Questions and answers

Question reference: S5W-17278

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 21 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that landlords and tenants are not penalised by late payment administration fees by property factors while cost disputes are ongoing.

The Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011 (the Act) provides protections for homeowners who use the services of a property factor. This includes homeowners who may be landlords. The Act makes provision for a register of property factors, a Code of Conduct, which amongst other things sets minimum standards of practice where factors are applying late payment charges, and a route of appeal to the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland Housing and Property Chamber (First-tier Tribunal) where disputes arise. If a case relating to a disputed debt is accepted by the First-tier Tribunal and referred to a tribunal for consideration, the factor must not apply any interest or late payment charges in respect of the disputed items during the period that the tribunal is considering the case.

If a tenant has contracted with a landlord to pay factoring fees as part of their tenancy agreement the obligation to pay such fees will be a separate matter between the tenant and the landlord.

Question reference: S5W-17276

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 21 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what procedures are in place to protect landlords from pursuit of payment by property factors in such cases where documentation exists placing responsibility for factoring fees on the tenant.

The Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011 (the Act) provides protections for homeowners who use the services of a property factor. This includes homeowners who may be landlords. The Act makes provision for a register of property factors, a Code of Conduct, which amongst other things sets minimum standards of practice where factors are recovering debt, and a route of appeal to the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland Housing and Property Chamber (First-tier Tribunal) where disputes arise.

If a tenant has contracted with a landlord to pay factoring fees as part of their tenancy agreement and fails to make those payments, then the landlord can take a case to the First-tier Tribunal to evict the tenant for breach of their tenancy agreement.

Question reference: S5W-17277

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 21 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what protections exist for landlords where the (a) quality and (b) cost of their compulsory building’s insurance coverage is determined in advance by property factoring companies.

The Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011 (the Act) provides protections for homeowners who use the services of a property factor. This includes homeowners who may be landlords. The Act makes provision for a register of property factors, a Code of Conduct, which amongst other things sets minimum standards of practice where factors have an agreement with homeowners to arrange any type of insurance, and a route of appeal to the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland Housing and Property Chamber where disputes arise.

Question reference: S5O-02248

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 June 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it can provide an update on the enquiry by Professor Alison Britton into the review of mesh implants, and when it expects the findings to be published.

Question reference: S5W-16406

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 17 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) action it has taken and (b) promotional materials it has published to ensure that victims of fraud are aware that Police Scotland is the correct organisation to report the crime to.

Police Scotland work with a wide range of partners including the Scottish Government through the Serious Organised Crime Taskforce to implement Scotland’s Serious Organised Crime Strategy and reduce the harm caused by those intent on exploiting vulnerabilities for their own financial gain. While the Scottish Government has not published any promotional materials, Police Scotland has produced a leaflet entitled Victims of Fraud , which provides advice on some common types of fraud and how to report it. Police Scotland have also recently conducted a social media campaign to raise awareness of fraud.

I would encourage anyone who has been a victim of fraud or any other crime to report it to Police Scotland by calling 101, or 999 in an emergency.

Question reference: S5W-16403

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 17 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration has been given to Police Scotland formally participating in the UK's national reporting centre for fraud and cyber-crime, Action Fraud.

Question reference: S5O-02141

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 May 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what arrangements are in place for patients at the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre who require treatment at weekends or after 6 pm on weekdays.

Question reference: S5W-16404

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 16 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what channels of communication have been established between Police Scotland and Action Fraud for situations where victims of fraud in Scotland have reported the crime directly to Action Fraud instead of Police Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-15923

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Annabelle Ewing on 1 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) dogs have been destroyed and (b) owners have been convicted (i) nationally, (ii) in the Eastwood constituency and (iii) in the East Renfrewshire local authority area in each of the last five years under the (A) Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 and (B) Control of Dogs (Scotland) Act 2010.

Information on numbers of dogs destroyed is not held centrally. The following table provides information on convictions at national level, constituency level is not held centrally. Our database shows there were no convictions in East Renfrewshire local authority for this period.

Number of people convicted under specific dog legislation, where main charge, 2012-13 to 2016-17

	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17
DANGEROUS DOGS ACT 1991	97	86	94	78	64
CONTROL OF DOGS (SCOTLAND) ACT 2010	4	4	9	6	9
Total convicted - Scotland	101	90	103	84	73

Source: Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings database

Question reference: S5W-15924

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Annabelle Ewing on 1 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has carried out of the impact of section 10 of the Control of Dogs (Scotland) Act 2010 in extending the scope of section 3(1) of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 to cover any place, whether public or not.

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