6	3	2	7

Note: 1. Where Main Offence and where a person aged under 18 was proceeded against under the Licensing (Scotland) Act 1976 section 68(2).

Persons Under Aged 18 Proceeded Against in Scottish Courts for Buying Alcohol or Consuming in a Bar¹, by Approximate Local Authority Area², 2001-02 to 2005-06

Local Authority Area	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Aberdeen City	-	-	-	-	-
Aberdeenshire	-	-	-	-	-
Angus	1	-	1	-	1
Argyll and Bute	2	-	-	-	1
Clackmannanshire	-	-	-	-	-
Dumfries and Galloway	-	-	-	-	-
Dundee City	-	-	-	-	-
East Ayrshire	-	1	-	-	-
East Dunbartonshire	-	1	-	-	-
East Lothian	-	-	-	-	-
East Renfrewshire	-	-	-	-	-
Edinburgh, City of	-	-	-	-	-
Eilean Siar	-	-	-	-	-
Falkirk	-	-	-	-	-
Fife	-	-	-	-	-
Glasgow City	-	-	-	1	-
Highland	-	-	-	-	-
Inverclyde	-	-	-	-	-
Midlothian	-	1	-	-	-
Moray	-	-	-	-	-
North Ayrshire	-	-	-	-	1
North Lanarkshire	-	-	-	-	-
Orkney Islands	-	-	-	-	-
Perth and Kinross	-	-	1	-	-
Renfrewshire	-	-	-	-	-
Scottish Borders	-	-	-	1	3
Shetland Islands	-	-	-	-	-
South Ayrshire	-	3	1	-	1
South Lanarkshire	-	-	-	-	-
Stirling	-	-	-	-	-
West Dunbartonshire	-	-	-	-	-
West Lothian	-	-	-	-	-
Scotland	3	6	3	2	7

Notes:

1. Where Main Offence and where a person aged under 18 was proceeded against under the Licensing (Scotland) Act 1976 section 68(2).

2. Incorporates an approximate mapping of sheriff courts into local authority areas. Some sheriff courts will deal with cases from more than one local authority area. Some local authority areas, including East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Midlothian and North Ayrshire, do not contain a sheriff court.

It is not currently possible to separately identify empty houses. However, according to 2006 council tax data, 101,445 properties in Scotland were classed as vacant dwellings or second homes. This figure includes all vacant dwellings in the social rented and private housing sectors, including properties classed as second homes, those holiday homes that are available to let for less than 140 days per year and a small number of dwellings occupied entirely by adults who are disregarded for the purpose of paying council tax, such as adults who are severely mentally impaired.

The General Register Office for Scotland is currently refining the breakdown of this data so that the 2007 figures will separately identify holiday lets and second homes. This data will be published on the Scottish neighbourhood statistics website at http://www.sns.gov.uk in May 2008.

There can be a variety of reasons why a property may be empty, including whether the property is used as a second home, whether the property is derelict, awaiting demolition, awaiting conversion or improvement or whether the property is for sale or rent.

In Firm Foundations, the Scottish Government announced that, as part of a wider review of the private rented sector in Scotland, we would explore opportunities to promote greater use of schemes which offer incentives to bring empty properties in disrepair back into use. The Scottish Government is currently taking forward research to explore existing good practice and make recommendations on cost-effective initiatives which could be used to bring empty properties back into use.

In addition, the rural empty properties grant (REPG) scheme makes grants available to landlords to contribute to the costs of renovating rural properties on condition that the property is rented out at affordable rents to people from the local area. The Scottish Government also plans to examine the effectiveness of the REPG scheme and look at whether there may be scope in future to streamline grant appraisal procedures.

In the social sector, local authorities and housing associations have the responsibility for minimising the proportion of their stock that is vacant at any one time. In the case of local authorities, there is a framework of statutory performance indicators covering voids and time taken to re-let houses when they become empty. Housing associations are also obliged to report on the level of voids in their stock on an annual basis and this performance is monitored by the Scottish housing regulator.

I met with Commissioner Borg in mid-March and discussed fuel issues with him. I am clear that there must be a level playing field across Europe “ a point I made in our meeting and will continue to make in Brussels.

The Commissioner said that he was aware of the Spanish and French aid schemes. His Services have looked at the information which is in the public domain and it would seem that the Spanish scheme falls under the de minimis provisions. In such cases, there is no obligation on the member state to notify the Commission. His Services are still assessing the aid notified by France.

I refer the member to answer to question S3W-11482 on 10 April 2008, I have commissioned a report on the trends in fuel prices and the implications this has for our fleets “ material which I will share with the industry as I review the potential options available to mitigate the increased cost. Once we have a better understanding of these potential options, I have agreed with Commissioner Borg that our officials will meet to evaluate them against state aid rules. I have already committed, for instance, that provided it is compatible with state aid rules, the Scottish Government will extend our payment of the installation warranty cover of tamper resistant vessel monitoring systems for a further three years.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

In our discussion document Firm Foundations: The future of Housing in Scotland, the Scottish Government sets out our vision to reform the housing system in Scotland to deliver more housing at a better value for public money.

This includes a commitment to promoting greater use of schemes which offer incentives to bring empty properties in disrepair back into use. This includes examining the effectiveness of the Rural Empty Properties Grant Scheme in helping meet wider housing need and whether there is scope to streamline grant appraisal procedures.

Our aim is to set out the broad direction of our policies by the end of June, with a series of announcements on the detail of particular policies being made thereafter.