- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 March 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Alex Neil on 15 April 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what it regards as the maximum desirable occupation standards for rented accommodation.
Answer
The statutory definition of overcrowding is contained in Part VII of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987. Local authorities have various powers and duties in relation to overcrowded houses and their occupants, including carrying out inspections to identify overcrowded houses and taking levels of overcrowding into account in the preparation of local housing strategies.
The Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Houses in Multiple Occupation) Order 2000 was introduced to protect tenants whose principal or only residence is a multiply-occupied house. Local authorities are responsible for identifying unlicensed HMOs and ensuring that conditions of licences are complied with, including the number of occupants allowed.
The Scottish Government is aware of concerns that some landlords may be evading HMO licensing requirements by claiming that properties are being let on a short term basis, and that tenants have principal residences elsewhere. In doing so, some landlords may be putting tenants at risk of overcrowding.
We will be considering the options for implementing new HMO provisions in the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 later this year. The issue of short term lets, and what types of accommodation require to be licensed under those provisions, will be part of our discussions with stakeholders.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 March 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Alex Neil on 3 April 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has considered amending houses in multiple occupation legislation to include short-term holiday lets.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-22158 on 30 March 2009. 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/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 March 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Alex Neil on 1 April 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive whether holiday lets are liable for council tax and business rates.
Answer
Properties which are made available for letting on a commercial basis for 140 days or more in a year (or where the intention is to make them available) may be liable for business rates and if not, they will be liable for council tax.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 March 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 30 March 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive how much packaging for recycling is being stockpiled, broken down by local authority.
Answer
We are not aware of any local authority in Scotland that is having to stockpile packaging as a consequence of the economic downturn.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 March 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 30 March 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive how much glass for recycling is being stockpiled, broken down by local authority.
Answer
We are not aware of any local authority in Scotland that is having to stockpile glass as a consequence of the economic downturn.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 March 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 30 March 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive how much paper for recycling is being stockpiled, broken down by local authority.
Answer
We are not aware of any local authority in Scotland that is having to stockpile paper as a consequence of the economic downturn.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 March 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 27 March 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive how many new buildings were procured in Scotland by (a) executive agencies and (b) non-departmental public bodies in each of the last five years and how many were (i) rented, (ii) leased, (iii) purchased and (iv) acquired under some other finance mechanism.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-22033 on 27 March 2009. 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/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.
We do not hold information on whether buildings acquired are in fact newly built or new to the Scottish Executive, its Agencies and non-departmental public bodies. Over the past five years only one newly built office building was purchased by a non departmental public body.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 March 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 27 March 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive how many new leasing arrangements for buildings that it occupied involved (a) new leases and (b) renewals of existing leases in each of the last five years.
Answer
The information held within the Electronic Property Information Mapping Service (e-PIMS) shows that the number of new lease arrangements for each of the past five years entered into by Core Scottish Executive is as follows:
2004: 1
2005: 2
2006: 3
2007: 0
2008: 0.
A renewal of an existing lease is classified as a new lease and included within the above statistics.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 March 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 27 March 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive how many new buildings it procured in each of the last five years and how many were (a) rented, (b) leased, (c) purchased and (d) acquired under some other finance mechanism.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-22033 on 27 March 2009. 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/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.
We do not hold information on whether buildings acquired are in fact newly built or new to the Scottish Executive. The core Scottish Executive has not purchased any new office buildings over the past five years.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 March 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 27 March 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list those areas of peat land where it (a) supports the restoration and conservation of peat bogs and (b) expects that further action to restore peat resources damaged by past drainage and inappropriate afforestation will be targeted.
Answer
The Scottish Government has been working with a broad range of stakeholders to develop a co-ordinated approach to the protection of soils (including peatland), and will publish the Scottish Soil Framework in spring 2009. The framework will recognise Scottish peatlands as a large and important store of carbon within the UK, Europe and globally, as well as supporting important Scottish biodiversity and landscapes.
As part of the Scottish Soil Framework, Scottish Government will continue to work with a broad range of stakeholders to co-ordinate and enhance measures to protect soils, including peatlands. In particular, the Forestry Commission Scotland have issued guidance on woodland planting and removal and associated restoration of peat bogs, and Scottish Natural Heritage already fund and support a number of projects and schemes to support peatland conservation and restoration for biodiversity objectives.
