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: S4W-20211

Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 March 2014
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Burgess on 31 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether the announced £2.5 million in funding to four charities to tackle child poverty is as a result of an underspend in other areas and, if so, which areas and whether any such underspend will continue into (a) 2014-15 and (b) 2015-16.

Question reference: S4W-20207

Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 March 2014
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 26 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether there are plans to close any (a) police custody centres or (b) courts during the Commonwealth Games to allow officers to be deployed on operational activities.

The Scottish Government is not aware of any plans to close police custody centres or courts during the Commonwealth Games. However, the Sheriffs Principal and the Scottish Courts Service have agreed that for the duration of the Games there shall be no Sheriff and Jury or Sheriff Court trials, except those requiring no police witnesses, to free up officers at this time.

Any decision to close police custody centres or courts would be an operational matter for the Police Service of Scotland or the Scottish Courts Service respectively.

Question reference: S4O-03060

Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 March 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government when its policy on childcare in an independent Scotland will be completed.

Question reference: S4W-19908

Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 11 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met representatives of the Ugandan High Commission (UHC) and what issues were discussed and when it will next meet representatives of the UHC and what issues it will discuss.

Scottish Government Ministers have not previously met representatives of the Ugandan High Commission. Scottish Government officials attended a Commonwealth Games diplomatic briefing in Glasgow on 5 and 6 March and met with representatives of over 30 nations and territories, including a representative of the Ugandan High Commission. No meetings between Scottish Ministers and representatives of the Uganda High Commission are currently planned. On 26 February 2014, the Minister for External Affairs and International Development wrote to the UK Foreign Secretary, William Hague asking him to make representations to the Government of Uganda highlighting Scottish Government concerns over LGBT issues.

Question reference: S4W-19705

Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Burgess on 10 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications have been made to the Empty Homes Loan Fund and how many have been successful; how many homes have been brought back into use as a result, and how many are now occupied.

A total of 20 applications were made to the Empty Homes Loan Fund; of these 17 projects were approved for funding. The majority of successful applicants are councils who will use these funds to on-lend money to individual owners to bring their properties back into use.

The fund is still in its first year of operation and accordingly we do not have information on the number of homes brought back into use at this stage.

Question reference: S4W-19695

Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Burgess on 10 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many new homes local authorities have completed since May 2011; how many are being built, and how many are planned to be completed by the end of the current parliamentary session.

Official statistics in respect of the Affordable Housing Supply Programme are published by quarter and financial year. A total of 2,999 homes have been completed by local authorities since 1 April 2011 to the end of December 2013. A further 1,239 local authority homes had started on site but had not yet completed by 31 December 2013. At least 5,000 homes are expected to be completed by the end of the current parliamentary session.

Question reference: S4W-19698

Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Burgess on 10 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how it has allocated the Affordable Housing Supply Programme funding, broken down by (a) scheme and (b) amount.

The three-year Affordable Housing Supply Programme for 2012-13 to 2014-15 is as summarised in the following table:

Affordable Housing Supply Programme: 2012-13 to 2014-15	(£million)
Strategic local programmes – 32 local authorities and Glasgow Housing Association	743.250
Low-cost Initiative for First-Time Buyers	112.095
Home Owners’ Support Fund	30.000
Other affordable housing projects	87.447
Total	972.792

The three-year planned budget of £87.447 million for other affordable housing projects is managed centrally and includes funding for increased subsidies for homes that are built to a greener standard and other affordable housing projects, including those that promote innovation.

A table showing a further breakdown of the strategic local programmes by local authority, together with the planned programme for 2015-16, can be found at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Built-Environment/Housing/investment/ahsp/AHSPBudgetallocation

Question reference: S4W-19697

Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Burgess on 10 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many homes have been redeveloped as a result of the Town Centre Housing Fund.

Question reference: S4W-19700

Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Burgess on 10 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications there have been for the (a) New Shared Equity Scheme, (b) New Shared Equity Scheme with Developers and (c) Open Market Shared Equity Scheme and how many have been successful, in each year since 2011.

Information on the number of application forms received for the New Supply Shared Equity Scheme and New Supply Shared Equity Scheme with Developers schemes is not held centrally. These schemes are administered directly by registered social landlords who have built the properties or are acting as agents for the private developers.

The number of application forms received for the Open Market Shared Equity Scheme and the number of applications eligible to participate in the scheme are provided in the following table.

Year	Number of Application Forms Received	Number of Application Forms Eligible to Participate in the scheme
2011-12	404	270
2012-13	921	767
*2013-14	1542	1436

The number of completions for a) New Supply Shared Equity Scheme; b) New Supply Shared Equity with Developers Scheme, and c) Open Market Shared Equity Scheme are provided in the following table.

Year	*NSSE	New Supply Share Equity with Developers	OMSE
2011-12	446	120	186
2012-13	302	73	533
*2013-14	201	5	706

* These figures are for the period from 1April 2013 to 31 December 2013.

Question reference: S4W-19696

Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Burgess on 10 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many towns submitted bids for the Town Centre Housing Fund; how much each submitted, and how many homes will be affected.