- Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 17 March 2014
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Burgess on 31 March 2014
To ask the Scottish Government whether the announced £2.5 million in funding to four charities to tackle child poverty is as a result of an underspend in other areas and, if so, which areas and whether any such underspend will continue into (a) 2014-15 and (b) 2015-16.
Answer
This funding does not come as a result of an underspend.
- Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 17 March 2014
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 26 March 2014
To ask the Scottish Government whether there are plans to close any (a) police custody centres or (b) courts during the Commonwealth Games to allow officers to be deployed on operational activities.
Answer
The Scottish Government is not aware of any plans to close police custody centres or courts during the Commonwealth Games. However, the Sheriffs Principal and the Scottish Courts Service have agreed that for the duration of the Games there shall be no Sheriff and Jury or Sheriff Court trials, except those requiring no police witnesses, to free up officers at this time.
Any decision to close police custody centres or courts would be an operational matter for the Police Service of Scotland or the Scottish Courts Service respectively.
- Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 March 2014
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 26 March 2014
To ask the Scottish Government when its policy on childcare in an independent Scotland will be completed.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 26 March 2014
- Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 24 February 2014
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 11 March 2014
To ask the Scottish Government when it last met representatives of the Ugandan High Commission (UHC) and what issues were discussed and when it will next meet representatives of the UHC and what issues it will discuss.
Answer
Scottish Government Ministers have not previously met representatives of the Ugandan High Commission. Scottish Government officials attended a Commonwealth Games diplomatic briefing in Glasgow on 5 and 6 March and met with representatives of over 30 nations and territories, including a representative of the Ugandan High Commission. No meetings between Scottish Ministers and representatives of the Uganda High Commission are currently planned. On 26 February 2014, the Minister for External Affairs and International Development wrote to the UK Foreign Secretary, William Hague asking him to make representations to the Government of Uganda highlighting Scottish Government concerns over LGBT issues.
- Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 10 February 2014
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Burgess on 10 March 2014
To ask the Scottish Government how much of the Affordable Housing Supply Programme funding has been spent.
Answer
From 1 April 2012 to the end of January 2014, a total of £485 million has been spent on the Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP).
Following the end of each financial year, actual outturn figures for the AHSP against budgets are published on the Scottish Government website. The following is a link to the AHSP out-turn reports published on the Scottish Government website since 2008-09:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Built-Environment/Housing/investment/ahip
- Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 10 February 2014
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Burgess on 10 March 2014
To ask the Scottish Government how it has allocated the Affordable Housing Supply Programme funding, broken down by (a) scheme and (b) amount.
Answer
The three-year Affordable Housing Supply Programme for 2012-13 to 2014-15 is as summarised in the following table:
Affordable Housing Supply Programme: 2012-13 to 2014-15 | (£million) |
Strategic local programmes – 32 local authorities and Glasgow Housing Association | 743.250 |
Low-cost Initiative for First-Time Buyers | 112.095 |
Home Owners’ Support Fund | 30.000 |
Other affordable housing projects | 87.447 |
Total | 972.792 |
The three-year planned budget of £87.447 million for other affordable housing projects is managed centrally and includes funding for increased subsidies for homes that are built to a greener standard and other affordable housing projects, including those that promote innovation.
A table showing a further breakdown of the strategic local programmes by local authority, together with the planned programme for 2015-16, can be found at:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Built-Environment/Housing/investment/ahsp/AHSPBudgetallocation
- Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 10 February 2014
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Burgess on 10 March 2014
To ask the Scottish Government how many towns submitted bids for the Town Centre Housing Fund; how much each submitted, and how many homes will be affected.
Answer
There were 25 proposals submitted to the Town Centre Housing Fund, received from 11 local authorities, five housing associations and eight private developers. The proposals encompassed empty properties in 21 towns across Scotland.
- Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 10 February 2014
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Burgess on 10 March 2014
To ask the Scottish Government how many applications there have been for the (a) New Shared Equity Scheme, (b) New Shared Equity Scheme with Developers and (c) Open Market Shared Equity Scheme and how many have been successful, in each year since 2011.
Answer
Information on the number of application forms received for the New Supply Shared Equity Scheme and New Supply Shared Equity Scheme with Developers schemes is not held centrally. These schemes are administered directly by registered social landlords who have built the properties or are acting as agents for the private developers.
The number of application forms received for the Open Market Shared Equity Scheme and the number of applications eligible to participate in the scheme are provided in the following table.
Year | Number of Application Forms Received | Number of Application Forms Eligible to Participate in the scheme |
2011-12 | 404 | 270 |
2012-13 | 921 | 767 |
*2013-14 | 1542 | 1436 |
The number of completions for a) New Supply Shared Equity Scheme; b) New Supply Shared Equity with Developers Scheme, and c) Open Market Shared Equity Scheme are provided in the following table.
Year | *NSSE | New Supply Share Equity with Developers | OMSE |
2011-12 | 446 | 120 | 186 |
2012-13 | 302 | 73 | 533 |
*2013-14 | 201 | 5 | 706 |
* These figures are for the period from 1 April 2013 to 31 December 2013.
- Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 10 February 2014
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Burgess on 10 March 2014
To ask the Scottish Government how many homes have been redeveloped as a result of the Town Centre Housing Fund.
Answer
The Town Centre Housing Fund will see 82 new homes developed from empty or derelict properties in seven towns across Scotland.
- Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 10 February 2014
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Burgess on 10 March 2014
To ask the Scottish Government how many applications have been made to the Empty Homes Loan Fund and how many have been successful; how many homes have been brought back into use as a result, and how many are now occupied.
Answer
A total of 20 applications were made to the Empty Homes Loan Fund; of these 17 projects were approved for funding. The majority of successful applicants are councils who will use these funds to on-lend money to individual owners to bring their properties back into use.
The fund is still in its first year of operation and accordingly we do not have information on the number of homes brought back into use at this stage.