Chamber and committees

Civilian staff employed by the Scottish Criminal Record Office are employees of Strathclyde Joint Police Board and are subject to their terms and conditions of employment.

Government resources should never be used for party political purposes and detailed guidance on the role and conduct of Scottish Executive civil servants during the Scottish Parliament election campaign will be issued to Scottish Executive staff when the Parliament is dissolved. The guidance will be published.

No. However, detailed guidance on the role and conduct of Scottish Executive civil servants during the 2003 Scottish parliamentary elections, will be issued to Scottish Executive staff when the Parliament is dissolved. That guidance will be published.

Section 33 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 (the 1997 act) allows a planning authority to grant planning permission for development carried out, without complying with some condition attached to the original planning permission. Where a planning permission of this sort is granted, it can take effect retrospectively from the date the development was carried out. Section 64 of the 1997 act, empowers a planning authority to vary a grant of planning permission, in circumstances where they take the view that the variation sought by the grantee is not material. It is not possible for such variation to have retrospective effect i.e. the statutory provision does not enable the variation to be effective in respect of the period prior to it being made. Under section 42 of the 1997 act, a developer may seek planning permission to develop land, without complying with conditions attached to a previous planning permission. The planning authority can refuse such an application, grant it subject to new conditions replacing those attached to the previous permission, or grant it unconditionally. Any planning permission granted under this provision cannot have retrospective effect.Section 65 of the 1997 act, allows planning authorities to promote orders modifying planning permission, where they consider it expedient to so do (i.e. not in response to a request from the developer) and where the development proposal has not been completed or the proposed change of use has not taken place. Again the relevant statutory provision precludes such orders having retrospective effect.The Executive's Development Department Circular 4/1998 contains guidance on the use of conditions and the mechanisms in sections 33 and 42 of the 1997 act. It is available on the Executive's website at: www.scotland.gov.uk/planning.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-23495 today, regarding the different procedures for amending planning permissions and the circumstances in which they apply.The procedures in relation to sections 33 and 42 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 (the 1997 Act) involve planning applications, and the normal statutory requirements for public consultation, including neighbour notification, consultation with community councils and, where appropriate, advertising apply.In relation to the power in section 64 of the 1997 act, no planning application is required, and therefore none of the statutory consultation procedures which apply to planning applications would apply.Where the planning authority decides that it wants to promote an order under section 65 of the 1997 act, they must serve notice on the owner of the land affected, the lessee and the occupier of the land affected and any other person who in their opinion will be affected by the order. Those upon whom a notice has been served may request an opportunity to appear before, and be heard by, a person appointed by the Scottish ministers before the order is confirmed or confirmed subject to modifications.The Executive is currently engaged in a consultation exercise on public involvement in the planning system, including public consultation on planning applications. The consultation paper, entitled Getting Involved in Planning, is available on the Executive's website at: www.scotland.gov.uk/planning. The consultation period closes on 31 March.

No such allocations are made by the Scottish Executive. It is for local authorities and Registered Social Landlords to decide how best to deploy the resources available to them to meet housing need, including the replacement of lead piping.

As indicated in the answer given to question S1W-23228 today, there is no accurate data on the number of properties that have internal lead pipes or lead pipes connecting the property to the public water supply. Consequently, there is no reliable estimate of the cost of eliminating all lead water pipes.The report Drinking Water Quality in Scotland 1994 did suggest that the cost of replacement of all domestic lead plumbing would, at that time, be around £480 million. However, if the replacement was restricted to pipes directly supplying drinking water, the report suggests a cost of £280 million. However, the 1994 report did stress that these costs must be treated with some caution.The number of properties with copper pipes with lead solder joints is not known and no cost estimate has been made regarding their replacement.

The information requested is not held centrally.

If a customer is concerned that they may be at risk from lead in their drinking water, as a result of lead plumbing, the water authority will test their supply on request and free of charge. A similar service is available from the local authority environmental health department.

Local authorities have discretion to pay repair grants towards the cost of replacing lead plumbing in private sector houses. This also applies to business premises which share plumbing with such houses, where the premises are subject to a repair notice. The amount of grant payable is dependent on the grant applicant's resources. Grant is not normally payable in respect of a house less than 10 years old.