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Where the title deeds are silent or if they are unclear, the Tenement Management Scheme at schedule 1 to the Tenements (Scotland) Act 2004 allows majority decisions on maintenance work, including repairs.

Section 8 of the 2004 Act imposes a positive obligation on an owner of any part of a tenement building to maintain that part to ensure it provides support and shelter.

Home owners may also approach their local authority. They have broad powers to assist home owners who need help. Assistance can be provided by way of advice and guidance, practical help or through financial assistance by loans or grants. However, it is for the local authority to determine what kinds of assistance should be provided in different circumstances, subject to local priorities and budgets.

Advice on tenemental repairs is available in the Scottish Government publication Common Repair, Common Sense, which is on the Government’s website at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Justice/law/17975.

Any organisation with a base in Scotland and that meets the following criteria are eligible to bid for funding from the Small Grants Programme for International Development:

The Small Grants Scheme is targeted at small international development organisations, and the following eligibility criteria apply:

applicant organisations must satisfy two conditions : 1) they must be established as not for profit and 2) constitute a “legal person”, meaning it is legally constituted and can enter into a contract. Ideally , applicants will be SCIOs or companies that have charitable status. Unincorporated organisations, even with charitable status, are not eligible to apply;

applicants must be able to evidence in their application a presence in Scotland;

applicants must have an annual turnover of £150,000 or less (upper limit over the last 2 years);

organisations applying must have been in existence for a minimum of 12 months at the time of applying and have audited/examined accounts for that year;

applicants may only apply for one of each type of grant (project grant / feasibility / capacity building grant) in each annual funding call;

applicants may only apply for grants that fit within the Scottish Government’s international development policy: specifically this means that applications will only be eligible if they relate to: the Scottish Government’s seven priority countries (Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zambia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the three Indian States of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa); and its priority themes/areas described in paragraph 4.4 above (education; health; sustainable economic development; civic governance and society; food security; renewable energy; climate change; and water); and normally applicants may only apply for a project grant where the Scottish Government will be the sole funder of such project; the exception to this is where the application is for joint or match funding, where the funding split may be up to a maximum of 50:50 with another funder, but in that event the other external funder must be identified by the applicant in their application and approved by the Scottish Government as part of the application assessment.

After further consideration, I recognised that there are some small un-incorporated organisations who would wish to apply to the programme, but who would not currently meet the criteria of being a “legal person”. In recognition of this, and to assists these organisations, I therefore agreed that un-incorporated organisations could apply for funding from the programme, on condition that they become an incorporated organisation (e.g. either by becoming a company limited by guarantee or a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation) by 1 March 2014. Thereafter, in subsequent years, only incorporated organisations will be eligible to apply to the Small Grants Programme.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-17994 on 7 November 2013. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

The estimated costs for electrification of Maryhill line was around £25 million inclusive of the necessary route clearance works (structures etc).

Electrification of the Maryhill line was proposed as part of the initial Edinburgh to Glasgow Improvement Programme (EGIP). Constraints on access to Queen Street High Level would have meant some trains being removed and Anniesland services moving to the low level with passengers on the Maryhill line changing at Anniesland for forwarding connections.

However, we listened to concerns, including those made by Patricia Ferguson, around journey time extensions and adapted our plans, giving a commitment to retain the services in Queen Street High Level.

I can also confirm that Maryhill will be electrified when we roll out the electrification of the network after EGIP, as we’ve always stated.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-17997 on 7 November 2013. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

In the next franchise, measures will be put in place to boost patronage on lightly-used services. More details will be made available in the specification for the ScotRail franchise which will be published later this month.

There have been no recent discussions with SPT regarding the future Maryhill line.

As stated publicly on numerous occasions previously, the Scottish Government remains committed to both the running of Maryhill services through the direct route from Anniesland to Queen Street, and to the lines and stations in the Glasgow area.

In order to be eligible to apply for funding under the Small Grants Programme applicant organisations must constitute a “legal person”, meaning it is legally constituted and can enter into a contract. This status is achieved by becoming an incorporated organisation, such as a Company limited by guarantee or a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation.

After further consideration, I recognised that there are some small un-incorporated organisations who would wish to apply to the programme, but who would not currently meet the criteria of being a “legal person”. In recognition of this, and to assists these organisations, I therefore agreed that un-incorporated organisations could apply for funding from the programme, on condition that they become an incorporated organisation (e.g. either by becoming a company limited by guarantee or a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation) by 1 March 2014. Thereafter, in subsequent years, only incorporated organisations will be eligible to apply to the Small Grants Programme.

I discussed this modification of the application process with NIDOS, and they agreed to run training sessions and provide other support to assist un-incorporated organisations to meet the criteria of becoming incorporation before the final awards are made.

I consider that this modification of the application process will assist the small number of organisations who may not currently be in a position to apply to the programme.