Chamber and committees

The term “eligibleforage areas” relates primarily to the Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (LFASS)qualifying criteria. LFASS eligible forage must be available throughout the year.Other land may also be claimed provided the land is available and accessible forthe applicant’s use for maintaining livestock for seven months (to include 15 May)starting between 1 January and 31 March in the year for which payment is to be made.The land must also be close enough to the permanent holding to make its seasonaluse viable.

Whilst land whichis temporarily unavailable (e.g., due to snow or flooding) may still qualify, Iunderstand that sea-girt land is coastal land which is affected by tides and, assuch, is submerged for parts of each day. For this reason, it cannot be consideredaccessible and available for use for maintaining livestock, or classed as eligibleforage land in the LFASS context.

It is for healthboards to ensure the quality of services from general practitioners. Boardsmust ensure that such services are available for all patients and the mostcommon approach is to enter into contractual arrangements with doctors. It isfor those who have agreed to provide services to ensure their practice isadequately staffed to meet the requirements of their contract with the healthboard.

If services werenot provided to an acceptable standard, regulations provide that a health boardcan take remedial action. In an extreme case a contract could be terminated.

The information requestedrequires special analyses from the Scottish House Condition Survey data set. Itis estimated that programming and verification of the calculations will be completeby 19 December 2007. I will write the member when the analysisis completed and place a copy in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib.number 44090).

The information requestedrequires special analyses from the Scottish House Condition Survey data set. Itis estimated that programming and verification of the calculations will be completeby 19 December 2007. I will write to the member when the analysisis completed and place a copy in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib.number 44090).

I have asked JamesHynd, Acting Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. His response isas follows:

The information requestedis shown in the following table:

Year	Number of Systems Installed	Replacement Systems	New (First-Time) Systems
2001-02	3,560	320	3,240
2002-03	5,550	999	4,551
2003-04	10,200	3,468	6,732
2004-05	10,768	5,922	4,846
2005-06	9,796	6,859	2,937
2006-07 (Eaga)	3,426	2,432	994
2006-07 (Scottish Gas)	2,227	2,027	200
2007-08 (until 31 October)	3,314	2,817	497
Totals	48,791	24,835	23,956

Notes:

1. The figures provided are only for the mainprogramme i.e. over 60s. The over 80 part of the programme and the pensioncredit part of the programme are by definition replacement of existing systems.

2. The over 80s partof the programme started in May 2004 and the guaranteed element of pensioncredit started in January 2007.

Scottish Water isresponsible for the maintenance of the public drinking water mains network up tothe communication pipe which normally, but not always, terminates at the boundaryof a property. Homeowners are responsible for the upkeep of the private servicepipe which connects to the communication pipe to bring the supply into their homes.There are insurance schemes available which can offer protection against burstsor damage to private service pipes. Scottish Water has an arrangement with HomeserveLtd to offer such cover to their customers at their own discretion.

Information on mainsand associated drinking water pipe networks is held by Scottish Water. I have askedthe Chief Executive to consider your enquiry and respond to you directly.

I share the disappointmentfelt by many that Seachd was not put forward by BAFTA as the UK entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars.Whilst the Scottish Government has no direct influence over the decision makingprocess, the First Minister has written to BAFTA UKon this issue expressing our disappointment. I understand that the film has receivedmany positive reviews and has been selected for the Rome and Vancouver Film Festivals, I wish it every success at these prestigiousevents and I hope audiences across Scotland, and more widely,continue to enjoy Seachd.

This information isnot held centrally. Local authorities are not required to record this informationand any data that they do hold is unlikely to be comparable.

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

The Programme ManagingAgent (Scottish Gas) has indicated that 4,429 households have been waiting morethan four months since the date of their application.