Questions and answers

Question reference: S2W-14484

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 February 2005
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Curran on 14 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-13883 by Ms Margaret Curran on 8 February 2005, which ministers hold committee partnership meetings with members of parliamentary committees outwith scheduled committee meetings and on what basis committee members are invited to attend.

Question reference: S2W-14480

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 February 2005
Current Status: Answered by Johann Lamont on 14 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many registration of title applications have been rejected by the Land Register in each year for which the information is available.

The following table shows the position for the last three years compared to the intake for that period.

Year	Rejections	Intake	% Rejected
2002-03	35,152	273,630	12.8%
2003-04	42,933	333,623	12.9%
2004-05	53,986	357,978	14.8%

Question reference: S2W-14482

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 February 2005
Current Status: Answered by Johann Lamont on 14 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether anyone is potentially disadvantaged by delay in registration of title by the Land Register.

The date of registration in respect of a property is the date upon which Registers of Scotland receives the application for registration. The logging of an application on receipt secures the applicant’s interest in the property. Once an application has been received, no other party can lodge an application in respect of that property that would take precedence over the original application. This means that if the registration takes longer than usual, for example if the application is particularly complex, there is no legal disadvantage to the security of the applicant's title.

Question reference: S2W-14489

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 February 2005
Current Status: Answered by Johann Lamont on 14 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many registration of (a) title and (b) re-mortgage applications made have been made in each year since the creation of the Land Register.

The information collated by Registers of Scotland relates to the three different types of application that can be made to the Land Register. These are as follows:

an application for first registration of previously unregistered property,

an application for registration of a dealing with the whole of a registered interest in land, and

an application for registration of a transfer of part of a registered interest in land (a sub-division following a sale).

Once a property is registered in the Land Register any subsequent transaction involving that property (a transfer of title, a standard security, a discharge of a standard security) will be submitted as an application for registration of a dealing with whole.

The following table provides details of the number of applications for registration in the Land Register since the inception of land registration in 1981.

Year	First Registration	Transfer of Part	Dealing with Whole	Totals
1981	4,247	347	236	4,830
1982	7,187	1,136	1,176	9,499
1983	10,904	3,874	1,600	16,378
1984	18,110	2,700	6,815	27,625
1985	19,916	3,511	9,915	33,342
1986-87	30,417	5,215	20,812	56,444
1987-88	29,739	7,359	28,091	65,189
1988-89	31,172	9,786	36,676	77,634
1989-90	31,178	10,194	46,263	87,635
1990-91	25,392	9,013	53,753	88,158
1991-92	19,881	8,342	53,889	82,112
1992-93	18,014	7,517	48,950	74,481
1993-94	24,391	8,032	59,329	91,752
1994-95	26,132	9,442	58,253	93,827
1995-96	28,963	10,617	61,495	101,075
1996-97	36,709	12,163	68,792	117,664
1997-98	50,032	14,349	77,661	142,042
1998-99	46,387	15,588	92,024	153,999
1999-2000	55,466	16,833	101,213	173,512
2000-01	57,400	18,418	113,368	189,186
2001-02	76,693	22,211	144,130	243,034
2002-03	80,052	22,294	179,779	282,125
2003-04	76,094	26,169	240,145	342,408
2004-05 (to February 2005)	67,591	24,032	249,443	341,066

Registers of Scotland can also identify the total number of applications to register a dealing in the Land Register that relate to standard securities which includes mortgages and re-mortgages. This information is available from the year 2000 onwards:

Year	No. of Applications to Register a Standard Security
2000-01	25,327
2001-02	34,717
2002-03	48,829
2003-04	82,213
2004-05 (to February 2005)	92,401

Re-mortgage transactions will also have been recorded in the General Register of Sasines though the difference in classification of the different types of applications does not apply in that register.

Question reference: S2W-14485

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 February 2005
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 14 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many properties have been sold under the Rent to Mortgage scheme in each year since the scheme was introduced, broken down by local authority area

Table 1 lists all public authority dwellings sold under the Rent to Mortgage scheme from 1990 to 2004, by local authority area. The scheme was first introduced on a pilot basis by Scottish Homes in October 1989 but there were no sales recorded until 1990. Housing association dwellings are not included in the table (see note 2).

Table 1: Sales of Public Authority Dwellings, Under the Rent to Mortgage Scheme, by Local Authority Area, 1990 to 2004

Local Authority Area	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
Aberdeen City	0	5	18	76	19	48	43	27	15	19	16	15	7	4	0
Aberdeenshire	0	1	11	24	10	18	10	6	6	8	4	4	2	0	0
Angus	0	1	7	1	2	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Argyll and Bute	2	2	9	3	0	2	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Clackmannanshire	0	6	9	4	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Dumfries and Galloway	20	0	18	7	1	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Dundee City	0	0	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
East Ayrshire	0	3	11	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
East Dunbartonshire	5	1	7	9	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
East Lothian	0	7	26	2	4	8	6	3	1	0	1	0	0	1	0
East Renfrewshire	9	0	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
City of Edinburgh	0	4	3	4	4	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Falkirk	0	4	8	9	1	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Fife	12	18	46	5	4	1	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
City of Glasgow	14	2	13	6	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Highland	51	3	18	5	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Inverclyde	0	1	1	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Midlothian	0	5	14	3	3	3	1	2	0	0	3	0	0	0	0
Moray	0	0	16	2	1	3	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
North Ayrshire	0	4	3	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
North Lanarkshire	0	21	18	5	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Orkney	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Perth and Kinross	0	0	11	5	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Renfrewshire	0	4	35	5	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Scottish Borders	6	2	8	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Shetland	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
South Ayrshire	0	5	17	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
South Lanarkshire	7	17	19	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
Stirling	6	2	7	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
West Dunbartonshire	0	1	6	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
West Lothian	1	7	19	2	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Western Isles	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Totals	133	126	390	199	60	91	65	42	24	27	24	21	9	5	0

Notes:

1. The figures include public authority dwellings only (Local Authority, New Town Development Corporations and Scottish Homes dwellings).

2. Due to the nature of the housing association data collection, it is not possible to separate Rent to Mortgage sales from Right to Buy sales for housing associations (and the latter will form the majority of the sales).

2. Figures from 1990 to 1996 have been transferred from the former local authority areas to the 32 current areas.

Question reference: S2W-14941

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 14 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what influence or direct input it will have on the European Council's contribution to the G8 summit's discussions on the Africa Action Plan in respect of implementing debt relief.

Question reference: S2W-14942

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 14 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what influence or direct input it will have on the European Council's contribution to the G8 summit's discussions on the Africa Action Plan in respect of expanding knowledge.

Question reference: S2W-14937

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 14 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what influence or direct input it will have on the European Council's contribution to the G8 summit's discussions on the Africa Action Plan in respect of promoting peace and security.

Question reference: S2W-14939

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 14 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what influence or direct input it will have on the European Council's contribution to the G8 summit's discussions on the Africa Action Plan in respect of fostering trade.

Question reference: S2W-14940

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 14 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what influence or direct input it will have on the European Council's contribution to the G8 summit's discussions on the Africa Action Plan in respect of economic growth and sustainable development.

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