Chamber and committees

The available information isgiven in the following table.

Persons with a Charge Provedin Scottish Courts for Living off Immoral Earnings, 1999-2000 to 2004-05

Year	Number
1999-2000	1
2000-01	-
2001-02	2
2002-03	3
2003-04	3
2004-05	2

Note: 1. Where main offence isunder section 11 of the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act1995.

Numberof Refunds Processed in each Financial Year, for Scottish Domicile Loans in theRetained Portfolio - All Loan Products:

Financial Year	Number of Refunds[1]	Number with Income Contingent Credit Balance	Proportion of Refunds from Overpayment of Income Contingent Loans
2000-01	1,486	0	0%
2001-02	2,507	27	1%
2002-03	3,228	196	6%
2003-04	3,462	522	15%
2004-05	3,808	1,099	29%
2005-06	5,020	2,028	40%

Source: Student LoansCompany (SLC).

Note: 1. MortgageStyle and Income Contingent style Loans.

The total cost of providing (a)cleaning and (b) catering services to NHS hospitals in each financial year since1997-98, broken down by hospital is givenin table numbers 1 and 2 of NHS Catering and Cleaning Costs 1997-2005 whichis available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 41087).

The Scottish Executive collectssnapshot data on the number of households in temporary accommodation at the endof each quarter, including information on households in bed and breakfast. Informationdistinguishing households with dependent children, including number of children,has been collected since March 2001. Data on households in bed and breakfast areavailable on-line in the publications section of the housing statistics branch referencesite:http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/housing/hsbref.

Information on numbers in temporaryaccommodation on 31 December 2006 will be supplied to the Executive by councils as partof the quarterly homelessness summary return (HL2 return) for quarter 4 2006.

A table providing the availableinformation for each local authority for each quarter from 31 March 1997 to 31 December2001 will be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 41032).

I am satisfied that the 2003scheme literature described the scheme rules clearly and that we provided potentialclaimants with sufficient guidance to participate in the scheme and meet itsvarious conditions of eligibility. The notes for guidance cannot cover everysituation and they do not provide a definitive statement of the law. The notesadvised producers to contact SEERAD if there was anything they did notunderstand or, if they needed specific advice, to contact a professionaladvisor.

We implemented thisparticular rule to comply with the requirements of the EC legislation governingthe Suckler Cow Premium Scheme. We were guided in how we handled breaches by ourinterpretation of the regulations, the advice issued to member states by theEuropean Commission on the implementation of this rule, discussion between the fourpaying agencies administering the scheme in the UK, and legal advice receivedby these agencies.

An EC information note wasissued to all Member States in 2002.

I assume that the questionrelates to those Suckler Cow Premium Scheme (SCPS) 2003 claimants who breachedthe 5% minimum heifer rule; we wrote to them on 19 January 2005. This ruleapplied in 2003 only. We identified those who were in breach by analysing thecomposition of every SCPS producer’s claim at the end of their six monthretention period. We did this as a one-off exercise after all the 2003 claimedanimals had completed their retention; the last retention period ended on 30 June 2004. Becausewe used calving information held on the Cattle Tracing System (CTS) to check ifanimals which had completed their retention period were cows or heifers, we hadto allow time for producers to inform the British Cattle Movement Service (BCMS)of animals calving in the final days of retention, and for BCMS to update CTS. Wealso decided to delay our 5% minimum heifer checks until we were sure that themajority of claims were unlikely to change following producers’ replies to ourcross check letters which had identified breaches in other scheme rules.

Information for part (a) is notavailable.

Table 1 contains median annualequivalised net disposable household income estimates from 1996-97 for Scotland. Theseestimates are based on the Department for Work and Pensions’ Family Resources Survey.

Table 1

	Median Annual Household Income before Housing Costs	Median Annual Household Income after Housing Costs
1996-97	£12,957	£11,330
1997-98	£13,652	£11,966
1998-99	£13,932	£12,153
1999-00	£14,585	£12,830
2000-01	£14,784	£13,036
2001-02	£15,770	£13,970
2002-03	£16,334	£14,691
2003-04	£17,448	£15,897
2004-05	£18,169	£16,294

Source: Households Below AverageIncome, DWP.

Table 2 contains median annual equivalised net disposable household incomeestimates from 1996-97 for Scotland which has been adjusted for inflation.

Table 2 2004-05 Prices

	Median Annual Household Income before Housing Costs	Median Annual Household Income after Housing Costs
1996-97	£14,841	£12,463
1997-98	£15,409	£12,907
1998-99	£15,509	£13,052
1999-2000	£15,810	£13,541
2000-01	£16,110	£13,817
2001-02	£16,955	£14,565
2002-03	£17,233	£15,105
2003-04	£17,970	£16,094
2004-05	£18,169	£16,294

Source: Households Below AverageIncome, DWP.

Notes:

Net disposable householdincome: Total income afterdeductions for income tax, National Insurance Contributions, council tax, pensioncontributions and maintenance payments.

Housing costs: Net disposable income but with rent/mortgagepayments, water charges, structural insurance premiums, ground rent and servicecharges deducted.

Equivalised net disposablehousehold income: “Equivalised”Income is used to allow comparisons of living standards between different householdtypes. Income is adjusted to take into account variations in the size and compositionof the household. This adjustment reflects the fact that a family of several peoplerequires a higher income than a single person in order for both households to enjoya comparable standard of living. The key assumption is that all individuals in thehousehold benefit equally from the combined (equivalised) income of the household.There are distinct equivalence scales used for income before housing costs (BHC)and income after housing costs (AHC).

Current prices: The second tablehas been adjusted for inflation (using the Retail Price Index) and provides medianannual income estimates in the current (latest) year’s prices (2004-05).

The specific informationrequested is not available centrally.