Questions and answers

Question reference: S4O-00022

Asked by: Bob Doris, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 June 2011
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 June 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what impact it considers the recently announced increases in domestic energy prices will have on its efforts to eradicate fuel poverty.

Question reference: S3W-40350

Asked by: Bob Doris, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 March 2011
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 9 March 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to recent questions on the subject, whether it is now in a position to make an announcement on Strathclyde Partnership for Transport’s funding proposals for the modernisation of the Glasgow subway.

The Scottish Government reaffirms its long-term commitment to helping make the subway modernisation happen, through a substantial overall capital contribution, helping SPT to raise funds from other sources. We are assured that SPT''s enhanced modernisation case, including changes to working practices, is viable and will, therefore, help provide capital support which includes delivery of a smartcard ticketing system linked to wider integrated ticketing; new rolling stock and signalling with automation, and refurbished stations with improved accessibility including escalator replacement.

Question reference: S3O-12016

Asked by: Bob Doris, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 November 2010
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 18 November 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made in developing a scheme to incentivise local authorities to improve the collection of non-domestic rates.

Question reference: S3W-36459

Asked by: Bob Doris, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 September 2010
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 30 September 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average number of affordable homes for rent completed by local authorities was in (a) 1999-2000, (b) 2000-01, (c) 2001-02, (d) 2002-03, (e) 2003-04, (f) 2004-05, (g) 2005-06, (h) 2006-07, (i) 2007-08, (j) 2008-09 and (k) 2009-10.

Question reference: S3W-36458

Asked by: Bob Doris, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 September 2010
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 30 September 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many affordable homes for rent were completed in (a) 2006-07 and (b) 2009-10 in each local authority area.

The numbers of housing association homes for social rent completed through the Affordable Housing Investment Programme (AHIP) are shown in Table 1 by local authority area. In 2006-07 the figure for Scotland was 3,318 and by 2009-10 this had increased to 5,121.

Of these completions, 2,887 were new build in 2006-07 increasing to 4,749 in 2009-10. The breakdown of new build completions by local authority area is shown in Table 2.

In addition to housing association homes for social rent, there were new homes completed by councils in this period. There were six council houses were completed in 2006-07 increasing to 343 in 2009-10. These figures are published at local authority level on the Scottish Government website:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Housing-Regeneration/HSfS/NewBuildLA

Table 1: Number of Housing Association completions for Social Rent

(Includes New Build, Rehabilitations and Off The Shelf Purchases)

	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10
Aberdeen City	7	100	28	42
Aberdeenshire	77	62	136	322
Angus	41	108	75	68
Argyll and Bute	186	161	109	34
Clackmannanshire	35	3	3	51
Dumfries and Galloway	66	238	169	88
Dundee City	25	125	290	91
East Ayrshire	32	72	130	176
East Dunbartonshire		26	42	26
East Lothian	51	80	55	74
East Renfrewshire	37		20	89
Edinburgh, City of	395	469	259	659
Eilean Siar	24	44	72	43
Falkirk	65		39	81
Fife	254	245	352	168
Glasgow City	912	805	753	871
Highland	219	290	287	270
Inverclyde	8	77	85	284
Midlothian	36	14	49	56
Moray	87	90	95	87
North Ayrshire	64	125	72	84
North Lanarkshire	82	72	258	164
Orkney	32	27	25	24
Perth and Kinross	51	113	140	271
Renfrewshire	109	167	101	109
Scottish Borders, The	52	75	69	34
Shetland	42	15	33	64
South Ayrshire	68	62	68	207
South Lanarkshire	143	142	343	274
Stirling	3	125	118	64
West Dunbartonshire	51	48	51	81
West Lothian	64	85	103	165
Scotland	3,318	4,065	4,429	5,121

Source: Affordable Housing Investment Programme.

Table 2: Number of Housing Association completions for Social Rent (New Build Only)

	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10
Aberdeen City	7	100	28	42
Aberdeenshire	77	62	136	322
Angus	40	108	75	68
Argyll and Bute	59	104	109	27
Clackmannanshire	34		1	46
Dumfries and Galloway	63	238	154	88
Dundee City		110	278	91
East Ayrshire	30	72	125	176
East Dunbartonshire		26	42	26
East Lothian	51	80	42	71
East Renfrewshire	37		20	89
Edinburgh, City of	382	462	208	419
Eilean Siar	21	41	66	39
Falkirk	61		31	65
Fife	242	201	295	154
Glasgow City	821	731	689	850
Highland	178	277	265	263
Inverclyde	8	42	85	283
Midlothian	16	12	38	10
Moray	34	90	39	82
North Ayrshire	64	125	66	84
North Lanarkshire	82	62	226	164
Orkney	32	27	25	24
Perth and Kinross	46	113	131	271
Renfrewshire	98	114	80	109
Scottish Borders, The	46	67	69	34
Shetland	33	12	31	64
South Ayrshire	68	62	42	207
South Lanarkshire	142	131	229	274
Stirling		124	118	64
West Dunbartonshire	51	48	51	78
West Lothian	64	85	103	165
Scotland	2,887	3,726	3,897	4,749

Source: Affordable Housing Investment Programme.

Question reference: S3O-11526

Asked by: Bob Doris, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 September 2010
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 30 September 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has been consulted by the UK Government concerning the date for the next UK general election.

Question reference: S3W-33983

Asked by: Bob Doris, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 June 2010
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 2 June 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide an update on the £1.25 billion school building programme.

The Scottish Futures Trust (SFT) have today completed the process of informing all local authorities of when they can expect to receive funding for the 35 school building projects which have been announced so far in the first tranche of Scotland''s Schools for the Future, the Scottish Government''s school building programme.

Eight councils had already been informed of their funding timetable earlier this year, and today the SFT informed the remaining 24 authorities of when they will receive their funding. The timetable for the 35 projects is set out in the following table.

This represents much needed government investment worth over £300 million in new schools, benefitting pupils, teachers, families and communities the length and breadth of Scotland.

Of course authorities contributing from their own resources may be able to start procurement, design and “ in some cases “ building prior to SFT resources coming on stream, should they wish to do.

Funding Available from Financial Year

Local Authority	School Project
Aberdeen City	Bucksburn / Newhills Primaries	2011-12
Aberdeenshire	Ellon Academy	2012-13
Aberdeenshire	Mearns Academy	2012-13
Angus	Brechin High School	2013-14
Argyll and Bute	Dunoon / Kirn / St. Mun''s Primaries	2013-14
Clackmannanshire	St. John''s / Claremont Primaries	2011-12
Dumfries and Galloway	Dalbeattie High School	2013-14
Dundee	Harris Academy	2013-14
East Ayrshire	Gargieston Primary	2011-12
East Dunbartonshire	Lairdsland Primary	2013-14
East Lothian	Haddington Infants / St. Mary''s Primary	2011-12
East Renfrewshire	Eastwood High School	2011-12
Edinburgh	James Gillespie''s High School	2014-15
Eilean Siar	Daliburgh Primary	2011-12
Falkirk	RC primary school, yet to be named	2010-11
Fife	Auchmuty High School	2012-13
Glasgow	Garrowhill Primary	2010-11
Glasgow	Glendale Primary	2012-13
Glasgow	St. Brendan''s Primary (and Kelso nursery)	2013-14
Highland	Wick High School	2012-13
Inverclyde	Lilybank / Glenburn Schools	2012-13
Midlothian	Lasswade High School	2011-12
Moray	Milnes Primary	2013-14
North Ayrshire	Garnock Academy	2013-14
North Lanarkshire	Clyde Valley High School	2014-15
Orkney	Evie Primary	2013-14
Perth and Kinross	Invergowrie Primary	2011-12
Renfrewshire	St. Jame''s Primary	2012-13
Scottish Borders	Duns Primary	2013-14
Shetland	Happyhansel Primary	2013-14
South Ayrshire	Ayr Academy	2014-15
South Lanarkshire	Spittal Primary	2011-12
Stirling	Riverside Primary	2011-12
West Dunbartonshire	Dumbarton Academy	2011-12
West Lothian	Pumpherston and Uphall Station Primary	2010-11

Question reference: S3W-31742

Asked by: Bob Doris, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 February 2010
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 12 February 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive when it proposes to respond to the 2009 report by the Scottish Local Authorities Remuneration Committee.

Question reference: S3W-30866

Asked by: Bob Doris, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 January 2010
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 20 January 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish the Framework for Assessment for Curriculum for Excellence.

I am pleased to announce today, the publication of Building the Curriculum 5 A Framework for Assessment together with an associated paper on quality assurance and moderation.

The framework provides guidance to teaching staff on how the new assessment system will raise standards and expectations, promote depth of understanding and improve skills. A copy of the Framework and the associated papers have been placed in Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. numbers 50048, 50049, 50050). The documents are also available on the Curriculum for Excellence website at: www.curriculumforexcellencescotland.gov.uk.

The Framework will be accompanied by a strong package of support to help teaching staff implement the new system:

Learning and Teaching Scotland will be organising events over January and February to promote greater understanding of the framework.

In the summer term assessment exemplars will be made available through the Curriculum for Excellence website. They will show pupils'' work assessed by practitioners against standards and expectations in the priority areas of literacy and numeracy across all curriculum areas and health and wellbeing.

Teaching staff will have access to a new online National Assessment Resource in the autumn.

In recognition of the additional activity associated with introducing and operating a moderation scheme, as well as meeting the costs of national work, I will transfer resources to local government to help pay for additional local work.

In addition to the three in-service days which have already been provided to support staff in moving towards full adoption of Curriculum for Excellence in August 2010, I am also providing a further in-service day to support implementation including professional development for the new assessment system.

The framework takes full account of professional advice from the Curriculum for Excellence Management Board and I will continue to work positively with the management board, local authorities and the education community to deliver improvements in teaching and learning through Curriculum for Excellence.

Question reference: S3W-29359

Asked by: Bob Doris, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 November 2009
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 26 November 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive which primary schools will benefit from the next set of support to be announced under the new £1.25 billion school building programme

I am pleased to announce the following 21 primary and special school projects that will benefit from the new £1.25 billion school building programme that augments the current £2 billion of school investment that is being supported by the government. They are:

School project	Authority
Bucksburn / Newhills	Aberdeen City
Dunoon / Kirn / St. Mun''s	Argyll and Bute
St. John''s / Claremont, Alloa	Clackmannanshire
Gargieston, Kilmarnock	East Ayrshire
Lairdsland, Kirkintilloch	East Dunbartonshire
Haddington Infants / St. Mary''s	East Lothian
Daliburgh	Eilean Siar
New RC primary in Falkirk area	Falkirk
Garrowhill	Glasgow
Glendale	Glasgow
One other Glasgow primary school	Glasgow
Lilybank / Glenburn special school	Inverclyde
Kinloss	Moray
Evie	Orkney Islands
Invergowrie	Perth and Kinross
St. James, Renfrew	Renfrewshire
Duns	Scottish Borders
Happyhansel, Walls	Shetland
Spittal, Rutherglen	South Lanarkshire
Riverside, Stirling	Stirling
Pumpherston and Uphall Station	West Lothian

Following on from my earlier announcement to Parliament (S3W-27721, answered on 28 September) I am pleased that all 32 councils will be benefiting from support for a school project as part of the first phase of the new school building programme. We have engaged with COSLA and individual councils to identify the 21 school projects and have used the same criteria for selection as were used for the first 14 secondary schools, based on information which councils have themselves provided. We have taken into account the distribution of needs throughout Scotland; the best available information about schools'' condition and unsuitability to deliver the curriculum for excellence; additionality; and authorities'' plans and priorities and readiness to proceed.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

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