Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Executive publisheda Plan for Action on Alcohol Problems in 2002. The plan sets out a range of actionsto tackle alcohol problems in Scotland.

Delivery of the aims of theplan is being taken forward by a range of organisations including at a local levelthrough Alcohol and Drugs Action Teams (ADATs). Argyll and Bute and West Dunbartonshire are covered by the Argyll and Clyde ADAT other than theClydebank area of West Dunbartonshire, which is covered by Greater Glasgow ADAT.

Since2002-03 each ADAT has been tasked with producing annual Corporate Action Plans whichinclude actions that are being taken forward locally to tackle alcohol related problems.These are available on the ISD website at:

http://www.drugmisuse.isdscotland.org/dat/cap/dat.htm.

Someof the activities to tackle alcohol problemsin these areas include almost £500,000 being spent in West Dunbartonshire to supportnew service development for alcohol problems, almost £400,000 to extend and developcommunity alcohol services in Argyll and Bute and over £300,000 in Greater Glasgow(which is inclusive of the Clydebank area of West Dunbartonshire) to develop projectsaimed at early intervention in community and primary health care and workplace settings.

Additional information can beobtained direct from NHS boards. Information is not available centrally on tacklingalcohol problems prior to 2002-03.

Grant Aided Expenditure (GAE)is not a budget or money but is the methodology for apportioning funding to localauthorities.

Before Free Personal and NursingCare was introduced local authorities were already receiving funding to providepersonal care services without charge to those people who could not afford to payfor them. Local authorities are expected to continue to use this money as well asthe additional funds provided for the policy.

£162 million has been providednationally for the current year. £85.3 million of this is provided for personaland nursing care payments on behalf of people in care homes. Line (1) of the followingtable represents the amount provided for Argyll and Bute and West Dunbartonshire councils.

The balance of this money, £76.7million, has been provided for personal care at home and this is included in the£467.3 million provided in the GAE line Services for Home Based Elderly. Line (2)of the following table represents the amount provided under that GAE line for Argylland Bute and West Dunbartonshire councils.

GAE Line		2002-03 (£ Million)	2003-04 (£ Million)	2004-05 (£ Million)	2005-06 (£ Million)	2006-07 (£ Million)
(1) Free personal and nursing care in care homes	Argyll and Bute Council	1.583	2.174	2.266	2.360	2.488
	West Dunbartonshire Council	0.537	0.738	0.769	0.801	0.844
(2) Services for the Home Based Elderly	Argyll and Bute Council	6.332	8.327	8.597	9.013	9.836
	West Dunbartonshire Council	6.223	8.204	8.979	9.422	10.174

 

Drug Action Teams are responsiblefor the strategic planning and co-ordination of action to tackle drug misuse intheir area. Argyll and Bute and West Dunbartonshire are covered by the Argyll and Clyde ADAT and the Clydebank areaof West Dunbartonshire is covered by the Greater Glasgow ADAT. When developingdrug treatment and rehabilitation services, Drug Action Teams and their local partnersassess the level of need in their areas and have to ensure that the treatment needsof their local drug using population are met.

Each Drug Action Team producesan Annual Corporate Action Plan which sets out the actions they plan to take overthe year to address local drug problems. These plans are available on the ISD websitehttp://www.drugmisuse.isdscotland.org.

The funding allocated for drugand alcohol treatment services in the Argyll and Clyde ADAT and the Greater GlasgowADAT since 1999 is as follows:

Year	Argyll and Clyde ADAT	Greater Glasgow ADAT
1999-2000	901,000	3,502,000
2000-01	984,000	3,670,000
2001-02	1,111,000	4,387,000
2002-03	1,338,000	4,488,000
2003-04	1,338,000	4,488,000
2004-05	1,988,000	5,488,000
2005-06	1,988,000	5,488,000
2006-07	2,226,000	6,392,000

 

The information requested isshown in the following table.

	Argyll and Bute Council (£ Million)	Increase %	West Dunbartonshire Council (£ Million)	Increase %
1997-98	104.687	0.4	112.239	-2.3
1998-99	105.352	0.6	109.574	-2.4
1999-2000	108.878	3.3	115.424	5.3
2000-01	111.694	2.6	118.784	2.9
2001-02	120.464	7.9	131.795	11.0
2002-03	131.200	8.9	141.489	7.4
2003-04	145.735	11.1	154.660	9.3
2004-05	157.810	8.3	164.698	6.5
2005-06	166.670	5.6	174.674	6.1
2006-07	173.486	4.1	176.841	1.2
2007-08	177.935	2.6	181.567	2.7

Notes:

(i) There have been a numberof adjustments to the GAE totals over the period covered, including from 2006-07the transfer of concessionary fares provision from schemes locally administeredby councils to a national scheme administered by Transport Scotland. If concessionaryfares are taken out of the 2005-06 figures for consistency, the increases between2005-06 and 2006-07 would be 4.8% for Argyll and Bute Council and 1.4% for WestDunbartonshire Council.

(ii) Grant aided expenditureprovision is neither a budget nor a spending target. Rather it is part of a methodologyused in the local government financial settlement for calculating the overall levelof support the Scottish Executive provides through the block revenue support grant.

(iii) The methodology used inthe local government financial settlement protects those councils with falling populations(such as West Dunbartonshire Council). It ensured for example that in 2006-07, allcouncils received a revenue support grant increase of at least two per cent over2005-06.

The Executive has increased resourcessubstantially to Argyll and Bute and WestDunbartonshire Councils, as indeed to all councils in Scotland, toenable them to deliver community care policies in their areas. Grant Aided Expenditure for community care across Scotland hasmore than doubled from £810 million in 1997-98 to £1.7 billion in 2006-07. Thatincludes £162 million this year for free personal and nursing care; £48 milliona year specifically to support more older people at home, and £13 million from thisyear for faster access to home care. In September 2004 we introduced the targetof increasing, by 2008, the number of older people receiving intensive home careto 30% of all older people receiving long-term care.

The information is not availablein the format requested. However the following road safety schemes have been implementedon trunk roads in these areas since 1999.

Year	Route	Location	Description of Measures
1999-2000	A82	Garshake Road Junction	Right turn facility
2000-01	A82	Crosslet	Anti-skid treatment
2000-01	A82	Dumbuck Quarry	New signs, anti-skid treatment
2000-01	A82	Milton to Dumbuck	New signs, anti-skid treatment
2000-01	A82	Balloch to Tarbert Route Accident Reduction Plan	Signing, lining, anti-skid treatment, safety fence, chevrons and bollards
2000-01	A82	Stoneymollan Roundabout	Anti-skid treatment, signing, chevrons, transverse yellow bar markings and carriageway markings
2000-01	A828	Connel to Ballachulish Route Accident Reduction Plan	Signing, lining, anti-skid treatment, chevrons and bollards
2002-03	A82	Barloan Roundabout	Anti- -skid treatment, signing, chevrons, refurbishment of yellow bar markings and carriageway markings
2003-04	A82	In the vicinity of Greenhead Road	Closure of central reserve gap, vehicle activated sign, anti-skid surfacing, signing and lining
2003-04	A82	Milton	Carriageway markings
2004-05	A82	West of Dalnottar Interchange to Gavinsburn	Carriageway markings
2004-05	A85	Approaches to Lakefield Railway Bridge	Anti-skid surfacing , vehicle activated signing.
2005-06	A83	Loch Fyne Oyster Bar Junction	Signing, lining with red screed to identify existing right turn ghost island
2005-06	A85	Connel to Lochawe Route Accident Reduction Plan	Anti-skid surfacing, signing and lining
2005-06	A82	Ar Rhuba Mor	Signing
2005-06	A83	Loch Gair	Anti-Skid Surfacing, signing and lining

 

Information about projects undertakenon the local road network in these areas is a matter for the local authority.

Transport Scotland hasthe operational responsibility for this area and can be contacted for more informationif required.

We have funded a range of measureswhich contribute to crime prevention including Make our Communities Safer Challenge Competition, the Community Safety Partnership Award Programme, AntisocialBehaviour funding and our investment in record numbers of police officers.

Underthe Make our Communities Safer Challenge Competition which ended in March 2002,the awards detailed in the following table were made:

Argylland Bute

Year	Project	Award
1998-99	Rothesay Town Centre CCTV	£63,300
1999-2000		£0
2000-01	Campbeltown CCTV	£9,500
2001-02	Dunoon New Community Schools	£8,100

 

West Dunbartonshire

Year	Project	Award
1998-99		£0
1999-2000	Dumbarton Town Centre CCTV	£160,000
2000-01	New Bonhill CCTV	£140,000
2001-02	Clydebank Trust CCTV Youth Shelters	£129,440 £18,500

 

On1 April 2002 we introduced a new Community Safety Partnership (CSP)Award Programme for all local authority-led CSPs. The programme assists CSPs toidentify and address their local community safety priorities, including crime prevention.The awards for 2002-03 onwards are set out in the following table:

Year	Argyll and Bute	West Dunbartonshire
2002-03	£84,127	£118,491
2003-04	£78,465	£122,875
2004-05	£87,609	£120,508
2005-06	£75,097.39	£108,594
2006-07	£75,097.39	£108,594

 

Argylland Bute and West Dunbartonshire Community Planning Partnerships have been allocatedfunding to tackle antisocial behaviour over the period 2004-08 as set out in thefollowing table. This has included funding for a range of initiatives, which includemeasures that can contribute to crime prevention, such as community wardens.

 

Year	Argyll and Bute	West Dunbartonshire
2004-05	£184,000	£1,364,000
2005-06	£204,700	£1,513,550
2006-07	£247,000	£1,765,000
2007-08	£260,000	£1,900,000

 

PoliceGAE funding is paid directly to Strathclyde Joint Police Board and it is for theChief Constable of Strathclyde Police to decide on the best use of the funding availableto him. The amount of police GAE allocated to Strathclyde Police in each year since1999 is shown in the following table.

Year	Police GAE (£000)
1998-99	328,336
1999-2000	339,260
2000-01	352,183
2001-02	370,940
2002-03	389,140
2003-04	421,023
2004-05	444,070
2005-06	476,424
2006-07	496,307

 

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

Information is not held in theform requested. For private sector dwellings, information is held by main postcodearea. In the PA postcode area, a total of 3,848 houses in the private sector arenow centrally heated as a result of the central heating programme.

Information on installationsin council properties is held at local authority level. In the West DunbartonshireCouncil area, a total of 202 council owned dwellings are now centrally heated asa result of the central heating programme. In the Argyll and Bute Council area atotal of 151 council owned dwellings had systems installed under the programme.

The information has been placedin the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 39878).

The information has been placedin the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 39879).