Chamber and committees

We recognise the valuable role community transport plays in providing transport services, particularly for older and disabled people who are unable to use scheduled bus services. We will carefully consider Age Scotland’s report and its recommendations.

We have no plans for changing the current arrangements under which the main funding for community transport comes through local authorities’ block funding arrangements.

Community transport organisations will be able to bid in partnership with local transport authorities for resources from the Bus Investment Fund, which we will introduce in April.

We will also provide grant funding of £45,000 to the Community Transport Association in 2013–14 towards building the capacity of the sector in Scotland.

Yes, the £20 million funding allocated to the Scottish Government’s Low Cost Initiative for First Time Buyers shared equity schemes will be available from 1 April 2013.

I have now concluded my consideration of the future of the Public Transport Users’ Committee for Scotland (PTUC) which operates under the name of Passenger Views Scotland (PVS) and the members have been informed of my decision to close the PTUC down from 1 April 2013.

The arms-length review of the PTUC featured in my considerations and was passed to the members of the body in January 2013 with the offer of a discussion with the author of the review. It is my intention to publish the review in March 2013.

I have now concluded my consideration of the future of the Public Transport Users’ Committee for Scotland (PTUC) which operates under the name of Passenger Views Scotland (PVS) and the members have been informed of my decision to close the PTUC down from 1 April 2013.

The arms-length review of PVS covered all of its functions including those undertaken by the Bus Passenger Platform.

I have now concluded my consideration of the future of the Public Transport Users’ Committee for Scotland (PTUC) which operates under the name of Passenger Views Scotland (PVS) and the members have been informed of my decision to close the PTUC down from 1 April 2013.

The report of the arms-length review of Passenger View Scotland (PVS), including recommendations made by the author of the report, will be published on the Transport Scotland website in March 2013.

I have now concluded my consideration of the future of the Public Transport Users’ Committee for Scotland (PTUC) which operates under the name of Passenger Views Scotland (PVS) and the members have been informed of my decision to close the PTUC down with effect from 1 April 2013.

All but one of the terms of appointment for the current members of Passengers’ View Scotland come to an end on 31 March 2013. The remaining member’s appointment will also come to an end due to the removal of functions from the PTUC on 1 April 2013. Thereafter no further action on appointments need be taken.

The Home Owner and Debtor Protection (Scotland) Act was introduced in September 2010. Details of the number of repossession cases initiated and disposed off in the sheriff courts by procedure are as follows:

Note: figures for initiations and disposals do not necessarily refer to the same cases.

The figure for the number of cases found in favour of the home owner is not available. In general, it can be assumed that when a case is recorded as having a disposal type of “dismissed” it has been disposed in favour of the defendant (home owner).

Details of the number of repossession cases disposed of as “dismissed” are as follows:

The £1.7 million fund to provide direct support for advice services is part of an overall funding package of £5.4 million announced on 21 January 2013 by the Scottish Government.

A range of organisations in Scotland, including those that are members of Advice UK, will be able to bid for this funding once detailed arrangements have been finalised.

It is the responsibility of local authorities to determine these matters based on their housing need and demand assessments, local housing strategies and other planning policies.