Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the UK Government on a wide range of issues including asylum seekers.

The Home Office is responsible for the Immigration Detention Centre at Dungavel House, Strathaven, under the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999. Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons for England and Wales will be responsible for inspection. However, the Immigration Service is currently consulting with the host authority, South Lanarkshire and Social Work Services Inspectorate regarding future arrangements.

There are an estimated 40,000 pensioners in the private sector who meet the eligibility criteria for the central heating initiative. A further 23,000 tenants of local authorities and over 6,000 housing association tenants will also benefit and it is anticipated that half of this number will be pensioners.

The central heating initiative will be reviewed over the summer period with a view to extending the programme and an announcement will be made in the autumn.

The central heating initiative is under review with a view to extending the programme to more people. An announcement will be made in the autumn.

The Scottish Executive issued a pro-forma as a means of verifying current addresses and basic details of service with Scottish Transport Group companies. This information will be used to update pension records before any distribution of ex-gratia payments can be made. The Executive expects to bring forward its proposals for the Scottish Parliament's consideration in the autumn.

The Scottish Executive maintains a website www.scotland.gov.uk/transport/stgpf on the matter of the Scottish Transport Group Pensions scheme and will update the information contained on its website when there are any substantial developments to report. In addition when the Scottish Parliament has agreed proposals for the making of ex-gratia payments to members of the Scottish Transport Group Pension Schemes details will be published in national newspapers.

None, although the proposed legislation, as currently drafted, would allow for the suspension of such rights while the community right to buy or crofting community right to buy is taking place. These tenants' rights would be resumed upon the conclusion of any transfer under the right to buy provisions.

When first planning for the central heating programme, we used the 1996 Scottish House Condition Survey to make an estimate of requirements and estimated that 140,000 dwellings required action. Earlier this year we asked councils and housing associations to let us know how many systems they had installed. Considerably more investment has been made in recent years than was first thought and so the actual number of public sector homes requiring central heating is now much lower than first estimated. This will allow us to accelerate the programme so that it can be completed by 2005 and enable us to extend it to include other deserving cases.

Information on the number of heating systems required for the overall programme is not held centrally. However, the commercial opportunities which the programme provides will boost the supply of central heating systems to meet the extra demand. We are ensuring that only the most efficient and cost-effective heating units are used, to maximise the benefits for householders and the public purse.

The number of engineers required to install the central heating units depends on the type of systems being installed, the geographical spread of households and the productivity of the engineers. We hold no information on the number of engineers currently in the industry or how many are expected to qualify, but the Managing Agent for the private sector will be expected to participate in recognised training and apprenticeship schemes to attract new trainees to the industry. The opportunities which the programme is generating should also encourage entry to the skills market. We are also undertaking both national and local research on the labour demands and skill requirements now being generated not just by the growing level of public spending on housing but also by the community ownership programme and other infrastructure investment.

Resources for the installation of central heating in all sectors of the stock, including housing associations, will be allocated from the central heating programme budget in the fuel poverty line of the Annual Expenditure Report.

Local authorities, housing associations and the Managing Agent for the private sector are responsible for ordering the systems for the their respective dwellings. We do not hold information on the number of ordered systems nor the cost of the units being installed. The cost of the units will vary depending upon the type of systems to be installed.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-14423.