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-11050

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 26 October 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many houses have been (a) built and (b) renovated in each local authority area in the (i) private and (ii) social rented sector in each of the last five years.

The tables provide the availableinformation. For private sector dwellings, information is only available for improvementssupported by Housing Improvement Grant. The information on improvements to localauthority dwellings shows the number of dwellings in improvement projects fundedfrom housing revenue accounts for which tenders were accepted in each year. Informationis not held centrally on improvement/renovation of housing association dwellingsin each local authority area. The total number of dwellings rehabilitated by housingassociations from funding provided by the Scottish Executive in each of the past five yearswas as follows:

1999-2000	519
2000-01	309
2001-02	399
2002-03	442
2003-04	528

New Houses Completed by the PrivateSector.

Local Authority	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
Aberdeen City	777	795	388	451	501
Aberdeenshire	1,179	988	1,201	1,161	1,319
Angus	252	254	308	364	316
Argyll and Bute	114	98	175	169	240
Clackmannanshire	122	128	160	206	332
Dumfries and Galloway	314	300	362	305	530
Dundee City	320	445	229	397	647
East Ayrshire	248	471	400	321	221
East Dunbartonshire	141	192	77	79	143
East Lothian	285	218	451	443	296
East Renfrewshire	431	345	204	270	114
Edinburgh, City of	2,434	1,142	1,953	1,164	1,390
Eilean Siar	57	59	48	97	92
Falkirk	478	598	757	724	1,085
Fife	1,620	1,259	1,094	1,619	1,714
Glasgow City	2,209	2,207	2,115	2,146	1,592
Highland	1,228	723	416	418	Not available
Inverclyde	195	172	164	244	222
Midlothian	288	221	167	115	165
Moray	200	290	298	447	316
North Ayrshire	319	330	375	379	328
North Lanarkshire	1,868	1,658	1,145	1,356	1,261
Orkney	25	31	49	77	62
Perth and Kinross	351	435	520	779	895
Renfrewshire	495	539	400	422	472
Scottish Borders, The	214	466	484	727	684
Shetland	48	210	66	78	61
South Ayrshire	362	278	341	206	324
South Lanarkshire	1,272	1,153	1,294	1,370	2,012
Stirling	352	366	337	511	286
West Dunbartonshire	99	299	421	198	202
West Lothian	1,104	1,335	1,217	1,219	1,148

Source: NB2 Return.

New Houses Completed by the SocialRented Sector.

Local Authority	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
Aberdeen City	115	98	203	79	169
Aberdeenshire	226	116	176	199	211
Angus	119	110	67	167	43
Argyll and Bute	92	121	105	4	59
Clackmannanshire	29	59	0	72	28
Dumfries and Galloway	128	69	197	77	96
Dundee City	232	231	106	302	72
East Ayrshire	32	20	147	4	98
East Dunbartonshire	15	24	55	10	4
East Lothian	61	79	9	18	14
East Renfrewshire	84	126	41	0	30
Edinburgh, City of	568	521	545	511	156
Eilean Siar	1	11	14	22	13
Falkirk	73	14	97	68	34
Fife	410	176	186	335	194
Glasgow City	839	1,248	1,841	1,262	1,496
Highland	118	221	125	158	147
Inverclyde	93	248	119	141	101
Midlothian	64	4	52	12	31
Moray	30	30	26	33	2
North Ayrshire	105	67	76	69	83
North Lanarkshire	334	277	296	360	131
Orkney	14	29	52	44	24
Perth and Kinross	182	193	100	215	176
Renfrewshire	92	167	152	155	48
Scottish Borders, The	83	101	88	85	44
Shetland	56	14	22	14	1
South Ayrshire	68	61	64	131	74
South Lanarkshire	61	274	126	316	103
Stirling	79	83	62	106	84
West Dunbartonshire	162	92	263	182	136
West Lothian	207	105	162	20	90

Source: Communities Scotland (HAdata) and NB1 return (LA data).

Private Sector ImprovementGrants Receiving Final or Only Payment: (Dwellings)

Local Authority	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
Aberdeen City	1,437	842	1,184	646	657
Aberdeenshire	113	73	112	112	80
Angus	254	234	245	274	295
Argyll and Bute	224	290	268	248	322
Clackmannanshire	129	92	150	130	139
Dumfries and Galloway	221	265	382	384	562
Dundee City	987	509	492	482	471
East Ayrshire	126	139	159	94	218
East Dunbartonshire	89	211	168	92	133
East Lothian	99	231	169	186	179
East Renfrewshire	123	97	97	63	186
Edinburgh, City of	639	1,090	918	983	873
Eilean Siar	446	529	527	385	273
Falkirk	195	218	132	216	233
Fife	183	152	92	110	108
Glasgow City	1,206	1,310	1,453	1,271	1,233
Highland	1,182	1,067	789	810	858
Inverclyde	237	49	80	93	121
Midlothian	6	24	32	81	33
Moray	117	111	88	48	60
North Ayrshire	191	154	202	197	224
North Lanarkshire	1,015	861	867	847	900
Orkney	335	200	274	121	74
Perth and Kinross	139	157	204	180	226
Renfrewshire	349	368	211	206	339
Scottish Borders, The	250	118	83	58	48
Shetland	23	76	230	163	115
South Ayrshire	138	178	207	150	196
South Lanarkshire	1,576	1,036	2,094	2,213	2,025
Stirling	237	271	121	204	145
West Dunbartonshire	365	156	147	280	268
West Lothian	191	225	237	429	384

Source: IMP1A return

Dwellings in tenders acceptedfor the improvement and rehabilitation of local authority houses.

Local Authority	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
Aberdeen City	29,370	22,457	6,905	14,948	16,852
Aberdeenshire	4,903	4,875	9,357	3,668	3,507
Angus	1,132	1,789	1,374	1,861	2,749
Argyll and Bute	872	888	936	712	479
Clackmannanshire	1,790	790	922	420	145
Dumfries and Galloway	83	307	1,619	984	0
Dundee City	3,433	4,008	5,143	3,210	3,038
East Ayrshire	2,767	2,848	1,584	1,050	1,168
East Dunbartonshire	0	0	492	492	0
East Lothian	0	0	0	0	3,259
East Renfrewshire	339	986	442	1,217	1,294
Edinburgh, City of	6,546	5,544	3,529	3,966	3,630
Eilean Siar	263	123	141	122	113
Falkirk	0	4,238	3,781	5,715	9,947
Fife	4,069	3,532	2,302	1,976	1,688
Glasgow City	5,671	8,462	0	46	0
Highland	0	3,081	10,129	13,076	11,468
Inverclyde	1,011	1,382	1,486	455	957
Midlothian	2,207	978	8,830	1,490	1,300
Moray	2,317	2,081	2,200	1,602	1,321
North Ayrshire	2,030	1,188	1,764	1,111	1,009
North Lanarkshire	6,890	2,089	5,083	7,798	6,128
Orkney	107	136	158	80	150
Perth and Kinross	528	3,626	1,197	1,468	441
Renfrewshire	3,046	3,253	1,173	8,262	3,684
Scottish Borders, The	823	753	727	51,164	0
Shetland	134	66	218	46	0
South Ayrshire	1,322	1,797	1,746	8,423	3,293
South Lanarkshire	2,136	1,275	3,929	5,871	3,840
Stirling	993	1,027	696	638	530
West Dunbartonshire	4,994	5,303	9,439	1,253	2,219
West Lothian	1,150	1,175	1,580	1,480	1,769

Source: IMP5 return.

Question reference: S2W-11071

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 25 October 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what the original timetable and cost were for the completion of the refurbishment of Parliament House, Edinburgh.

Question reference: S2W-11052

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 20 October 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many books have been lost from the National Library of Scotland in each of the last five years, shown also as a percentage of the library’s book collection.

The National Library of Scotland’s records show that the following numbers of items could not be located in response to readers’ requests for them:

Year	Number of Items	% of Total
2000	27	0.0003
2001	62	0.0008
2002	57	0.0008
2003	32	0.0003
2004 to date	8	0.0001

There are 8 million books and 1.6 million maps in the Library’s collections; the total loss over the five years therefore represents less than 0.003%.

Question reference: S2W-11054

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 20 October 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people attempted to remove materials from the National Library of Scotland in each of the last five years.

I asked Martyn Wade, the National Librarian, to respond. His response is as follows:

51 readers have been stopped by Library security staff over the last five years with a total of 65 collection items between them. It is unclear, however, whether these were deliberate attempts to remove material from the Library or simply an oversight on their part. The breakdown is as follows:

2000 - 15 people - 17 books

2001 - 7 people - 8 books

2002 - 9 people - 10 books

2003 - 11 people - 14 books

2004 - 9 people 11 books to date.

Question reference: S2W-11053

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 20 October 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many books have been permanently damaged in the National Library of Scotland in each of the last five years, shown also as a percentage of the library’s book collection.

The National Library of Scotland considers that no book in its collections has been permanently damaged in any of the last five years. Books in the collections are of course susceptible to damage through general wear and tear as readers consult them over the years, but these books are all subject to remedial treatment by the Library’s skilled conservators.

An independent assessment of the Library’s collections by the National Preservation Office showed the following results:

· 98% of library stock were in good condition

· 1.5% of library stock were in fair condition

· 0.5% of library stock were in poor condition

· No books were found to be unusable

The number of items in the Library’s collections receiving treatment (including book-cleaning) over the last 5 years is shown in the following table:

Year	Number of books	% of total
2000-01	122,079	1.5
2001-02	190,913	2.4
2002-03	203,042	2.5
2003-04	23,156	0.3

Question reference: S2W-10185

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 August 2004
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 11 October 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-8206 by Cathy Jamieson on 25 May 2004, when it will complete its consideration of the response to the consultation and deliver its commitment to establish a Scottish human rights commission.

Question reference: S2W-10186

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 August 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 28 September 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2O-2716 by Cathy Jamieson on 17 June 2004, what the specific timescale is for introducing legislation to establish an independent police complaints body.

Question reference: S2W-10328

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 22 September 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what the life expectancy is of a teacher retiring after 40 years service.

Question reference: S2W-10326

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 22 September 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many teachers have retired through ill health in the last five years.

The information available is given in the table, held on a financial year basis. The approved cases include applications which were successful on review.

Year	Applications Received	Application Approved
1999-2000	521	400
2000-01	496	365
2001-02	461	357
2002-03	472	327
2003-04	439	286

Question reference: S2W-10329

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 22 September 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many teachers who have retired in each of the last five years worked for 40 years, gaining their full pension entitlement, expressed also as a percentage of the total number of teachers retiring each year.

The information available is given in the table and is held on a Financial Year basis.

Year	40 Years Service	% of Retirements
1999-2000	86	3.67%
2000-01	117	4.88%
2001-02	120	7.45%
2002-03	219	6.63%
2003-04	335	17.29%