Chamber and committees

This is a matter for Glasgow City Council.

This is a matter for Glasgow City Council.

The Glasgow Housing Partnership Steering Group is preparing a framework within which tenants and trade unions can be fully involved in shaping a transfer proposal. I have met with both tenants and unions but informal consultation will begin as soon as the Group has completed its work.

I refer Mr Gibson to my parliamentary statement of 26 January.

Water and sewerage charges next year are to be agreed between the water authorities and the independent Water Industry Commissioner for Scotland, following Ministers' determination of a charges cap. That determination will take place once advice from the Commissioner has been presented and fully considered. I am not, therefore, in a position at present to comment on the level of charges.

The Executive's policies on the location of housing and retail development are set out in National Planning Policy Guidelines 3: Land for Housing and 8: Town Centres and Retailing. NPPG3 indicates that priority should be given to the re-use of urban brownfield sites wherever possible and that the release of sites in the Green Belt should be considered only in exceptional circumstances. NPPG8 contains a firm commitment to the protection and enhancement of existing town centres in preference to sites outwith town centres. This guidance indicates that new retail developments should not conflict with Green Belt policy.

People with mental health and learning difficulties qualify for legal aid in the same way as any other person - by satisfying a number of statutory tests, one of which is financial eligibility. Regulations will be laid in this parliamentary session to enable those involved in certain mental health proceedings to be exempted from the financial eligibility and contributions tests in relation to assistance by way of representation.

The Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Bill will make provision for legal aid to be available to adults with incapacity and anyone else who wishes to use the measures provided for in the Bill, subject to the usual statutory tests being met.In addition, the Central Research Unit is undertaking a number of studies which look specifically at access to legal advice and services for people with mental health and learning difficulties and the results of these studies will be carefully assessed by the Scottish Executive Justice and Health Departments in the context of policy development on Adults with Incapacity and on mental health.

Arrangements for charging for car parking are currently in place at Yorkhill NHS Trust, the Victoria Infirmary, which is part of South Glasgow University Hospitals NHS Trust, and Glasgow Royal Infirmary which is part of the North Glasgow University Hospitals NHS Trust. GGPCT has advised that there are no plans to extend these current arrangements nor to introduce charges at hospitals forming the Greater Glasgow Primary Care NHS Trust.

Grant-Aided Expenditure (GAE) allowances are not intended to be spending targets or limits for individual services, but contribute towards the assessment of councils' relative total expenditure needs within the distribution system.The information requested is not available centrally. The allocations to each authority are contained in Grant-Aided Expenditure 2000-01. It is available in SPICe.

Lorna Naismith was given early retirement on grounds of organisational change due to trust reconfiguration. She did not receive the sum mentioned, the major part of that figure - £268k - represents the capitalisation costs for the pension which the employer is obliged to set aside to cover future payment of the pension until normal retiral age. The Trust reconfiguration process was a managed one which has been audited and shown to provide value for money to the NHS in Scotland. The process is expected to save £100 million for investment in patient care.