Chamber and committees

The Executive does not hold dataon specialist Colitis and Crohn’s disease nurses.

However, the Executivedoes, since 2004, have figures for specialist Gastro-Intestinal nurses. A largepart of the work undertaken by Gastro-Intestinal Nurse Specialists will involvethose patients with Crohn’s Disease and Colitis. In both 2004 and 2005 there were33 specialist Gastro-Intestinal nurses in total, split between the followinghealth boards:

Gastro-IntestinalNurse Specialists

NHS Argyll and Clyde	2
NHS Ayrshire and Arran	1
NHS Borders	2
NHS Dumfries and Galloway	2
NHS Fife	3
NHS Greater Glasgow	9
NHS Lanarkshire	2
NHS Lothian	11
NHS Tayside	1

 

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

Information is only availablefrom 1995-96 onwards showing (a) the number of rural home ownership grants awarded,(b) the average rural home ownership grant awarded, and (c) the total rural homeownership grant awarded. This is provided in the following table:

Financial Year	Number of Grants Awarded	Average Grant Awarded	Total Grant Awarded
1995-96	67	£16,330	£1,094,101
1996-97	66	£17,919	£1,182,660
1997-98	45	£16,610	£747,446
1998-99	44	£16,711	£735,298
1999-2000	50	£18,234	£911,700
2000-01	51	£17,643	£899,805
2001-02	55	£20,132	£1,107,287
2002-03	64	£19,406	£1,242,000
2003-04	83	£23,096	£1,917,000
2004-05	118	£25,169	£2,970,000
2005-06	87	£25,057	£2,179,949

 

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

Communities Scotland appliesthe following criteria when determining whether a rural home ownership grant constitutesgood value for money.

The components making up thetotal cost of constructing, purchasing or improving a house (primarily land, buildingcosts and professional fees) are assessed against various cost benchmarks to makesure that they represent good value for money. The completed house should also comply withstatutory design and construction standards, and be appropriate to the size of theapplicant’s household.

The level of grant required isdetermined by assessing the level of mortgage that an applicant can support andany other income or savings that an applicant has. The level of mortgage fundingplus any other financial contributions, including awards from other sources, isthen assessed in relation to the total cost of providing the house. After determiningany other assistance, a rural home ownership grant will not normally exceed 33 percent of the total cost.

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

Communities Scotland doesnot hold information on the number of applications for rural home ownership grantsthat have been unsuccessful since the scheme was created. There can be a numberof reasons why an application is unsuccessful. These include problems in obtainingland, an applicant’s income being too high or too low, properties being too expensiveor in too poor a condition, and overall project costs being too high.

Ministers have discussed current,previous and new Structural Funds Programmes with a number of stakeholders, includinglocal authorities and COSLA. A detailed breakdown of meetings by individual localauthority is not available.

It is not possible to answerthis question from the data held centrally. The Executive’s firm-level database(Inter-Departmental Business Register) contains data on employment and turnoverfor all enterprises located in Scotland, but does not record systematically whether the enterpriseis independently owned or not. The activity of businesses on the database is recordedusing Standard Industrial Classifications, however, these codes do not separatelyidentify the activities requested.

The Student Loans Company (SLC)do not hold details of how many of their customers graduate. The following tablegives details of SLC customers who have student loan debt of above (a) £10,000,(b) £15,000, (c) £20,000 and (d) £25,000.

The figures giving details of the number of customers with student loan debt above £10,000 are inclusive for example, the figures giving details of those withdebts above £15,000 are also included in the over £10,000 figure.

Number of Customers having aStudent Loan Debt above the Given Threshold, Retained Portfolio Only

Domicile	Threshold	Customer Count[1][2]
Scotland	>= £10,000	30,990
Scotland	>= £15,000	11,416
Scotland	>= £20,000	2,015
Scotland	>= £25,000	240

Source: Student Loans Company(SLC).

Notes:

1. Includes mortgage style loansand income contingent style loans.

2. Excludes ICR repayments whichhave been deducted by the employer, but not yet received by SLC.

The Student Loans Company (SLC)do not hold information on how many of their customers graduate. The following tableprovides details of the total number of Scottish domiciled student loan borrowerswho are bankrupt or have an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) as at 7 August 2006.

1999	112
2000	113
2001	144
2002	227
2003	365
2004	454
2005	569
2006	284

Source: Student Loans company(SLC).

The bankruptcy figures are givenretrospectively. For example, a customer may advise SLC in 2005 that they have beendeclared bankrupt in 2002. This would therefore affect the figure for 2002.

Statistics on convictions arepublished annually by the Scottish Executive Justice Department each spring. Thelatest set of annual statistics published on 27 April 2006are for 2004-05, which predates the enactment of the Emergency Workers (Scotland) Act2005 on 9 May 2005. The preliminary data currently available for 2005-06show that custodial sentences imposed in convictions where the main offence involvedwas an offence under the 2005 act ranged from two months to eight months.

Statistics on convictions arepublished annually by the Scottish Executive Justice Department each spring. Thelatest set of annual statistics published on  27 April 2006 are for the financialyear 2004-05, which predates the enactment of the Emergency Workers (Scotland) Act2005 on 9 May 2005. Of the 51 convictions recorded in the preliminary, and incomplete,data available for 2005-06, 14 have resulted in a fine, with nine persons fined£300 or less and five persons fined over £300.