Questions and answers

Question reference: S3W-38757

Asked by: Christina McKelvie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 January 2011
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 20 January 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how much money was allocated to each local authority for the construction of new council houses in (a) 2003-04, (b) 2004-05, (c) 2005-06, (d) 2006-07, (e) 2007-08, (f) 2008-09 and (g) 2009-10.

No funding was allocated to local authorities to support the construction of new council houses between 2003-04 and 2008-09. In 2009-10, the Scottish Government allocated £49.9 million across two rounds of funding to support new council house building. A further £30.03 million was allocated in a third round of funding in 2010-11.

Local Authority	Round 1 Allocation (2009-10)	Round 2 Allocation (2009-10)	Round 3 Allocation (2010-11)	Rounds 1 to 3 Total
Aberdeen City	78 units £1.95 million	42 units £1.05 million	31 units £0.93 million	151 units £3.93 million
Aberdeenshire	35 units £875,000	74 units £1.85 million	45 units £1.35 million	154 units £4.075 million
Angus	Unsuccessful application	38 £950,000	43 units, £1.29 million	81 units £2.24 million
Argyll and Bute	Did not apply	Did not apply	Did not apply	N/A
City of Edinburgh	134 units £3.35 million	50 units £1.25 million	96 units, £2.88 million	280 units, £7.48 million
Clackmannan-shire	Did not apply	24 units £600,000	Did not apply	24 units £600,000
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar	Did not apply	Did not apply	Did not apply	N/A
Dumfries and Galloway	Did not apply	Did not apply	Did not apply	N/A
Dundee City	32 units £800,000	Unsuccessful application	8 units £240,000	40 units £1.04 million
East Ayrshire	10 units £250,000	30 units 750,000	10 units £300,000	50 units £1.3 million
East Dunbarton-shire	Did not apply	26 units £650,000	26 units £780,000	52 units £1.43 million
East Lothian	117 units £250,000	54 units £1.35 million	96 units £2.88 million	267 units £7.155 million
East Renfrewshire	Did not apply	Did not apply	Did not apply	N/A
Falkirk	54 units £1.35 million	42 units £1.05 million	36 units £1.08 million	132 units, £3.48 million
Fife	41 units £1,025 million	57 units £1.425 million	62 units £1.86 million	160 units £4.31 million
Glasgow City	Did not apply	Unsuccessful application	Did not apply	N/A
Highland	Did not apply	51 units £1.275 million	55 units £1.65 million	106 units £2.925 million
Inverclyde	Did not apply	Did not apply	Did not apply	N/A
Midlothian	252 units £2.52 million	53 units £1.325 million	47 units £1.41 million	352 units, £5.255 million
Moray	48 units £1.2 million	Unsuccessful application	124 units, £3.72 million	172 units, £4.92 million
North Ayrshire	23 units £575,000	26 units £650,000	14 units £0.42 million	63 units £1.645 million
North Lanarkshire	78 units £1.95 million	105 units £2.625 million	35 units, £1.05 million	218 units, £5.625 million
Orkney	30 units £750,000	38 units £950,000	10 units £300,000	78 units £2 million
Perth and Kinross	26 units £650,000	10 units £250,000	45 units, £1.35 million	81 units, £2.25 million
Renfrewshire	Did not apply	Did not apply	Did not apply	N/A
Scottish Borders	Did not apply	Did not apply	Did not apply	N/A
Shetland Islands	Unsuccessful application	Unsuccessful application	20 units £600,000	20 units £600,000
South Ayrshire	N/A	42 units £1.05 million	26 units £780,000	68 units £1.83 million
South Lanarkshire	61 units £1.525 million	20 units £500,000	25 units £750,000	106 units £2.775 million
Stirling	25 units £625,000	47 units £1.175 million	55 units £1.65 million	127 units £3.45 million
West Dunbartonshire	Did not apply	Did not apply	Did not apply	N/A
West Lothian	298 units £3.73 million	125 units £3.125 million	92 units £2.76 million	515 units £9.615 million
Total	1342 units £26.05 million	954 units £23.85 million	1,001 units, £30.03 million	3,297 units, £79.93 million

Question reference: S3W-38758

Asked by: Christina McKelvie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 January 2011
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 20 January 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many new council houses were (a) built and (b) planned by each local authority in (a) 2003-04, (b) 2004-05, (c) 2005-06, (d) 2006-07, (e) 2007-08, (f) 2008-09 and (g) 2009-10.

The number of new council houses started and completed in each financial year since 1996-97 is published by local authority area on the Housing Statistics for Scotland pages of the Scottish Government''s website at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Housing-Regeneration/HSfS/NewBuildLA.

With regard to council houses planned by each local authority, the Affordable Housing Securing Planning Consent Survey collects data from planning authorities on planning applications that have been granted consent. Table 1 shows how many new council houses were granted consent in each financial year from 2005-06, the earliest date for which these data are available.

As there is no comprehensive mechanism for monitoring planning applications, it is possible that some applications that should be recorded in the survey are not recorded at the time they are received. They may be recorded in subsequent years.

Table 1: Units Consented For Local Authority Rent, by Planning Authority Area

	Units Consented for Local Authority Rent^1,2,3
	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	Total
Aberdeen City	33	0	0	0	0	33
Aberdeenshire	0	4	0	4	23	31
Angus	0	0	0	0	0	0
Argyll and Bute	0	0	0	0	0	0
Cairngorms⁴	-	-	-	-	-	-
Clackmannanshire	0	0	0	0	0	0
Dumfries and Galloway	0	0	0	0	0	0
Dundee City	0	0	0	0	21	21
East Ayrshire	0	0	0	0	10	10
East Dunbartonshire	0	0	0	0	0	0
East Lothian	0	22	38	126	152	338
East Renfrewshire	0	0	0	0	0	0
Edinburgh, City of	0	0	0	0	107	107
Eilean Siar	0	0	0	0	0	0
Falkirk	0	4	3	0	62	69
Fife	0	0	0	0	0	0
Glasgow City	0	0	0	0	0	0
Highland	0	0	0	0	0	0
Inverclyde	0	0	0	0	0	0
Loch Lomond and the Trossachs	0	0	0	0	0	0
Midlothian	0	262	132	242	218	854
Moray	0	0	0	0	0	0
North Ayrshire	0	0	0	0	27	27
North Lanarkshire	0	0	0	20	0	20
Orkney Islands	0	0	0	0	0	0
Perth and Kinross	0	0	0	0	10	10
Renfrewshire	0	0	0	0	0	0
Scottish Borders	0	0	0	0	0	0
Shetland Islands	10	6	0	2	16	34
South Ayrshire	0	0	0	0	0	0
South Lanarkshire	0	0	0	0	0	0
Stirling	0	0	0	10	0	10
West Dunbartonshire	0	0	0	0	0	0
West Lothian	0	0	0	0	0	0
Scotland	43	298	173	404	646	1,564

Notes:

1. Source: Affordable Housing Securing Planning Consent Survey 2009-10.

2. Numbers of units in this table are for housing units intended for use as rental properties by local authorities. The majority of these contributions (84%) are funded entirely by the public (or voluntary) sector. Most of the remaining 16% are from contributions of land, or sales of built units by developers at a price which allows this type of provision to occur.

3. Units receiving consent are not guaranteed to be/have been built.

4. Cairngorms developments have been recorded by overlapping authorities.

Question reference: S3W-38756

Asked by: Christina McKelvie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 January 2011
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 19 January 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how much money has been allocated to each local authority area under the CashBack for Communities programme since the inception of the scheme, also broken down by year.

The Scottish Government does not hold the amount allocated broken down by each local authority except for the funding given to Youthlink Scotland, which is broken down in this way for each year. The following table sets out the amounts administered by Youthlink Scotland since 2007 within each local authority. However, as from 1 April 2011 we will be collecting this information from all CashBack partners, which will allow allocations to be shown by each local authority.

To date the Scottish Government has committed to invest £24 million in the CashBack for Communities programme which includes diversionary and participatory projects for young people across Scotland, and in a wide range of projects.

So far over 300,000 young people participate in CashBack for Communities activities.

Cashback for Communities Youth Work Fund, Summary of Awards by Local Authority in Each Funding Round at 17 January 2011

LA NO	LA	Round 1 Awards Total	Round 2 Awards Total	Round 3 Awards Total	Round 4 Phase 1 Awards Total	LA Total Awards
1	Aberdeen	£24,966.00	£63,525.00	£33,623.00	£47,808.00	£169,922.00
2	Aberdeenshire	£28,620.00	£52,379.56	£56,987.00	£37,576.00	£175,562.56
3	Angus	£7,200.00	£35,800.00	£22,501.00	£8,731.00	£74,232.00
4	Argyll and Bute	£40,000.00	Nil	£21,474.00	£19,880.00	£81,354.00
5	Clackmannanshire	Nil	£40,000.00	£9,721.00	£19,904.00	£69,625.00
6	Dumfries and Galloway	£9,565.00	£51,435.00	£39,662.00	£36,282.00	£136,944.00
7	Dundee	£79,532.00	£42,468.00	£27,405.00	£71,349.00	£220,754.00
8	East Ayrshire	Nil	£82,000.00	£23,059.00	£12,949.00	£118,008.00
9	East Dunbartonshire	£12,692.00	£26,307.86	£19,591.00	Nil	£58,590.86
10	East Lothian	£31,000.00	Nil	£18,983.00	£17,094.00	£67,077.00
11	East Renfrewshire	Nil	£34,301.74	£17,077.00	£15,256.00	£66,634.74
12	Edinburgh	£176,383.00	£43,617.00	£71,185.00	£79,581.00	£370,766.00
13	Falkirk	Nil	£68,975.00	£27,829.00	£18,401.00	£115,205.00
14	Fife	£71,522.00	£113,478.00	£72,928.00	£25,974.00	£283,902.00
15	Glasgow	£103,711.00	£576,259.00	£131,558.00	£70,667.00	£882,195.00
16	Highland	£72,751.00	£11,249.00	£49,854.00	£5,000.00	£138,854.00
17	Inverclyde	£13,659.00	£69,341.00	£15,739.00	£15,041.00	£113,780.00
18	Midlothian	£8,132.00	£24,867.00	£15,438.00	£22,471.00	£70,908.00
19	Moray	£22,146.00	£4,854.00	£18,941.00	£11,000.00	£56,941.00
20	North Ayrshire	£4,057.00	£89,870.95	£28,215.00	£29,410.00	£151,552.95
21	North Lanarkshire	£224,000.00	Nil	£61,468.00	£80,329.00	£365,797.00
22	Orkney Islands	£4,445.00	£5,555.00	£5,296.00	£4,925.00	£20,221.00
23	Perth and Kinross	£30,091.00	£20,867.20	£29,689.00	£15,859.00	£96,506.20
24	Renfrewshire	Nil	£100,000.00	£30,952.00	£21,524.00	£152,476.00
25	Scottish Borders	£30,429.00	£6,571.00	£24,036.00	£15,603.00	£76,639.00
26	Shetland Islands	Nil	£10,000.00	£6,320.00	Nil	£16,320.00
27	South Ayrshire	Nil	£49,999.61	£30,015.00	£24,532.00	£104,546.61
28	South Lanarkshire	£144,698.00	£31,302.00	£58,527.00	£41,459.00	£275,986.00
29	Stirling	Nil	£40,000.00	£14,776.00	£15,390.00	£70,166.00
30	West Dunbartonshire	£42,548.00	£39,452.00	£17,672.00	£9,822.00	£109,494.00
31	West Lothian	£12,600.00	£58,388.37	£42,624.00	£32,477.00	£146,089.37
32	Western Isles	£4,920.00	£5,080.00	£7,284.00	£7,284.00	£24,568.00
>	Round Totals	£1,199,667.00	£1,797,943.29	£1,050,429.00	£833,578.00	£4,881,617.29

Question reference: S3W-37969

Asked by: Christina McKelvie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 November 2010
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 14 December 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive (a) how many and (b) what percentage of its employees is paid at or above the living wage target of £7.15 per hour and how this compares with each year since 1999.

All 5,492 staff (100%) in the core directorates of the Scottish Government are paid above £7.15 per hour. The minimum rate of pay in the government is currently £7.23 per hour.

The Scottish Living Wage was established in 2009 at £7.00 per hour. The minimum rate of pay of staff in the government in 2009 was set in 2008 as part of a three-year pay award and before the establishment of the Scottish Living Wage. At that time, 95.1% of the 5,591 staff were paid above £7.00 per hour.

Since the Scottish Living Wage was only established in 2009, there are no comparison figures for the years prior to that date.

Question reference: S3O-11695

Asked by: Christina McKelvie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 October 2010
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 28 October 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what position it takes on tuition fees.

Question reference: S3W-36436

Asked by: Christina McKelvie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 September 2010
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 5 October 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many modern apprenticeships were there in (a) 2006-07 and (b) 2009-10, broken down by local authority.

Question reference: S3W-36403

Asked by: Christina McKelvie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 September 2010
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 4 October 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what support it gives to the development of rugby.

Question reference: S3W-36406

Asked by: Christina McKelvie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 September 2010
Current Status: Answered by Bruce Crawford on 1 October 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what benefits accrued from the Cabinet’s summer programme.

The Cabinet''s summer programme has given local communities a greater opportunity to speak directly to Ministers about important issues of local and national concern. The Scottish Cabinet visited Dornoch, Stirling, Isle of Bute and Kilmarnock. As well as the formal Cabinet meeting, ministers hosted public meetings on the Government''s Vision for Scotland, staged receptions to celebrate Scotland''s Year of Food and Drink, and undertook visits and engagements around each meeting. More than 1,000 people attended events as part of the Cabinet''s summer programme

This year''s summer Cabinet programme follows on from two previous years of successful summer Cabinet events in Dundee, Melrose, Stornoway, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Dumfries, Inverness, Pitlochry and Skye.

Further information on the Cabinet''s summer programme for this and previous years on the Scottish Government website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/cabinets2010.

Question reference: S3W-36404

Asked by: Christina McKelvie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 September 2010
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 30 September 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is satisfied that dawn raids on asylum seeker families have ended.

This government has made very clear its opposition to dawn raids and to the enforced removal and detention of children. The Minister for Culture and External Affairs, Fiona Hyslop, wrote to Damian Green, the UK Government''s Minister for Immigration, on 9 September 2010 asking for urgent clarification of the UK Government position and urging him not to renege on the promise to end child detention. We will continue to pursue this issue with UK Government ministers until they deliver on this commitment.

Question reference: S3W-36405

Asked by: Christina McKelvie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 September 2010
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 30 September 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will enhance the assistance that it gives to asylum seekers and, if so, how.

Asylum support (accommodation and cash support) for asylum seekers is a matter for the UK Border Agency. However, through the Race, Religion and Refugee Integration Funding Stream the Scottish Government has provided £5.6 million for the period 2008-11 to improve the lives of minority ethnic and faith communities in Scotland including refugees and asylum seekers, migrant workers and gypsies/travellers.

No decisions have been made regarding funding post 2011 which will be subject to the spending review.

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