- Asked by: Patricia Ferguson, MSP for Glasgow Maryhill, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 07 June 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 19 June 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider the re-regulation of buses.
Answer
There are no plansfor re-regulation of the buses. We are currently working with bus operators, transportauthorities and other key industry stakeholders to ensure the effective operationof the current bus regime.
- Asked by: Patricia Ferguson, MSP for Glasgow Maryhill, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 07 June 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 18 June 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will review the legislation governing the operation of houses in multiple occupation.
Answer
New provisions relatingto the licensing of houses in multiple occupation are included in part 5 of theHousing (Scotland) Act 2006 and are expected to be implemented in 2008. The implementationprocess will include consultation on various aspects which are subject to subordinatelegislation and statutory guidance. Houses in multiple occupation were also discussedin the context of the Planning Act 2006, and the Scottish Government proposes toconsult on planning guidance on this topic in due course.
- Asked by: Patricia Ferguson, MSP for Glasgow Maryhill, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 07 June 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 18 June 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment has been made of the administration and effectiveness of the register of private landlords.
Answer
The Scottish Governmentis working closely with local authorities to strengthen the role of landlord registrationin raising standards in private rented housing and ensure it is effectively administered.The initial implementation process will be reviewed in due course to put into practiceany lessons learned before landlords apply to renew their registrations, from March2009.
- Asked by: Patricia Ferguson, MSP for Glasgow Maryhill, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 June 2007
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Current Status:
Awaiting answer
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will continue to fund and support the Museums Recognition scheme.
Answer
Awaiting answer
- Asked by: Patricia Ferguson, MSP for Glasgow Maryhill, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 October 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Jackie Baillie on 14 November 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider extending its central heating initiative to homes where the only form of heating is provided by under-floor or warm air heating.
Answer
For the next few years, the Central Heating Programme will focus entirely on the most vulnerable households: those lacking any form of central heating. We have already announced that the programme will be extended from 2004 so that 20,000 local authority dwellings can be upgraded from partial central heating systems to whole-house systems. The programme may be further widened thereafter and we will carefully consider the scope of any such extension so that help goes to those who need it most.
- Asked by: Patricia Ferguson, MSP for Glasgow Maryhill, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 September 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 15 October 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what effect the introduction of the VAT recovery scheme will have on renovation work carried out by Historic Scotland on Grade A listed churches.
Answer
Grants are awarded by Historic Scotland on behalf of Scottish ministers in support of repairs to the historic fabric of buildings regarded as being of outstanding historic or architectural importance. The Government's Listed Places of Worship Grants Scheme will operate retrospectively from 1 April 2001 and will have the effect of reducing the rate of VAT on certain costs to 5%. The effect of the Listed Places of Worship Grants scheme will thus be to reduce the costs of such repairs, net of Historic Scotland grants, which fall upon the church authorities.
- Asked by: Patricia Ferguson, MSP for Glasgow Maryhill, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 September 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 15 October 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive why Historic Scotland has taken action to implement the VAT recovery scheme for Grade A listed churches before the guidelines for its commencement were in place.
Answer
The Government has announced that the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme will operate retrospectively from 1 April 2001 and payments will commence in the financial year 2001-02. As the project costs borne by church authorities are thus reduced, Historic Scotland's grant support, which is based on the eligible costs of projects, falls to be reduced proportionately. I have asked my officials to re-consider the mechanism for achieving this.
- Asked by: Patricia Ferguson, MSP for Glasgow Maryhill, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 August 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 6 September 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to promote the use of school grounds as an education resource available to both school pupils and the community.
Answer
Yes. Scottish ministers encourage the fullest possible use of all local resources. While decisions on the use of school grounds are matters for the education authorities and individual schools, I fully support the principle that school facilities generally should be accessible for community purposes.
- Asked by: Patricia Ferguson, MSP for Glasgow Maryhill, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 January 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Angus MacKay on 10 May 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will detail the formula to be used to distribute the Better Neighbourhood Services Fund.
Answer
Allocations from the Better Neighbourhoods Services Fund were announced on 15 January 2001. They were made on the basis of proportions of income support recipients in the population of local authority areas.
Glasgow City Council, which has the highest proportion and also the largest number of claimants, will receive additional resources of £6.00/9.00/12.00 million over the coming three-year period to run three pathfinder projects. Other authorities with more than 12% IS claimants will receive £2.00/3.00/4.00 million each, authorities with between 10-12% £1.50/2.25/3.00 million and those between the average and 10% £1.00/1.50/2.00 million. Each of these authorities is expected to run one pathfinder. To ensure that the lessons learnt from the pathfinders can be rolled out across Scotland, a further three rural authorities - those with the highest proportion of IS recipients of those authorities with a high level of population dispersal - have also been selected to operate pathfinders. These three authorities will run five smaller scale pathfinders at £0.30/0.45./0.60 million each, in view of the smaller scale of deprivation in their areas. Argyll & Bute will operate two pathfinders, Dumfries & Galloway two pathfinders and Eilean Siar one pathfinder.
- Asked by: Patricia Ferguson, MSP for Glasgow Maryhill, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 March 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 12 April 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will allow payments for prescription season tickets to be spread over the course of a year.
Answer
We have no plans to do so.Prescription pre-payment certificates (PPCs) are available to cover periods of either 12 months or four months. We recognise that people who have difficulty in paying for the annual prescription season ticket may prefer to use the four-monthly PPC, which also offers savings.
