Seòmar agus comataidhean

The purpose of theHousing Supply Task Force is to promote action and to make a practical differenceto the delivery of housing across Scotland. The taskforce will be challenging those with responsibility for delivery and pressing forchange where this is hampering housing supply rather than writing reports. Whileit is not the intention to prepare a formal report, the detailed studies of specificissues that the task force will undertake are likely to produce conclusions of widerinterest and these will be published. Minutes of meetings and other documentationwill be placed on the Scottish Government website and I intend to keep Parliamentinformed of progress. Fundamentally, though, the role of the task force is not toanalyse the problems of housing supply – it is to press for solutions.

The Scottish Governmentexpect to consult later this year on a proposal to extend crofting tenure inScotland to the island of Arran and the remaining parts of the Highlands andIslands Enterprise area not currently within the Crofting Counties.

The proposedextension will not affect the arrangements for offering grant assistance tocrofters within the crofting counties, as defined in the Crofters (Scotland) Act 1993. Support arrangements for crofting arepresently under consideration by the Committee of Inquiry on Crofting, which isexpected to report to ministers early in 2008.

As an executive non-departmentalpublic body (NDPB), the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) is fullyaccountable to ministers and the Scottish Parliament for the money it spendsand the services it provides. As an NDPB the SQA must operate within aframework of controls which is monitored and enforced through a sponsor team inthe Scottish Government’s Schools Directorate. The framework compriseslegislative measures and a number of sets of guidance including the ScottishPublic Finance Manual and a Management Statement and Financial Memorandum.Under the framework all NDPBs are required, among other things, to make anexplicit commitment to openness and to deliver value for money.

The SQA haspublicly declared that it is committed to openness, transparency and the publicinterest in the exercise of its functions. It demonstrates this commitment bypublishing Board minutes, corporate plans, annual reports, annual accounts andother corporate and operational documents. The SQA also fully recognises andembraces its obligations under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and has made clear the internal policiesit has established to meet these obligations.

The SQA’s statutoryauditor is the Auditor General for Scotland (AGS), who is responsible to the Scottish Parliament for ensuring propriety and value for money in thespending of public funds. The Auditor General has currently appointedAudit Scotland to undertake the annual audit of SQA’saccounts in order to ensure that they present a true and fair view of SQA’sfinancial affairs. Once the SQA’s accounts have been audited and the AGS hasconsidered the results of the audit the accounts are laid before Parliament. TheAuditor General may also undertake investigations into the use of resources bySQA and whether they achieve economy, efficiency and effectiveness. The AuditorGeneral published the results of his review of SQA’s performance managementarrangements in November 2006.

The chief executiveof the SQA is also its accountable officer and as such has a specific, personalresponsibility for the propriety and regularity of the SQA’s public finances. Asaccountable officer, the chief executive is responsible for ensuring that SQA’sresources are used economically, efficiently and effectively. If called upon todo so, the chief executive is expected to appear before the Audit Committee of the Scottish Parliament to answer questions concerning the SQA’s expenditureand receipts and related activities.

I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:

Grants paid to registered social landlords, through ScottishHomes approved development programme from 1989-90 to 1995-96 were as follows:

Financial Year	Amount (£ Million)
1989-90	202.600
1990-91	198.642
1991-92	224.451
1992-93	266.797
1993-94	274.127
1994-95	277.93
1995-96	287.119

 

We do not hold recordsof any other public money registered social landlords might have received duringthis period.

The Scottish QualificationsAuthority (SQA) is required to meet the full cost of exam delivery from charges.Every year the SQA prepares a draft budget and, as part of the budgeting process,reviews its charging levels. The SQA’s draft budget and its proposals for chargeincreases are then considered by ministers for approval. In each of the two mostrecent years, 2006-07 and 2007-08, SQA’s charges have increased by 3%.

The information isnot held centrally. For such information as is available, I refer the member tothe answer to question S2W-18755 on 26 September 2005. Allanswers 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/webapp/wa.search.

The recordedcrime statistics do not identify details of individual crimes, such as thenature of items which have been stolen, however police forces may be able tosupply this information if contacted directly.

The information requestedcannot be identified separately from other thefts in the data held centrally.

This is a matter forthe Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA). While ministers approve the SQA’s annualbudget and its related proposals for the percentage increase to charges, informationon the actual amount charged by SQA for each qualification is not held by the ScottishGovernment.

The number of peoplewho received free personal care in each year since 2002-03, broken down by localauthority are detailed in the following table.

These figures includeall older people resident in care homes who are supported by local authorities andall people receiving personal care services in their own homes which are providedor purchased by local authorities.

Table 1: Numberof People Receiving Free Personal Care

Local Authority	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07
Aberdeen City	3,140	3,140	3,140	3,220	3,390
Aberdeenshire	2,560	2,660	2,770	3,020	3,190
Angus	1,460	1,510	1,550	1,510	1,510
Argyll and Bute	1,050	1,110	1,050	1,070	1,140
Clackmannanshire	500	610	610	700	730
Dumfries and Galloway	2,210	2,240	2,210	2,170	2,180
Dundee City	1,480	1,620	1,700	2,100	2,020
East Ayrshire	1,230	1,600	1,730	1,810	1,940
East Dunbartonshire	900	1,120	1,240	1,310	1,170
East Lothian	1,250	1,280	1,310	1,430	1,470
East Renfrewshire	980	990	1,030	1,110	1,090
Edinburgh, City of	4,400	5,000	5,370	5,490	5,660
Eilean Siar	510	610	590	640	650
Falkirk	1,620	1,700	1,880	1,910	1,930
Fife	4,750	5,200	5,330	5,350	5,440
Glasgow city	8,170	8,780	9,830	10,860	9,340
Highland	2,610	2,820	3,000	3,280	3,230
Inverclyde	1,460	1,450	1,520	1,500	1,590
Midlothian	750	800	810	990	760
Moray	1,070	1,120	1,130	1,260	1,320
North Ayrshire	1,540	1,680	1,810	1,830	1,840
North Lanarkshire	2,950	3,220	3,490	4,310	3,760
Orkney Islands	240	260	270	300	280
Perth and Kinross	1,490	1,880	2,120	2,170	2,090
Renfrewshire	1,590	1,740	1,860	2,000	2,080
Scottish Borders	1,460	1,620	1,790	1,860	1,770
Shetland Islands	280	300	300	270	290
South Ayrshire	1,860	1,890	1,970	2,040	2,140
South Lanarkshire	2,490	2,730	3,010	3,460	3,820
Stirling	910	980	970	1,000	970
West Dunbartonshire	960	1,180	1,140	1,550	1,520
West Lothian	1,740	1,900	1,650	1,540	1,570
Scotland estimate	59,580	64,760	68,190	73,060	71,870

Source: CommunityCare Quarterly Key Monitoring.

Note: All figuresare yearly averages rounded to the nearest 10.