Chamber and committees

No such allocations are made by the Scottish Executive. It is for local authorities and Registered Social Landlords to decide how best to deploy the resources available to them to meet housing need, including the replacement of lead piping.

The information requested is not held centrally.

There is no accurate data on the number of properties that have internal lead pipes or lead pipes connecting the property to the public water supply. Similarly, the number of properties with copper pipes with lead solder joints is not known.The use of lead plumbing within buildings ceased in 1964 and the use of lead pipes to connect buildings to the public supply largely stopped around this time, although it is known to have carried on in some areas of Scotland until 1971. Based on these facts, a broad estimate on the extent of lead plumbing in domestic properties was contained in the 1994 annual report on Drinking Water Quality in Scotland. The 1994 report estimated that, at that time, around 589,000 domestic properties in Scotland still had lead plumbing.Lead solder joints in copper plumbing were legal until 1987, but the illegal use of lead solder joints in copper plumbing was recently discovered on a number of new housing developments across Scotland.

As part of the Parliament's security vetting policy, checks are carried out with the relevant foreign authorities on all applicants who are foreign nationals or who have lived abroad for a period during the previous five years. Under normal circumstances, the clearance of such applicants takes on average five weeks: the average for UK resident applicants is two weeks. The terrorist attacks of 11 September resulted in increased demands on the resources of the USA authorities and low priority was given to vetting enquiries. Clearance times increased to an average of 16 weeks, which meant that the interns who commenced in September 2001 had finished their assignment before clearance had been received. As a result of measures set up with Edinburgh University, which arranges the internships, together with easing pressures on the USA authorities, the average clearance time for the most recent intake of interns is currently eight weeks, with the majority being cleared within six weeks.

In order to minimise the overall time taken, the vetting process normally starts before interns are assigned to party groups and a formal application for a security pass received. There are currently 12 USA interns working in the Parliament, of whom nine have been security cleared. The average time that those who have been cleared waited for a security pass, broken down by political party, is:

Party	No. of Interns	Average Time
Labour	4	5 weeks
Scottish National Party*	1	4 weeks
Liberal Democrat*	1	6 weeks
Conservative	3	5 weeks

*The Security Office continues to hasten the clearance of the remaining three interns. (SNP-2, Lib/Dem-1).

Section 33 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 (the 1997 act) allows a planning authority to grant planning permission for development carried out, without complying with some condition attached to the original planning permission. Where a planning permission of this sort is granted, it can take effect retrospectively from the date the development was carried out. Section 64 of the 1997 act, empowers a planning authority to vary a grant of planning permission, in circumstances where they take the view that the variation sought by the grantee is not material. It is not possible for such variation to have retrospective effect i.e. the statutory provision does not enable the variation to be effective in respect of the period prior to it being made. Under section 42 of the 1997 act, a developer may seek planning permission to develop land, without complying with conditions attached to a previous planning permission. The planning authority can refuse such an application, grant it subject to new conditions replacing those attached to the previous permission, or grant it unconditionally. Any planning permission granted under this provision cannot have retrospective effect.Section 65 of the 1997 act, allows planning authorities to promote orders modifying planning permission, where they consider it expedient to so do (i.e. not in response to a request from the developer) and where the development proposal has not been completed or the proposed change of use has not taken place. Again the relevant statutory provision precludes such orders having retrospective effect.The Executive's Development Department Circular 4/1998 contains guidance on the use of conditions and the mechanisms in sections 33 and 42 of the 1997 act. It is available on the Executive's website at: www.scotland.gov.uk/planning.

The Executive's Gaelic policy includes a substantial programme of support for the Gaelic language. This provides specific grants for education authorities to enable them to respond to parents' requests for Gaelic-medium education for their children.

The Scottish Executive has no plans to bring forward specific proposals regarding the establishment of town champions. However, any appointment by local authorities of appropriate people to such, or similar, posts would be consistent with the general thrust of Designing Places, the Executive's design policy statement published in November 2001, which encourages local authorities to recognise their role in raising aspirations for good design.

The Scottish Executive is committed to the effective use of public resources, and the resources invested in the Government Car Service are no exception.The operation of the Government Car Service in Scotland is consistent with UK guidance on ministerial transport. It provides or arranges the provision of transport principally for Scottish ministers and ministers of UK Government Departments when in Scotland.The scheduling system is designed to match the arrival of cars to the timetable for ministerial engagements, and keep waiting times to a minimum. However, there can be unforeseen circumstances that give rise to cars waiting longer than anticipated.

A wide range of public and private sector organisations, authorities, and agencies throughout Scotland are committed to local initiatives to promote the physical, social and economic regeneration of small towns. The Scottish Executive supports the aims of the Association for Small Towns in Scotland in seeking to disseminate information and advice about the regeneration of small towns.