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

Communities Scotland took over this programme in 2003-04. The average time between application, approval and installation of a central heating system, in each of the years since the inception of the programme, are shown in the table below.

	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05
Average Waiting Time	5 months	9 months	5 months	5 months
				(April – August)

The Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS) is the only consistent national source of information on houses below tolerable standard (BTS), and provides the most reliable estimate of numbers of BTS houses in Scotland. The 2002 survey gives an estimate of 20,000 households living in houses below the standard in 2002. This is 0.9% of all households in Scotland. Because of the small number of houses identified in the survey as below the tolerable standard, the survey cannot provide estimates for individual councils.

Councils provide the Executive with annual estimates of the number of below tolerable standard dwellings in the council area. Independent research conducted on behalf of the Executive into the basis for local and national estimates concluded that there were significant variations between councils in the way in which they interpret the standard when compiling their estimates, and identified weaknesses in the estimates. The report is available on the Scottish Executive website at (http://www.scotland.gov.uk/cru/resfinds/drf90-00.asp)

The tables provide councils’ own estimates of total number of occupied dwellings below tolerable standard for each of the past five years, and expresses these as a percentage of the estimated number of households.

Councils’ Estimates of Number of Occupied Dwellings Below Tolerable Standard.

Local Authority	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
Scotland	64,540	62,401	53,875	52,544	51,677
Aberdeen City	820	812	702	620	510
Aberdeenshire	2,551	2,551	Not Known	Not Known	599
Angus	586	600	600	600	600
Argyll and Bute	6,515	6,515	6,044	5,988	5,958
Clackmannanshire	248	248	228	145	145
Dumfries and Galloway	484	430	384	342	316
Dundee City	334	475	362	220	198
East Ayrshire	315	300	293	286	278
East Dunbartonshire	10	10	10	10	10
East Lothian	1,039	1,039	972	953	940
East Renfrewshire	59	38	106	93	88
Edinburgh, City of	4,503	4,403	33	33	33
Eilean Siar	2,786	2,786	2,786	2,019	2,019
Falkirk	191	191	191	191	191
Fife	694	648	740	728	734
Glasgow City	22,845	22,213	22,213	22,213	22,213
Highland	4,674	4,070	4,053	4,117	4,139
Inverclyde	1,717	1,674	1,370	1,036	1,005
Midlothian	9	9	9	9	0
Moray	327	332	333	342	347
North Ayrshire	2,548	2,524	2,524	2,509	2,504
North Lanarkshire	574	482	481	502	515
Orkney	965	912	885	789	424
Perth and Kinross	1,699	1,614	1,579	1,568	1,544
Renfrewshire	933	695	677	799	821
Scottish Borders, The	3,786	3,521	3,319	3,139	3,020
Shetland	414	395	383	371	371
South Ayrshire	450	450	454	459	462
South Lanarkshire	1,547	1,547	1,227	1,547	1,227
Stirling	438	438	438	437	437
West Dunbartonshire	450	450	450	450	0
West Lothian	29	29	29	29	29

Source: Scottish Executive Development Department IMP2 returns.

Note: There are weaknesses and inconsistencies in these estimates – see text of reply for background.

Councils’ Estimates of Number of Occupied Dwellings Below Tolerable Standard as a Percentage of Estimated Number of Households in the Council Area.

Local Authority	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
Scotland	112	109	100	90	84
Aberdeen City	1	1	1	1	1
Aberdeenshire	3	3	Not Known	Not Known	1
Angus	1	1	1	1	1
Argyll and Bute	17	17	15	15	15
Clackmannanshire	1	1	1	1	1
Dumfries and Galloway	1	1	1	1	0
Dundee City	0	1	1	0	0
East Ayrshire	1	1	1	1	1
East Dunbartonshire	0	0	0	0	0
East Lothian	3	3	3	2	2
East Renfrewshire	0	0	0	0	0
Edinburgh, City of	2	2	0	0	0
Eilean Siar	24	25	25	18	18
Falkirk	0	0	0	0	0
Fife	0	0	0	0	0
Glasgow City	8	8	8	8	8
Highland	5	5	4	5	5
Inverclyde	5	5	4	3	3
Midlothian	0	0	0	0	0
Moray	1	1	1	1	1
North Ayrshire	4	4	4	4	4
North Lanarkshire	0	0	0	0	0
Orkney	12	11	10	9	5
Perth and Kinross	3	3	3	3	3
Renfrewshire	1	1	1	1	1
Scottish Borders, The	8	7	7	6	6
Shetland	4	4	4	4	4
South Ayrshire	1	1	1	1	1
South Lanarkshire	1	1	1	1	1
Stirling	1	1	1	1	1
West Dunbartonshire	1	1	1	1	0
West Lothian	0	0	0	0	0

Note: There are weaknesses and inconsistencies in these estimates – see text of reply for background.

There are two measures of unemployment used in the UK. Unemployment (previously know as International Labour Organisation (ILO) unemployment) and the claimant count. There are significant differences between the unemployment level derivedfrom the ILO unemployment measure and the claimant count. The ILO measure of unemployment is a wider definition and includes individuals who are actively seeking work as well as those claiming job seekers benefits, whereas claimant count only includes those claiming job seekers benefits.

Unemployment levels obtained from the Labour Force Survey using the ILO definition is the Executive’s preferred measure of unemployment. However, it is currently less reliable for geographical areas lower than Scotland level. The claimant count is based on administrative records and is more reliable at local authority level.

Table 1: Unemployment Levels by Local Authority Area, Scotland

Area	Unemployment (ILO), Total 16+	Claimant Count August 2004
Scotland	151,000	94,494
Aberdeen City	*	2,683
Aberdeenshire	*	1,915
Angus	*	1,933
Argyll and Bute	*	1,414
Clackmannanshire	*	1,055
Dumfries and Galloway	*	2,208
Dundee City	*	3,889
East Ayrshire	*	3,198
East Dunbartonshire	*	1,199
East Lothian	*	936
East Renfrewshire	*	916
City of Edinburgh	11,000	7,194
Eilean Siar (Western Isles)	*	594
Falkirk	*	2,758
Fife	11,000	7,900
Glasgow City	24,000	16,616
Highland	*	2,927
Inverclyde	*	2,829
Midlothian	*	1,026
Moray	*	1,008
North Ayrshire	*	3,854
North Lanarkshire	13,000	6,562
Orkney Islands	*	177
Perth and Kinross	*	1,566
Renfrewshire	*	3,510
Scottish Borders	*	1,092
Shetland Islands	*	228
South Ayrshire	*	2,208
South Lanarkshire	*	5,039
Stirling	*	1,209
West Dunbartonshire	*	2,454
West Lothian	*	2,397

Source: Labour Force Survey, 2004 Spring Quarter, Seasonally Adjusted.

First Release: Labour Market Statistics, Scotland September 2004.

Note: *Sample size too small for reliable estimate.

The £3 million for local anti-litter initiatives as answered in question S1W-33327 relates to indicative figures received from local authorities as part of the £95 million End Year Flexibility funding for Quality of Life activities for 2002. Councils made the decisions at a local level on the most appropriate levels of additional spending on improving the local environment and/or services for children and young people.

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/webapp/search_wa.

Local Environmental Audit and Management System (LEAMS) will provide a performance indicator for street cleanliness to be published by Audit Scotland in 2005. The impact of any additional funding that Councils choose to spend from the Quality of Life funds should be captured within this new performance indicator.

The estimated £3 million spend by local authorities for local anti-litter initiatives in 2002 is set out in the table.

Local Authority	£
Aberdeen, City	112,000
Aberdeenshire	-
Angus	39,000
Argyll and Bute	-
Clackmannanshire	30,000
Dumfries and Galloway	60,000
Dundee	124,000
East Ayrshire	50,000
East Dunbartonshire	70,000
East Lothian	90,000
East Renfrewshire	117,000
Edinburgh, City	240,000
Eilean Siar	50,000
Falkirk	100,000
Fife	280,000
Glasgow	625,000
Highland	9,500
Inverclyde	-
Midlothian	-
Moray	-
North Ayrshire	64,500
North Lanarkshire	290,000
Orkney	-
Perth and Kinross	7,500
Renfrewshire	100,000
Scottish Borders	-
Shetland	80,000
South Ayrshire	143,000
South Lanarkshire	100,000
Stirling	167,000
West Dunbartonshire	165,000
West Lothian	-
Total	3,113,500

2003-04 reports have been collated by Keep Scotland Beautiful and have been issued to local authorities following completion of the first year operation of LEAMS. However, it has been decided by Audit Scotland that as the first year was run essentially as a pilot, the final overall marking for each local authority taken from their first year reports will not be formally published as Performance Indicators. It will be up to each individual authority to decide if they make their own report public.

The first performance indicators to be published by Audit Scotland will be the  2004-05 figures and these should be available in autumn 2005.

The Commission proposal to amend the welfare conditions of animals during transport did not receive sufficient EU-wide support and was not adopted, therefore the proposal to ban the commercial transportation of puppies and kittens under eight weeks of age unless accompanied by their mother has not been implemented. The current legislation remains The Welfare of Animals Transport Order 1997 which prohibits the commercial transportation of new-born animalswhose navel has not completely healed.

A total of six patients with a Scottish postcode have been placed on the waiting list for a heart-lung transplant since 1999. Because of the small number of patients involved, it is not possible to give the figure for each year on grounds of patient confidentiality.

It is not possible to give an average waiting time because of the small number of patients involved. The length of time a person has to wait for a transplant is dependent on a suitable donor organ becoming available.

As the length of time someone has to wait for such an assessment is directly related to the person’s condition, the average waiting time would not be meaningful.

The SKIPPER package was originally developed by ISD Scotland, in the mid 1990s, as a means of supporting NHSScotland in planning and performance management. It is based on old pre-web technology and is expensive to maintain, distribute and support. Difficulties have increased with the introduction and use of more modern operating systems (e.g. Windows 2000) where the successful installation of SKIPPER requires much more effort.

Finally, the knowledge that the system needed substantial development to reflect changes in information requirements and organisational changes in NHSScotland led ISD Scotland to conclude that it was not viable to continue to support SKIPPER.

The final release of SKIPPER was at end of May 2004. Before reaching a final decision ISD Scotland reviewed to what extent there were alternative sources to the SKIPPER screens. In some cases SKIPPER duplicated information published on the ISD Scotland website. Indeed, ISD Scotland found that the majority of SKIPPER screens had an alternative source, although not necessarily with the same level of detail. ISD is committed to continual improvement of the contents of its website and is confident that, in time, much of the useful information, previously on SKIPPER, can be made available through the web.