Questions and answers

Chamber and committees

Question reference: S2W-02800

Question reference: S2W-02797

Question reference: S2O-00545

Question reference: S2W-02621

Question reference: S2W-02798

Question reference: S2W-02796

Question reference: S2W-02795

Question reference: S2W-02643

Question reference: S2W-02645

Question reference: S2W-02634

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 September 2003
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Curran on 7 October 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive whether any assistance has been, or will be, made available to local authorities towards the costs of conducting housing needs assessments.

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 September 2003
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Curran on 7 October 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average age of (a) private and (b) local authority housing stock is in each local authority area.

The following tables show Scottishhousing stock by sector and year of construction. The data are collected using bandsfor the year of construction, and the mean age reported is therefore an approximateestimate of the average age. Table 1 shows the Scotland level figures for localauthority and private sector stock, while table 2 shows the figures for local authoritystock by local authority area. This information is not currently available at localauthority level for private sector stock due to the sample size of the 1996 ScottishHouse Condition Survey. It will be available for the 2001 Scottish House ConditionSurvey due to be published later this year.

Table 1:Estimated Age of Housing Stock (Scotland)

Sources:

1. Scottish Executive DevelopmentDepartment Stock 1 returns for March 2003.

2. 1996 Scottish House Condition Survey.

Table 2: Estimated Age ofLocal Authority Housing Stock in Scotland by Local Authority

	Estimated Mean Age (Years)
All local authority stock	47
Aberdeen City	47
Aberdeenshire	33
Angus	45
Argyll and Bute	39
Clackmannanshire	47
Dumfries and Galloway	45
Dundee City	49
East Ayrshire	51
East Dunbartonshire	51
East Lothian	52
East Renfrewshire	49
Edinburgh, City of	47
Eilean Siar	38
Falkirk	51
Fife	48
Glasgow City	49
Highland	44
Inverclyde	46
Midlothian	46
Moray	40
North Ayrshire	48
North Lanarkshire	49
Orkney	34
Perth and Kinross	46
Renfrewshire	49
Scottish Borders, The	47
Shetland	36
South Ayrshire	48
South Lanarkshire	47
Stirling	53
West Dunbartonshire	47
West Lothian	49

Source:Scottish Executive Development Department Stock 1returns for March 2003.

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 September 2003
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 2 October 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the #10 million support package announced for shore-based fishing businesses has been disbursed.

The £10 million transitionalsupport package is targeted at the owners of vessels worst affected by EU cod recoverymeasures agreed last December. As of this week, grant payments of just over £2.2million have been paid to vessel owners and a further £2.6 million of grant paymentsare being processed for payment.

We have also increased our contributionto local authorities towards the funding of any hardship relief they grant to harboursand other businesses affected by the reduction in white fish catches.

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 September 2003
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 1 October 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how much each local authority area will receive of the additional #16.85 million for cycling, walking and safer streets projects announced on 11 September 2003, expressed also on a per capita basis.

The allocations to localauthorities for 2004-05 and 2005-06 for cycling, walking and safer streetsprojects are set out below.

	Population	Allocation 2004-05 (£000)	Spending 2004-05 Per Capita	Allocation 2005-06 (£000)	Spending 2004-05 Per Capita
Aberdeen City	211,910	343	£1.62	362	£1.71
Aberdeenshire	226,940	367	£1.62	388	£1.71
Angus	108,370	175	£1.61	185	£1.71
Argyll and Bute	91,300	148	£1.62	156	£1.71
Clackmannanshire	48,070	78	£1.62	82	£1.70
Dumfries and Galloway	147,780	240	£1.62	252	£1.70
Dundee City	145,460	236	£1.63	248	£1.70
East Ayrshire	120,310	195	£1.62	205	£1.70
East Dunbartonshire	108,250	175	£1.62	185	£1.71
East Lothian	90,180	146	£1.62	154	£1.71
East Renfrewshire	89,410	145	£1.62	153	£1.71
Edinburgh, City of	449,020	727	£1.62	767	£1.71
Eilean Siar	26,450	43	£1.62	45	£1.70
Falkirk	145,270	235	£1.62	248	£1.70
Fife	349,770	566	£1.62	597	£1.71
Glasgow City	578,710	937	£1.62	988	£1.71
Highland	208,920	338	£1.62	357	£1.71
Inverclyde	84,150	136	£1.62	144	£1.71
Midlothian	80,950	131	£1.62	138	£1.70
Moray	87,000	141	£1.62	149	£1.71
North Ayrshire	135,820	220	£1.62	232	£1.71
North Lanarkshire	321,180	520	£1.62	549	£1.71
Orkney	19,220	31	£1.61	33	£1.72
Perth and Kinross	134,950	219	£1.62	231	£1.71
Renfrewshire	172,850	280	£1.62	295	£1.71
Scottish Borders	106,950	173	£1.62	183	£1.71
Shetland	21,960	36	£1.64	38	£1.73
South Ayrshire	112,160	182	£1.62	192	£1.71
South Lanarkshire	302,340	490	£1.62	516	£1.71
Stirling	86,200	140	£1.62	147	£1.70
West Dunbartonshire	93,320	151	£1.62	159	£1.70
West Lothian	159,030	258	£1.62	272	£1.71

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 September 2003
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Curran on 30 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how many rural home ownership grants have been awarded in each local authority area for each year since the scheme was created and what the average cost is of administering individual applications for such grants.

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

Information in the form requestedis only available since 1996-97. The number of rural home ownership grants (RHOG)that have been awarded in each local authority area in the period 1996-97 to 2002-03is as follows:

Number of RHOG Approvals byUnitary Authority (1996-97 to 2002-03)

	1996-97	1997-98	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03
Aberdeenshire	2	0	1	1	0	0	1
Angus	2	0	1	0	0	0	0
Argyll and Bute	2	1	1	4	4	8	1
Highland	18	19	19	16	22	15	27
Moray	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
Orkney Islands	12	12	7	14	17	25	26
Perth and Kinross	12	3	5	1	2	1	3
Shetland Islands	5	1	5	6	2	5	3
Stirling	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
The Scottish Borders	6	5	3	4	2	1	2
Western Isles	4	3	2	3	2	0	1

Records are not maintained onthe costs of administering individual project applications.

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 September 2003
Current Status: Answered by Mary Mulligan on 30 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what the level of housing investment has been in each of the last 10 years, showing year on year percentage changes and broken down by local authority area.

The information requested isshown in the following tables. It should be noted that the total council housingstock reduced by 25% between September 1993 and September 2002.

HousingRevenue Account Gross Capital Expenditure Pre Local Authority Re-Organisation

	1993-94 (£ Million)	1993-94 to 1994-95 (% Change)	1994-95 (£ Million)	1994-94 to 1995-96 (% Change)	1995-96 (£ Million)
Berwickshire	1.30	-7.4	1.21	-64.3	0.43
Ettrick and Lauderdale	2.55	-11.5	2.26	1.1	2.28
Roxburgh	2.91	37.3	3.99	-22.3	3.10
Tweeddale	1.51	-47.7	0.79	42.7	1.130
Clackmannan	4.14	-0.6	4.12	-1.4	4.06
Falkirk	14.89	-3.2	14.41	-17.1	11.94
Stirling	7.93	-1.0	7.85	-1.6	7.72
Annandale and Eskdale	4.14	-18.0	3.40	-10.6	3.04
Nithsdale	5.56	-8.7	5.08	5.6	5.36
Stewartry	2.03	-15.2	1.72	-20.3	1.37
Wigtown	3.24	-4.0	3.10	7.9	3.35
Dunfermline	7.96	50.5	11.98	-3.7	11.54
Kirkcaldy	7.06	-0.9	7.00	79.7	12.59
North East Fife	4.17	14.5	4.78	-38.2	2.96
City of Aberdeen	17.91	5.7	18.94	4.8	19.84
Banff and Buchan	6.13	-2.4	5.98	7.4	6.43
Gordon	7.55	-4.7	7.20	-23.0	5.54
Kincardine and Deeside	3.26	-3.1	3.16	63.8	5.18
Moray	5.85	11.5	6.52	-19.3	5.27
Badenoch and Strathspey	1.60	-35.6	1.03	10.7	1.14
Caithness	2.39	42.3	3.40	-21.9	2.66
Inverness	4.77	30.7	6.23	-19.3	5.03
Lochaber	3.06	30.5	3.99	-6.3	3.74
Nairn	0.97	14.3	1.10	-24.6	0.83
Ross and Cromarty	5.73	-5.5	5.41	4.5	5.66
Skye and Lochalsh	1.69	-6.3	1.58	10.6	1.75
Sutherland	1.74	18.4	2.06	-30.3	1.44
East Lothian	8.40	-6.2	7.88	1.4	7.99
City of Edinburgh	28.38	13.4	32.19	-6.2	30.19
Midlothian	6.55	15.4	7.56	-11.9	6.66
West Lothian	8.52	26.9	10.81	-13.0	9.40
Argyll and Bute	4.97	-7.6	4.59	0.2	4.60
Bearsden and Milngavie	1.16	40.2	1.63	-1.7	1.60
Clydebank	5.70	16.1	6.61	11.9	7.40
Clydesdale	3.91	-1.5	3.85	-52.3	1.83
Cumbernauld and Kilsyth	1.56	4.7	1.631	0.6	1.64
Cumnock and Doon Valley	4.56	-16.3	3.82	-7.9	3.51
Cunninghame	9.48	17.8	11.17	-3.0	10.84
Dumbarton	8.92	3.5	9.23	-21.7	7.23
East Kilbride	0.85	38.0	1.18	49.6	1.76
Eastwood	1.08	108.2	2.24	-33.9	1.48
City of Glasgow	105.24	1.5	106.82	-11.2	94.88
Hamilton	10.44	20.9	12.63	18.2	14.93
Inverclyde	10.40	10.5	11.49	-4.3	11.00
Kilmarnock and Loudoun	6.16	-0.7	6.11	-0.6	6.08
Kyle and Carrick	11.71	13.2	13.26	-7.7	12.25
Monklands	12.52	28.0	16.03	-0.3	15.98
Motherwell	18.36	19.4	21.91	-17.9	17.99
Renfrew	20.69	11.3	23.03	10.4	25.41
Strathkelvin	5.86	-5.4	5.54	14.1	6.32
Angus	5.52	29.1	7.12	-3.0	6.91
City of Dundee	16.11	30.2	20.97	-47.7	10.97
Perth and Kinross	11.87	-28.6	8.48	-19.1	6.86
Orkney Islands	0.64	-0.4	0.64	48.9	0.95
Shetland Islands	4.06	25.3	5.09	-15.5	4.30
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar	3.40	11.2	3.78	-15.4	3.20
Scotland	469.06	7.8	505.58	-7.1	469.54

Source:HSG1A.

Notes:

1.Until 1995-96 councils were permitted to reinvest all right to buy receipts.

2.Additional allocations to enable councils to purchase new town stock in 1995-96excluded from table.

HousingRevenue Account Gross Capital Expenditure

	1996-97 (£ Million)	1997-98 (£ Million)	1998-99 (£ Million)	1999-2000 (£ Million)	2000-01 (£ Million)	2001-02 (£ Million)	2002-03 (£ Million)
Aberdeen City Council	14.51	15.09	21.53	24.61	22.40	20.55	19.03
Aberdeenshire Council	10.45	8.81	8.31	12.83	14.04	12.11	7.49
Angus Council	7.76	7.95	6.43	6.30	7.11	7.22	6.85
Argyll and Bute Council	3.04	4.60	3.93	4.18	3.17	3.28	3.50
Clackmannanshire Council	3.56	2.94	3.22	3.68	4.02	3.42	3.25
Dumfries and Galloway Council	9.60	8.66	7.32	10.39	11.27	8.72	6.82
Dundee City Council	14.84	11.87	12.99	12.80	12.63	11.82	11.10
East Ayrshire Council	8.60	7.50	11.42	8.30	9.37	9.63	9.85
East Dunbartonshire Council	4.57	3.03	2.48	3.27	5.18	4.16	4.01
East Lothian Council	7.01	7.16	6.60	7.15	6.99	5.22	8.72
East Renfrewshire Council	2.21	1.90	1.42	1.40	2.03	1.99	2.21
Edinburgh Council, City of	25.20	20.01	21.17	28.82	26.66	24.89	23.69
Eilean Siar, Comhairle nan	2.80	2.01	2.19	2.26	2.30	2.35	2.69
Falkirk Council	10.54	8.04	10.83	12.70	13.44	12.38	14.16
Fife Council	16.31	11.94	21.23	22.78	21.39	24.99	23.72
Glasgow City Council	76.62	51.62	50.37	53.02	60.09	77.72	105.61
Highland Council	14.69	9.51	10.22	11.23	13.80	14.64	12.34
Inverclyde Council	7.28	6.55	5.71	6.72	6.60	5.86	5.53
Midlothian Council	4.65	4.48	4.54	4.52	4.62	5.84	5.15
Moray Council	3.98	4.60	3.08	2.34	3.91	3.46	3.27
North Ayrshire Council	10.90	6.81	6.14	7.54	7.20	7.38	7.56
North Lanarkshire Council	26.89	30.96	24.27	25.28	25.10	22.96	24.49
Orkney Islands Council	0.70	0.53	0.49	0.47	0.90	0.76	0.77
Perth and Kinross Council	5.74	3.70	3.63	3.58	6.17	3.39	5.96
Renfrewshire Council	13.60	13.95	13.83	13.92	11.33	12.58	13.02
Scottish Borders Council	4.98	3.38	4.77	3.62	4.31	3.53	2.34
Shetland Islands Council	3.35	2.42	2.16	2.02	3.42	3.35	2.00
South Ayrshire Council	6.66	6.44	7.26	7.44	7.12	7.72	7.55
South Lanarkshire Council	16.50	16.82	20.56	18.52	16.61	18.16	21.88
Stirling Council	6.22	4.96	5.14	4.50	6.42	6.31	5.98
West Dunbartonshire Council	8.30	8.84	7.05	7.34	8.23	7.17	6.83
West Lothian Council	9.70	11.05	12.41	11.34	12.11	13.76	23.17
Scotland	361.76	308.13	322.70	344.87	359.94	367.32	400.54

Source:CCPR 1996-97 to 2000-01 HRA 2001-02 to 2002-03.

Notes:

1. In1996-97, 25% of right to buy receipts required to be set aside to redeem debt;this was increased to 75% in 1997-98.

2.Additional allocations to enable councils to purchase new town stock in 1996-97excluded from table.

HousingRevenue Account Gross Capital Expenditure

Percentage Change	1996-97 to 1997-98	1997-98 to 1998-99	1998-99 to 1999-2000	1999-2000 to 2000-01	2000-01 to 2001-02	2001-02 to 2002-03
Aberdeen City Council	4.0	42.7	14.3	-9.0	-8.3	-7.4
Aberdeenshire Council	-15.7	-5.7	54.4	9.4	-13.7	-38.2
Angus Council	2.4	-19.0	-2.1	12.9	1.5	-5.1
Argyll and Bute Council	51.5	-14.7	6.4	-24.0	3.4	6.6
Clackmannanshire Council	-17.3	9.3	14.4	9.3	-15.0	-5.0
Dumfries and Galloway Council	-9.7	-15.5	41.9	8.4	-22.6	-21.8
Dundee City Council	-20.0	9.4	-1.5	-1.3	-6.4	-6.1
East Ayrshire Council	-12.8	52.4	-27.3	12.8	2.8	2.3
East Dunbartonshire Council	-33.6	-18.2	31.7	58.5	-19.7	-3.4
East Lothian Council	2.2	-7.8	8.2	-2.2	-25.3	66.9
East Renfrewshire Council	-14.1	-25.2	-1.4	45.0	-2.1	11.0
Edinburgh Council, City of	-20.58	5.81	36.11	-7.50	-6.64	-4.82
Eilean Siar, Comhairle nan	-28.41	9.17	3.38	1.63	2.35	14.27
Falkirk Council	-23.66	34.70	17.24	5.80	-7.87	14.38
Fife Council	-26.79	77.81	7.28	-6.12	16.86	-5.09
Glasgow City Council	-32.63	-2.41	5.25	13.34	29.34	35.88
Highland Council	-35.29	7.50	9.84	22.95	6.09	-15.73
Inverclyde Council	-10.03	-12.71	17.67	-1.81	-11.23	-5.65
Midlothian Council	-3.74	1.47	-0.55	2.24	26.40	-11.79
Moray Council	15.35	-32.99	-23.90	66.94	-11.58	-5.61
North Ayrshire Council	-37.52	-9.85	22.87	-4.55	2.49	2.40
North Lanarkshire Council	15.13	-21.61	4.17	-0.73	-8.51	6.63
Orkney Islands Council	-23.82	-8.00	-4.47	92.55	-16.02	1.32
Perth and Kinross Council	-35.48	-1.81	-1.60	72.68	-45.05	75.63
Renfrewshire Council	2.63	-0.90	0.62	-18.58	11.04	3.45
Scottish Borders Council	-32.16	41.04	-24.09	19.06	-18.12	-33.60
Shetland Islands Council	-27.54	-10.97	-6.25	68.77	-1.96	-40.28
South Ayrshire Council	-3.26	12.70	2.55	-4.38	8.47	-2.25
South Lanarkshire Council	1.94	22.23	-9.91	-10.30	9.31	20.46
Stirling Council	-20.31	3.69	-12.41	42.57	-1.65	-5.18
West Dunbartonshire Council	6.62	-20.23	4.00	12.23	-12.92	-4.74
West Lothian Council	13.88	12.30	-8.59	6.79	13.59	68.35
Scotland	-14.82	4.74	6.86	4.37	2.05	9.03

Note:

Unable to show percentage change between 1995-96 and 1996-97 because ofboundary changes following local government re-organisation.

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 September 2003
Current Status: Answered by Mary Mulligan on 30 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will bring forward any proposed changes to the planning system.

The Partnership Agreement commitsthe Executive to “improve the planning system to strengthen involvement of communities,speed up decisions, reflect local views better and allow quicker investment decisions”.The modernisation programme builds on measures set out in the Conclusions of the Review of Strategic Planning and the white paper Your Place, Your Plan,copies of which are available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. numbers22236 and 27246).

We are currently consulting onproposals to improve the operation of public local inquiries and, by the end of the year, we expect to launch consultations on widening rights of appeal in planningand modernising the development planning process. Some of these measures will requirechanges to primary legislation. On 29 September, we published research on the possiblecontent of a planning bill, Options for Change, a copy of which is availablein the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 29390).

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 September 2003
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 29 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what the annual expenditure has been on temporary accommodation for pupils in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools, in each of the last five years, expressed also as a percentage of overall local authority education spending.

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 September 2003
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 29 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average age of (a) primary and (b) secondary school buildings is and what percentage of all school buildings are listed buildings in each local authority.

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 September 2003
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 29 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-1326 by Ross Finnie on 31 July 2003, whether it plans to extend the timescale for the transitional aid scheme for the fishing industry in light of any on-going financial pressures facing the industry.

Stock by Date of Construction (%)

Estimated Mean Age (Years)

Estimated Mean Age (Years)

All local authority stock¹

All private stock²

Owner occupied

Private rented