Chamber and committees

We estimate that 296,000 local authority tenancies and 237,000 housing association tenancies have the right to buy.

<>I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-07420 on 7 June 2012. 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/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

The number of woodland expansion proposals where consent is required and not required since 2007 by Regional Proposal Assessment Committee (RPAC) Region is set out in the following table.

RPAC Region	Consent Required	Consent Not Required
Argyll	1	59
Ayrshire	0	30
Borders	0	212
Clyde Valley	0	33
Dumfries and Galloway	2	148
Forth	1	89
Grampian	1	416
Highland	1	288
Northern Isles	0	8
Outer Hebrides	0	4
Tayside	0	117
Total	6	1,404

The area of the woodland creation proposals which where consented following an environmental statement was 2,040 hectares. The area of woodland creation consented where an environmental statement was not required was 21,940 hectares.

Note: *Information by conservancy is not available as woodland creation approval figures are compiled by RPAC Region.

Bus Service Operators Grant payments in these years is as shown:

2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12
£63,294,403	£64,121,631	£62,500,000	£60,018,000

As of April 2010, the Bus Service Operators Grant became budget limited. The annual expenditure for 2010-11 and 2011-12 would therefore have remained the same, if the new formula had been applied.

Prior to April 2010, the payment rate varied with fuel duty and the budget was demand-led. It is not therefore possible to apply the new allocation formula for the years 2008-09 and 2009-10.

The Scottish Government has neither approved nor rejected any pressured area status applications since the Housing (Scotland) Act 2010 came into force. The act gave local authorities the power to make, amend or revoke pressured areas themselves, without intervention from Scottish Ministers.

The Housing (Scotland) Act provided that, from 1 March 2011, houses built or acquired after 25 June 2008 are not subject to the right to buy, with some limited exceptions, so, but for cases where these limited exceptions apply, no houses will become eligible for purchase in these years. We estimate that 93,000 local authority tenants and 121,000 housing association tenants have not yet reached the qualifying period for modernised right to buy.

The number of woodland creation proposals which were approved without Environmental Impact Assessment consent, by area size categories, since 2007 is set out in the following table.

RPAC Region	Under 2 hectares	2-10 hectares	10-100 hectares	Over 100 hectares	Total
Argyll	12	18	23	6	59
Ayrshire	7	13	9	1	30
Borders	73	94	36	9	212
Clyde Valley	8	19	5	1	33
Dumfries and Galloway	21	74	46	7	148
Forth	23	48	14	4	89
Grampian	184	200	29	3	416
Highland	56	116	89	27	288
Northern Isles	5	3	0	0	8
Outer Hebrides	1	1	2	0	4
Tayside	20	71	20	6	117
Total	410	657	273	64	1,404

Note: *Information by Conservancy is not available as woodland creation approval figures are compiled by Regional Proposal Assessment Committee (RPAC) Region.

<>The current programme of land acquisition and new planting on the national forest estate was included in The National Forest Estate Strategic Plan 2009-2013, which had a Strategic Environmental Assessment. A copy of The National Forest Estate Strategic Plan 2009-2013 is available on the Forestry Commission website at http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/infd-6pelhd.

Prior to the purchase of an individual site a detailed survey is undertaken and a report is produced covering the potential impact of any proposed new planting on environmental considerations. This report informs the decision making process on whether or not to purchase a site.

Once a site has been purchased, an Environmental Impact Assessment screening exercise is undertaken. Further information on this can be found on the Forestry Commission website at http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/infd-5zgmp7.

A Forest Design Plan or amendment for new planting is submitted to the relevant Forestry Commission Scotland Conservancy for approval. The approval process normally involves putting the Forest Design Plan or amendment on the public register.

The Scottish Government has had no discussions with Network Rail regarding how the punctuality of Scotrail services as part of the Public Performance Measure (PPM) at (a) staffed and (b) unstaffed stations is determined.

PPM is reported by franchise and service group within that franchise, rather than by specific station, staffed or not. The measure was introduced in 1997 by the-then Strategic Rail Authority, before the devolution of rail powers in 2005, as a way of measuring improvements to the rail system over time. The measure also allows a way of comparing FirstScotrail performance on a basis consistent with the other franchises.