Chamber and committees

I referthe member to the answer to question S2W-28229on 21 September 2006. All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facilityfor which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Transport Scotland hasthe operational responsibility for this area, and can be contacted for more informationif required.

Recipients ofincome support or income-based job-seeker’s allowance qualify automatically forfree advice and assistance only on income grounds. A capital test also howeverapplies. If the applicant has more than the prescribed limit for disposablecapital (currently £1,450), they will be ineligible for advice and assistancewhether in receipt of income support or job-seeker’s allowance or otherwise.

The position withpension credit is different. An applicant in receipt of pension credit does notqualify automatically for free advice and assistance on income grounds; howeverany pension credit income they receive is disregarded in the assessment ofdisposable income. As with income support and job-seeker’s allowance, a capitaltest also still applies.

For those with noother source of income, or for whom all other income comes from benefits, theeffect of disregarding pension credit will be the same as for those receiving incomesupport and job-seeker’s allowance as their assessed disposable income will benil.

Our longer term aim is toreach a situation where all benefits are disregarded for both advice andassistance and civil legal aid. We will work towards this aim as resourcesallow.

Schedule 2 of theCivil Legal Aid (Scotland) Regulations 2002 allows the ScottishLegal Aid Board to disregard the income gained as a result of a number ofbenefits when determining disposable income as part of the eligibility criteriafor civil legal aid.

Neither carer’s allowancenor pension credit is included in this schedule and so income as a result ofthese benefits will be included in the assessment of an applicant's disposableincome.

Scottish Executive guidanceon antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs) published in October 2004 makes clearthat there are a wide range of interventions available to support young peopleand address troublesome behaviour before an application for an ASBO isconsidered. This guidance also states, however, that “there must be flexibilityto allow for use of an ASBO before the full range of options has been exhaustedwhere there is a pressing need to protect the community”.

The full guidance isavailable on our dedicated antisocial behaviour website:

http://www.antisocialbehaviourscotland.com/asb/files/Guidance%20on%20Antisocial%20Behaviour%20Orders.pdf.

The mature students’ bursarywas discontinued for all new students from academic year 1995-96 onwards. Inorder to receive this bursary students had to satisfy eligibility in 1994-95and be in continuing education subsequently.

No students from Dumfries and Galloway receiveda mature students’ bursary from academic year 2001-02 onwards.

The following tablehighlights the number of young students’ bursary (YSB) recipients who weredomiciled in the Dumfries and Galloway council area since academic year 2001-02:

Academic Year	All Students Receiving Young Students’ Bursary (YSB)	Number of YSB Recipients from Dumfries and Galloway Council Area
2001-02	13,235	345
2002-03	21,870	600
2003-04	27,855	790
2004-05	31,500	825
2005-06	35,105	910

Source: Student AwardsAgency for Scotland (SAAS), Scottish Executive.

The Executive has invested£16.5 million (including support from the European Regional Development Fund)implementing a Scotland-wide project which has delivered broadband access forevery Scottish community. A separate figurefor broadband investment under this project in Dumfries and Galloway isnot available but investment in the South of Scotland amounts to at least £2.5million.

In addition, the Executiveis investing up to £27 million in the South of Scotland to provide broadbandconnectivity to public sector sites as part of the Pathfinder project.

607 young people received EducationMaintenance Allowances in Dumfries and Galloway in 2004-05 – 157 at college and 450 at school.Statistics for 2005-06 will be published in November.

Information on the percentageof crimes cleared up by the Scottish police forces is given in table 5 of the statisticalbulletin Recorded Crime in Scotland 2005-06, copies of which are availablein the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 40365).

I have asked Angiolina Foster,Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:

Funding made available throughCommunities Scotland and its predecessor body, Scottish Homes, to provide affordablehousing in Dumfries and Galloway since 1999 is as follows:

Year	£ Million
1999-2000	2.986
2000-01	4.874
2001-02	4.349
2002-03	4.276
2003-04	5.718
2004-05	8.379
2005-06	10.447
2006-07	11.267
Total	41.029

 

The 2006-07 figure is an estimate.All other figures reflect actual out-turn.