Chamber and committees

Section 79 of the 1978 act gives Scottish ministers the powerto dispose of land which is no longer required for the purposes under the 1978act but the act places no further obligations on Scottish ministers regarding thedisposal of NHSScotland property and there is no power to make regulations concerningthe disposal process or for other factors to be taken into account as part of thatprocess. Consequently if it was intended that Scottish ministers powers to disposeof NHSScotland property should be curtailed in some way then an amendment to the1978 act would be needed.

There are occasions when propertycan be sold at a price other than at full open market value; this is possible whenthere is a clearly identified health-related interest (a person or organisationproviding healthcare, social care services or some other form of community carecomplimentary to the services provided by a NHSScotland Body) which, if that interestacquired the property would offer significant financial or other advantages to NHSScotland.In these circumstances NHSScotland Bodies must carry out an appraisal of the benefitswhich might justify selling the property preferentially rather than establishingits full planning potential and concluding a sale following exposure on the openmarket.

Staff houses are also sold at discountedprices as NHSScotland bodies comply with the terms of the Governments right to buylegislation although tenants of such houses do not have a statutory right to purchase.

There is no requirement on NHSScotland bodies to consider widerbenefits to the community when disposing of surplus property, although as a matterof course NHSScotland bodies adhere to the Executives requirement to notify allother Departments, NDPBs and related bodies of the availability of surplus propertyprior to its exposure on the open market in order to ensure that Scottish ministersare not put in the position of competing on the open market to acquire for one functionproperty which is being sold because it is surplus to NHSScotland. Procedures haverecently been put in place to provide advance notification in such instances toenable other departments, NDPBs and related bodies to consider not only whetherthey have an interest in the property but also that they have the financial resourcesto complete a purchase. Where a positive expression of interest is lodged thereis a process in place to enable the purchase price to be determined which givesboth parties the opportunity to present submissions to an independent expert whosedecision is binding on both parties.

Local authorities arefollowing up landlords who have not yet applied for registration and some arepreparing, where necessary, to issue rent penalty notices, preventing thelandlord collecting rent. However, in most cases, the threat of a rent penaltynotice has been sufficient to secure an application. The majority of landlordsprovide an effective service to tenants and we therefore expect that mostapplications will be approved for registration. While no applications have yetbeen rejected, authorities are currently giving due consideration toapplications where there are concerns regarding the landlord.

Note: 1. Some properties maybe included more than once where applications from joint owners are atdifferent stages.

Again as part of the Bus ActionPlan, in order to support franchising where there is marketfailure, there will be a review of the legislation on Quality Contracts tosimplify the process to be followed by transport authorities.

Source: 2006 Council Tax taxbasereturns made to Scottish Executive.

Notes:

(a) The number of second homedwellings in each local authority is outlined in the table.

(b) There were 23 localauthorities that gave a 10% discount on council tax bills for properties that weresecond homes.

(c) The estimated amount of incomegiven in column c applies a 10% discount across all local authorities for secondhomes. This is calculated by multiplying the total billed amount (including a 10%discount) by the expected payment factor, estimated by each local authority intheir Council Tax Assumptions (CTAS) return.

Recent changes to the SPFM allowfor an “internal advertising” of surplus property to the wider public sector. Thisprovides a mechanism for the transfer – at full market value – of property heldwithin the public sector.