- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 27 July 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 14 August 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how it will ensure that there are no reductions in services as a consequence of its commitment to freeze council tax levels in the next financial year.
Answer
Discussions areon-going with local government on how best to deliver a council tax freeze. Throughoutthese discussions I have made it absolutely clear that we are working towards astrategic agreement on a range of measures that will enable local authorities todeliver a council tax freeze while maintaining and improving frontline services.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 27 July 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 14 August 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the proposed Housing Support Fund will assist all first-time buyers or a specific group.
Answer
The government’s intentionbehind the work to create a Scottish Housing Support Fund, which I announced duringthe housing debate in Parliament on 21 June 2007, is to attract private investmentto enable additional help to be provided for a wide range of people who struggleto afford a first home of their own. The targeting of assistance to first-time buyerswill be informed by the outcome of the current spending review and subsequent discussionswith private sector lenders and investors.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 27 July 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 14 August 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that freezing the current council tax levels for all local authorities will enable them to exercise their responsibilities adequately in line with projected inflation.
Answer
I am currently havingvery constructive discussions with local government about a package of measuresto enable local authorities to maintain and improve the frontline public servicesthey deliver and to deliver a freeze in council tax levels.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 27 July 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 14 August 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will proceed with the rebuilding of the Dumbarton and Vale of Leven academies under the previously agreed PPP scheme.
Answer
I refer the memberto the answer to question S3W-2573 on 14 August 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 27 July 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 14 August 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how it will mitigate the effect of the lower budgetary growth anticipated in future spending settlements.
Answer
The government willexercise financial discipline and deliver a programme of efficiency and reform toaddress the effects of the lower Budgetary growth that is anticipated in futurefunding settlements received from the UK Government.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 27 July 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 14 August 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made against each of the 59 recommendations in the Homelessness Task Force report.
Answer
The last progressreport on implementation of the recommendations of the Homelessness Task Force isavailable on the Scottish Government website at
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Housing/homeless/H-M-G/HMG23HTFandHMGprioritiesand http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Housing/homeless/H-M-G/HMG23HTFandHMGprioritiesa.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 27 July 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 14 August 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it anticipates any delay in proceeding with new school buildings to be financed under PPP schemes.
Answer
The Government hasquickly confirmed that we will honour existing offers of financial support for schoolPPP projects. As a result, we do not anticipate any delays.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 27 July 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 14 August 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to consult the public and public bodies in determining where proposed reductions in public spending should be made.
Answer
Along with my CabinetSecretary and ministerial colleagues, I will be in dialogue with a range of stakeholdersover the summer to gather evidence and views on how we can use the strategic spendingreview to set plans that will enable us to fulfil our purpose and achieve our strategicobjectives.
Parliament will playits role in scrutinising the government’s spending plans after we have announcedthem later in the autumn.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 27 July 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 14 August 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether replacing council tax with a local income tax will provide flexibility to local authorities in exercising their responsibities.
Answer
In exercising theirresponsibilities, local authorities allocate their resources on the basis of localneeds and local and national priorities. Replacing council tax with a local incometax will not change this.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 27 July 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 14 August 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to proceed with previously agreed PPP schemes for new schools in West Dunbartonshire referred to in the 2007-08 spending proposals of the previous administration and, if not, how it will provide the new school facilities promised to the people of West Dunbartonshire and other local authorities with similar proposals already in place.
Answer
We said before theelections that PPP could continue as one of several delivery options open to publicsector bodies. These are complex procurements involving high procurement costs forboth public and private sector participants. Some procurements have been in processfor many months, and we do not wish to incur even higher costs and possibly delaykey investments in infrastructure. West Dunbartonshire Council’s schools projectis making good progress and we will continue to discuss progress on the projectwith West Dunbartonshire Council.
