Questions and answers

Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for ��˿�� to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S2W-26685

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 20 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how much additional funding, including through the Better Neighbourhood Services Fund and other such initiatives, it has awarded to (a) Argyll and Bute Council and (b) West Dunbartonshire Council in each year since 1997.

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

The Better Neighbourhood ServicesFund operated between 2001-02 and 2004-05 when it was merged with the funding providedto Social Inclusion Partnerships (SIPs) to form the Community Regeneration Fund(CRF).

In addition to the CRF, CommunitiesScotland also provides grant funding to Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) to supportthe provision of housing for rent or low cost home ownership. Communities Scotlandalso provides RSLs with funding from the Wider Role programme to support communityregeneration and social inclusion activities.

Details of the allocation ofeach of these funding streams are shown as follows:

West Dunbartonshire Council

	SIP (£ Million)	BNSF (£ Million)	CRF (£ Million)	Housing Grants to RSLs (£ Million)	RSL Wider Role (£ Million)	Total (£ Million)
1997-98	n/a	n/a	n/a	7.122	n/a	7.122
1998-99	n/a	n/a	n/a	7.929	n/a	7.929
1999-2000	2.193	n/a	n/a	6.707	n/a	8.900
2000-01	2.087	n/a	n/a	8.385	0.133	10.605
2001-02	2.076	2.000	n/a	10.108	0.330	14.514
2002-03	2.228	3.000	n/a	7.808	0.338	13.374
2003-04	2.236	4.000	n/a	7.650	0.646	14.532
2004-05	2.365	3.000	n/a	9.008	1.107	15.480
2005-06	n/a	n/a	4.956	12.658	0.760	18.374

Argyll and Bute Council

	SIP (£ Million)	BNSF (£ Million)	CRF (£ Million)	Housing grants to RSLs (£ Million)	RSL Wider Role (£ Million)	Total (£ Million)
1997-98	n/a	n/a	n/a	5.441	n/a	5.441
1998-99	n/a	n/a	n/a	4.427	n/a	4.427
1999-2000	0.206	n/a	n/a	5.653	n/a	5.859
2000-01	0.280	n/a	n/a	4.435	0	4.715
2001-02	0.369	0.60	n/a	4.057	0.013	5.039
2002-03	0.379	0.90	n/a	3.642	0.065	4.986
2003-04	0.370	1.20	n/a	7.288	0.274	9.132
2004-05	0.369	0.90	n/a	10.690	0.142	12.101
2005-06	n/a	n/a	0.985	14.979	0.218	16.182

Question reference: S2W-26706

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 20 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to increase the employment rates of disadvantaged groups, such as lone parents or ethnic minorities, in the Dumbarton parliamentary constituency.

On 12 June 2006, I launched WorkforcePlus, An Employability Framework for Scotland. The framework aims to help more disadvantaged individuals,including lone parents and ethnic minorities towards and into sustained employmentby setting out the actions required at both nation and local level to achieve this.

The framework is targeted atseven Closing the Opportunity Gap areas, including West Dunbartonshire, with the highest levels of benefit claimants in Scotland. Theseareas have set a combined target to reduce benefit claimants by 30,000 by 2007 and66,000 by 2010. The West Dunbartonshire component of these targets is 840 and 2,190 respectively.We have allocated £840,000 to West Dunbartonshire Community Planning Partnershipover the next two years to assist local partners in bringing together services tohelp achieve this target.

Question reference: S2W-26629

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 19 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what reduction there has been in mortality rates from coronary heart disease in the (a) West Dunbartonshire and (b) Argyll and Bute local authority area in each year since 1999.

Information on mortality fromcoronary heart disease by local authority is available from GRO death data. Theage standardised coronary heart disease mortality rates from 1999 to 2004 for Argylland Bute and West Dunbartonshire are shown in the following table.

		1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
Argyll and Bute	Deaths	265	269	261	251	249	231
��	Age standardised mortality rate	170.4	170.9	159.1	158.5	143.6	135.5
��	% Decrease Year-on-Year		0.3%	-6.9%	-0.4%	-9.4%	-5.7%
West Dunbartonshire	Deaths	275	255	248	227	262	222
��	Age Standardised Mortality Rate	211.4	193.5	187.5	160.8	199.0	164.2
��	% Decrease Year-on-Year	��	-8.5%	-3.1%	-14.2%	23.8%	-17.5%

Note: GRO death data are currently only available up to yearending December 2004.

Question reference: S2W-26627

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 19 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding has been allocated to the rough sleepers initiative in the (a) Argyll and Bute and (b) West Dunbartonshire local authority area since the inception of the initiative and how successful the initiative has been.

The Rough Sleepers Initiative(RSI) was launched in 1997. Between 1997 and 2002 local authorities received fundingfrom the Rough Sleepers Initiative on the basis of bids made to the Executive settingout the need for such funding in their area.

Local authorities’ activitiesfunded as a result of RSI have now become integrated with local authorities’ widerhomelessness strategies and since 2004-05 these activities have been included withintheir local outcome agreements, which set out on an annual basis how they are implementingthese strategies.

The final evaluation of the RSIwas published in March 2005 (which can be found at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/03/20886/54982)and concluded that this initiative had achieved significant progress and producedtangible reductions in the need to sleep rough across the country. The evaluationconcluded that the RSI enhanced services in cities and often created specific servicesfor the first time in rural and smaller urban areas.

The following table shows theallocations of funding to Argyll and Bute and West Dunbartonshire authorities under the RSI:

Year	Argyll and Bute	West Dunbartonshire
1997-98	0	0
1998-99	0	£11,200
1999-2000	£8,000	£34,300
2000-01	£274,880	£86,010
2001-02	£114,480	£104,347
2002-03	£114,480	£102,000
2003-04	£114,480	£102,000
2004-05	£114,480	£106,000
2005-06	£124,000	£110,000
2006-07	£125,000	£111,000

Question reference: S2W-26624

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 19 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many anti-social behaviour orders have been issued in the (a) Argyll and Bute Council area, (b) West Dunbartonshire Council area and (c) Dumbarton parliamentary constituency in each year since 1999.

The number of Antisocial BehaviourOrders (ASBOs) granted in Argyll and Bute council area since 2002-03 is as follows: 2002-03 (0);2003-04 (0); 2004-05 (0).

The number of Antisocial BehaviourOrders (ASBOs) granted in West Dunbartonshire council area since 2002-03 is as follows: 2002-03 (3);2003-04 (3); 2004-05 (4).

The Scottish Executive does nothold centrally reliable data on the use of ASBOs by local authority area prior to2002-03. Data on ASBO use is also not available by constituency area.

Question reference: S2W-26626

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 19 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been invested in local authority housing stock in the (a) Argyll and Bute and (b) West Dunbartonshire local authority area in each year since 1999.

Housing Revenue Account (HRA)capital expenditure, as recorded on the councils’ HRA returns, is shown in the followingtable.

Council	1999-2000 (£ Million)	2000-01 (£ Million)	2001-02 (£ Million)	2002-03 (£ Million)	2003-04 (£ Million)	2004-05 (£ Million)	2005-06 (£ Million)
Argyll and Bute	4.1	3.2	3.2	3.5	3.5	3.6	3.1
West Dunbartonshire	8.2	8.2	7.2	6.8	8.8	11.6	13.7

Council

1999-2000

(£ Million)

2000-01

(£ Million)

2001-02

(£ Million)

2002-03

(£ Million)

2003-04

(£ Million)

2004-05

(£ Million)

2005-06

(£ Million)

Argyll and Bute

4.1

3.2

3.5

3.6

3.1

West Dunbartonshire

8.2

7.2

6.8

8.8

11.6

13.7

Note: The figures for 2005-06are estimates.

Question reference: S2W-26623

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 19 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to ensure the availability of affordable, good quality housing for those on low incomes in the Dumbarton parliamentary constituency.

The main source of new affordable,good quality housing in the Dumbarton constituency is Communities Scotland’s AffordableHousing Investment Programme. This programme includes their Core Development Programmeand the Community Ownership Programme.

The Dumbarton constituency willthis year benefit from over £10 million of investment from the Core DevelopmentProgramme. This will include the expected approval of 48 new units of affordablerented housing. In addition, five units of shared equity housing funded from theHomestake scheme (located in Alexandria) will go on sale.

West Dunbartonshire Council hasyet to take a final decision on making an application to join the Community OwnershipProgramme. It has been consulting with tenants and residents over its intentionto do so. It has also been developing linked proposals to bid for resources fromthe Early Action Fund of the Community Ownership Programme.

Where areas are proposed forsignificant levels of investment, involving demolishing existing stock and buildingnew homes, local housing associations will be working with the Council and localresidents to develop area-based regeneration plans.

For existing social rented housing,the Scottish Executive has a policy objective of ensuring that stock owned by localauthority landlords, and registered social landlords (housing associations) meetthe Scottish Housing Quality Standard by 2015.

Question reference: S2W-26718

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 19 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of older people in the (a) Argyll and Bute and (b) West Dunbartonshire local authority area received intensive home care in each year since 1997.

The statistics requested areavailable from 1999 onwards and are contained in the following table:

Table 1: Percentage ofPeople Aged 65 and Over Receiving Intensive Home Care

Local Authority	Year
Local Authority	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Argyll and Bute	0.8%	1.1%	1.1%	1.3%	1.3%	1.4%	1.3%
West Dunbartonshire	1.5%	1.5%	1.6%	1.8%	2.4%	2.9%	2.8%

Source: Home Care StatisticalReturn H1.

Question reference: S2W-26683

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 19 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding for childcare has been allocated to (a) Argyll and Bute Council and (b) West Dunbartonshire Council since 1999.

The information requested isprovided in the following table.

Childcare Strategy	1999-2000 (£000)	2000-01 (£000)	2001-02 (£000)	2002-03 (£000)	2003-04 (£000)	2004-05 (£000)	2005-06 (£000)	2006-07 (£000)	2007-08 (£000)
Argyll and Bute	95	235	233	233	323	532	728	808	813
West Dunbartonshire	116	210	211	211	283	438	599	636	640

Childcare Strategy

1999-2000

(£000)

2000-01

(£000)

2001-02

(£000)

2002-03

(£000)

2003-04

(£000)

2004-05

(£000)

2005-06

(£000)

2006-07

(£000)

2007-08

(£000)

Argyll and Bute

235

233

323

532

728

808

813

West Dunbartonshire

116

210

211

283

438

599

636

640

The figures in the table aretaken from the Childcare Strategy GAE (Grant Aided Expenditure) line and is provisionto spend. It should be noted that these figures are not budgets or spending targetsbut part of the more complex local government funding formula used to allocate oneblock grant figure to each council. It is up to each council to decide how bestto allocate their resources based on their local needs and priorities.

In addition to Childcare Strategyfunding, West Dunbartonshire has been allocated Working for Families Funding (WfFF)of £600,000 each year since 2004-05. WfFF can be used for a number of projects,including creating and subsidising child care.

Question reference: S2W-26625

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 19 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been invested by Communities Scotland and its predecessor organisation in housing association stock in the (a) Argyll and Bute Council area, (b) West Dunbartonshire Council area and (c) Dumbarton parliamentary constituency in each year since 1999.

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

Investment by Communities Scotland,and its predecessor organisation, in Housing Association stock in the (a) Argylland Bute Council area; (b) West Dunbartonshire Council area, and (c) Dumbarton parliamentaryconstituency in each year since 1999 is set out in the following table:

Location	1999-2000 (£ Million)	2000-01 (£ Million)	2001-02 (£ Million)	2002-03 (£ Million)	2003-04 (£ Million)	2004-05 (£ Million)	2005-06 (£ Million)	Total
Argyll and Bute Council	5.653	4.435	4.057	3.642	7.288	10.690	14.979	50.744
West Dunbartonshire Council	6.707	8.385	10.108	7.808	7.650	9.008	12.658	62.324
Dumbarton Parliamentary Constituency	2.990	3.556	3.615	3.825	4.262	6.879	14.996	40.123”