- Asked by: Mr Keith Harding, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 20 February 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 5 March 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what financial support it will give to the Association of Scottish Community Councils in each of the next three financial years.
Answer
A request for further grant funding has been received from the ASCC and is being considered.
- Asked by: Mr Keith Harding, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 4 March 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-33579 by Ms Margaret Curran on 6 February 2003, how many empty local authority houses have been brought back into use under the Empty Homes Initiative.
Answer
In total the Empty Homes Initiative (EHI) has so far brought back into use 1,318 empty properties for use by those in housing need. Local authorities took the lead in developing EHI projects often in partnership with Registered Social Landlords. No separate breakdown is available for the number of local authority houses that have been brought back into use.
- Asked by: Mr Keith Harding, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 February 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Iain Gray on 4 March 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what the costs were of printing, publishing and distributing Nurturing Wealth Creation: A Report by the Scottish Manufacturing Steering Group.
Answer
The costs of printing, publishing, including conversion for web publication, and distributing Nurturing Wealth Creation: A Report by the Scottish Manufacturing Steering Group amounted to £4,843.86.
- Asked by: Mr Keith Harding, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Des McNulty on 26 February 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what the costs were of printing, publishing and distributing The Scottish Executive's Central Heating Programme and the Warm Deal: Annual Report 2001/02.
Answer
The total cost was £5,500.
- Asked by: Mr Keith Harding, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Des McNulty on 20 February 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to update its policy on planning agreements between developers and local authorities made under section 50 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1972 and set out in Scottish Office Development Department Circular 12/1996.
Answer
The Executive has no specific plans at present to amend the policy on planning agreements as set out in the Scottish Office Development Department Circular 12/1996.As a result of the consolidation of planning legislation, the provisions on planning agreements are now covered by section 75 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997.
- Asked by: Mr Keith Harding, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 13 February 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Iain Gray on 20 February 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what the costs were of printing, publishing and distributing Scottish Welfare to Work Task Force Annual Report: Achievements 2002.
Answer
The cost of publishing and printing the Scottish Welfare to Work Task Force Annual Report: Achievements 2002 was £4,400, and was met in full by Jobcentre Plus. The Scottish Executive distributed the majority of the reports through its internal courier system. External posting costs amounted to approximately £150.
- Asked by: Mr Keith Harding, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 February 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Des McNulty on 17 February 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to ensure that all local authorities meet the national target of dealing with 80% of all planning applications within two months.
Answer
Ministers attach considerable importance to the performance of planning authorities in processing planning applications and are keen to see performance match the Executive's targets in this regard. To that end, the Executive carries out a rolling programme of planning audits of the development control and development planning procedures of planning authorities. The audits aim to identify strengths and weaknesses in the procedures of each planning authority, promote good practice and help authorities improve upon their levels of performance. An annual audit report is published containing statistics on performance with a short commentary, and is available on the internet (
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/about/Planning/audit.aspx).
- Asked by: Mr Keith Harding, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 6 February 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to assist local authorities to bring empty local authority housing stock back into use.
Answer
The Empty Homes Initiative (EHI) provided funding of almost £24 million to help local authorities establish appropriate strategies and best practice, as well as bringing empty homes back into use. An evaluation report and research into case studies confirmed that the EHI made a positive contribution to addressing the problem of empty houses.Local authorities will now determine through their Local Housing Strategies the extent of the problem in their area and develop strategies for tackling the issue.
- Asked by: Mr Keith Harding, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 January 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 31 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it plans to take to ensure that local authorities improve their collection of recoverable overpayments of housing benefit.
Answer
Housing Benefit (HB), including overpayment, is a reserved matter under the responsibility of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).In April 2002, the DWP published a comprehensive set of performance standards for the administration of HB, including standards relating to the recovery of HB overpayments. In addition, the DWP provides a dedicated advice line for local authorities on HB overpayment matters and plans to issue a new overpayment guidance manual to HB staff towards the end of the year.
- Asked by: Mr Keith Harding, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 January 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 30 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what the costs were of printing, publishing and distributing Government Expenditure and Revenue in Scotland: 2000-2001.
Answer
The total costs of printing, publishing and distributing the Government Expenditure and Revenue in Scotland: 2000-2001 report are estimated at £5,600.
