- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 June 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Alex Neil on 11 June 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the proposed Scheme of Assistance, in place of home improvement grants, will provide direct financial assistance to homeowners.
Answer
In terms of section 72 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006, each local authority must decide and publish its criteria for assisting home owners, and in some cases tenants, with the repair, maintenance and improvement of houses and with adaptations to houses to suit the needs of disabled occupants. The powers that support this ˜scheme of assistance'' approach came into force in April 2009 and will run in parallel with the previous system of improvement and repair grants until 31 March 2010 when the latter will be repealed.
Under the new regime, local authorities will be able to provide a wider range of assistance from information, advice, and practical assistance to loans and grants. For adaptations, grant is mandatory in most cases where there is a priority need linked to a disability. For other works, statutory guidance makes it clear that grant is still an option although we encourage local authorities to design their criteria so that, in general, other forms of assistance are provided unless grant is needed in order to ensure that priority works are carried out. Where a local authority issues a work notice to enforce necessary works, the authority will be obliged to offer assistance, but it retains discretion over the exact form of help offered.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 May 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 11 June 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what the basis is of the calculation underpinning the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth’s comments to the Finance Committee on 19 May 2009 that the total managed expenditure is likely to fall by about 0.1% in real terms from 2011-12 to 2013-14 (Official Report c. 1304).
Answer
The forecasts for future growth in UK Total Managed Expenditure (TME) made at the Finance Committee on the 19 May were derived from the projections contained in the UK Budget 2009.
TME consists of current expenditure and gross investment. The UK Budget 2009 contained projections for current expenditure and gross investment from 2009-10 to 2013-14 (Table C4, UK Budget 2009). Using these projections and the GDP deflators (which are estimates for the years from 2009-10) provided in the Budget document (Table C1, UK Budget 2009), it is possible to estimate the expected change in TME for this period. On this basis it is estimated that TME at the UK level will decline by 0.1% a year in real terms on average between 2011-12 and 2013-14.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 28 May 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 10 June 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the cost for the procurement of rolling stock for the Airdrie to Bathgate line remains the same as in the original projections and, if not, what the revised cost is.
Answer
The procurement of rolling stock is being managed and funded by First ScotRail through the terms of the recent Franchise Extension. The anticipated additional cost of train provision on Airdrie to Bathgate is consistent with business case assumptions, but the amount is commercially confidential.
An additional 38 electric trains are being procured for Scotland. The new trains will operate primarily on Ayrshire and Inverclyde but will provide an overall increase in the electric rolling stock fleet that will enable the delivery of planned new services on Airdrie to Bathgate rail link through the redeployment of existing trains.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 28 May 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 10 June 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what the capacity is of the existing Helensburgh to Airdrie line in terms of (a) seating and (b) number of coaches.
Answer
The trains used on the Helensburgh to Airdrie line are part of a larger fleet which works the North Clyde network. Therefore carriage and seat numbers are not available specifically for the Helensburgh to Airdrie Line. The number of carriages in the North Clyde fleet is 99 and these are equipped with 5,772 seats. The trains used on this service are either in three or six carriage formation. Seating varies between train types, and the number of seats per three carriage train varies between 183 and 219.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 28 May 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 10 June 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what the capacity is of the trains planned for the Airdrie to Bathgate line in terms of (a) seating and (b) number of coaches.
Answer
It is currently proposed to utilise the class 334 Juniper type electrical multiple unit for services east of Airdrie to Edinburgh Waverley via Bathgate, the seating and number of coaches are as follows:
(a) 183 standard class seats.
(b) Three coach units.
It should be noted that a number of peak services will operate as 2x3 coach units.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 28 May 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 10 June 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the comments of the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change on 23 April 2009 (Official Report c. 16704) that “the figure of 3 per cent growth in the rail network grossly understates the growth that we have seen in recent years, so we must be conscious of that”, what planning assumptions have been made about patronage of the Airdrie to Bathgate line.
Answer
Transport Scotland has taken account of the growth predictions outlined in the business case for the Airdrie to Bathgate project, as well as Network Rail''s Route Utilisation Strategy in the planning of rolling stock procurement.
The updated business case which was revised in December 2008 indicates that during the busiest time of day between 7 am and 7 pm additional passenger boardings are anticipated to be 13,878.
Transport Scotland remains committed to ensuring that sufficient supplies of trains are provided to meet projected passenger demand on the Scottish Rail network and continues to work with the franchisee on meeting demand.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 28 May 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 10 June 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what type of rolling stock will be deployed on the Airdrie to Bathgate line.
Answer
It is currently proposed to utilise the class 334 Juniper type electrical multiple unit for all services east of Airdrie to Edinburgh Waverley via Bathgate. This is subject to discussion and agreement with the current franchise operator, First ScotRail.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 28 May 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 10 June 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive whether class 334 Juniper trains will be deployed on the Airdrie to Bathgate line.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-24353 on 10 June 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 May 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 9 June 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what the basis is of the calculation underpinning the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth’s comments to the Finance Committee on 19 May 2009 that net debt interest will rise by 8.4%, social security and tax credits by 1.7% and other annual managed expenditure by 1.9% during the period 2011-12 to 2013-14 (Official Report c. 1304).
Answer
The projections for future growth in Annually Managed Expenditure (AME) provided at the Finance Committee were taken from the following sources:
The UK Budget 2009 forecasts that debt interest payments will grow by 8.4% a year in real terms between 2011-12 and 2013-14.
Forecasts published by the Department of Work and Pensions in May 2008 as part of their long-term expenditure projections imply that spending on benefits and tax credits are expected to increase by at least 1.7% a year in real terms over this period.
Other elements of AME, such as contributions to the European Commission, are also expected to increase in future years. At the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review these other elements of AME were forecast to grow by 1.9% a year during 2009-10 and 2010-11. They are assumed to grow at a similar rate between 2011-12 and 2013-14.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 May 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 4 June 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive how and when the accelerated capital investment has been spent.
Answer
The accelerated capital for 2008-09 has been allocated as follows:
| 2008-09 Capital Acceleration | Amount £m |
| Major roads schemes including A96 Fochabers bypass and A75 improvements | 3.0 |
| Smaller roads schemes including the improvements to A9 junctions | 1.5 |
| Rail Related Schemes | 1.0 |
| Further Acceleration-roads | 20.2 |
| Enterprise - Scottish Enterprise will spend £5m of advanced capital expenditure during this financial year on the expansion to the SECC | 5.0 |
| Finance and Sustainable Growth total | 30.7 |
| Local Government Total - Schools | 10.0 |
| Health and Wellbeing Total “ Housing Accelerated Housing Investment Programme | 5.0 |
| Further Education-To be used to create improved campuses for colleges and universities across Scotland | 2.5 |
| Higher Education To be used to create improved campuses for colleges and universities across Scotland | 5.0 |
| ELL Total | 7.5 |
| Overall Total | 53.2 |
The accelerated capital for 2009-10 has been allocated as follows:
| 2009-10 Capital Acceleration* | Amount £m |
| Major roads schemes including A96 Fochabers bypass and A75 improvements | 17.0 |
| Smaller roads schemes including the improvements to A9 junctions | 6.9 |
| Strategic Park and Ride | 5.0 |
| Enterprise Agencies | 30.0 |
| Further capital acceleration | 7.0 |
| Finance and Sustainable Growth Total | 65.9 |
| Housing: Affordable Housing Investment Programme | 10.0 |
| NHS | 50.0 |
| Town Centre Regeneration Fund | 60.0 |
| Health and Wellbeing Total | 120.0 |
| Higher and Further Education | 13.0 |
| Education and Lifelong Learning Total | 13.0 |
| Fisheries and rural development | 5.6 |
| Environment and Rural Affairs Total | 5.6 |
| Local Authorities including Schools Estate | 90.0 |
| Local Government Total | 90.0 |
| Overall Total | 294.5 |
Final outturn for 2008-09 will be reported shortly. 2009-10 accelerated capital will be spent during the course of the current year.
