- Asked by: Andrew Welsh, MSP for Angus, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 31 January 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what informal mechanisms are in place to ensure that Scottish interests are taken into account by UK-wide quangos dealing with UK departments with responsibility for English issues.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-22441 on 31 January 2006. 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/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Andrew Welsh, MSP for Angus, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 31 January 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what formal mechanisms are in place to ensure that Scottish interests are taken into account by UK-wide quangos dealing with UK departments with responsibility for English issues.
Answer
Individual bodies may have their own specific arrangements, but the overall requirement for ensuring that devolved Scottish interests are taken into account are founded on the Memorandum of Understanding with the UK Government and associated agreements. An order under section 88 of the Scotland Act has designated a range of bodies as being cross-border public authorities, which confers obligations on those authorities and on Ministers of the Crown with reference to devolved Scottish interests. Appropriate arrangements are put in place when new bodies, not covered by the order, are created.
- Asked by: Andrew Welsh, MSP for Angus, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 30 January 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what information it holds regarding the rate of resale of homes in each of the last five years.
Answer
The following table provides an estimate of the number of resales of homes in each year in the five years to 2004-05, together with its derivation, which is described in more detail below.
Information on the total number of sales of residential properties is taken from a database of sales compiled by Registers of Scotland. The analysis excludes sales with a value of less than £20,000 and over £1 million, and also aims to exclude non-market sales. Analyses from the Registers of Scotland database cannot distinguish sales of newly constructed properties.
The table also shows the number of private sector new houses completed in each year. While not all private sector houses completed in a year will be sold in that year, subtracting the total number of private sector houses completed from the total number of sales will give a reasonable estimate of the number of resales in the year.
| Year | Number of sales (000) | Number of Private Sector Houses Completed | Estimated Number of Resales |
| 2000-011 | 115.5 | 18.0 | 97.5 |
| 2001-02 | 119.8 | 18.0 | 101.8 |
| 2002-03 | 126.6 | 18.5 | 108.1 |
| 2003-04 | 130.3 | 20.0 | 110.3 |
| 2004-05 | 128.9 | 22.1 | 106.8 |
Source: Number of sales – Registers of Scotland.
Notes:
1. Includes an estimate for April 2000.
New private sector houses completed - Housing statistics returns from councils.
- Asked by: Andrew Welsh, MSP for Angus, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 27 January 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what correspondence has taken place in the last five years between the Minister or Deputy Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning and CORGI, the Health and Safety Executive and gas installers in Scotland.
Answer
I spoke by phone to Lord Hunt prior to the recent debate in the Scottish Parliament on the Gas Work Notification Scheme. I have since written to him mentioning some of the points made during the debate and giving him the link to the official report and I am scheduled to meet him again on 31 January 2006 to discuss the matter. My officials, at my instruction, have also ensured that CORGI was notified that the debate had taken place and also provide it with the link to the official report. I am not aware of any previous correspondence between Enterprise Minister(s) or Deputies and CORGI, the Health and Safety Executive and gas installers in Scotland.
- Asked by: Andrew Welsh, MSP for Angus, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 27 January 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on how many improper or illegal gas fittings had been reported in each year from 1995 to the introduction of the Gaswork Notification Scheme.
Answer
The Executive does not hold information on improper or illegal gas fittings.
However, the Health and Safety Executive has managed to provide information on the number of dangerous gas fittings which have been reported in Scotland for the years 2001-02 to 2004-05 as follows:
| 2001-02 | 462 |
| 2002-03 | 399 |
| 2003-04 | 273 |
| 2004-05 | 294 |
- Asked by: Andrew Welsh, MSP for Angus, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 27 January 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on how many improper or illegal gas fittings have been reported in Scotland since the introduction of the Gaswork Notification Scheme.
Answer
The Executive does not hold information on improper or illegal gas fittings.
However, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has information on the number of dangerous gas fittings which have been reported. In the period 1 April 2005 to 31 December 2005, the number reported in Scotland was 166.
- Asked by: Andrew Welsh, MSP for Angus, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 27 January 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has regarding the notification that local authorities have been given by CORGI in respect of gasworks in their jurisdictions since the introduction of the Gaswork Notification Scheme.
Answer
The Executive holds no such information.
- Asked by: Andrew Welsh, MSP for Angus, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 27 January 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what contact its officials have had with the Health and Safety Executive with regard to gas safety or the Gaswork Notification Scheme.
Answer
Executive officials have been in contact with the Health and Safety Executive on at least six occasions with regard to the Gas Work Notification scheme but no formal record of how many calls or e-mails is maintained. All the contact has been as a result of the previous questions put down on this subject and the external communications received relating to it.
- Asked by: Andrew Welsh, MSP for Angus, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 25 January 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how much social landlords have paid to CORGI in registration fees since the introduction of the Gaswork Notification Scheme.
Answer
I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is asfollows:
The information requested isnot held centrally. Communities Scotland does not require registered social landlords toprovide it with this information.
- Asked by: Andrew Welsh, MSP for Angus, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 November 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 11 November 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive how much it would cost to make all railway stations fully accessible to disabled people.
Answer
An on-going programme of improvements to stations will include provision for increased accessibility. We do not have an estimate of the cost of making all stations fully accessible in isolation from other improvements. The Access for All fund provides £370 million to spend in Great Britain over ten years.
