- Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 10 December 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 10 January 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) local authority and (b) housing association new-build homes have been fully wheelchair-accessible in each year since 1999, also expressed as a percentage of the total number of their new-build homes.
Answer
The numbers of social sectornew build wheelchair housing units are shown in the following table. The housingassociation figures represent units approved during the year and the local authorityfigures are for new build starts.
Social Sector New BuildWheelchair Housing: 1999-2000 to 2006-07
| | | 1999-2000 | 2000-01 | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 |
| Local Authority | Wheelchair | 0 | 70 | 14 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| All starts | 158 | 90 | 43 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 28 |
| % | 0.0 | 77.8 | 32.6 | 93.3 | | | 0 | 0 |
| Housing Association | Wheelchair | 106 | 140 | 178 | 132 | 209 | 104 | 203 | 214 |
| All approvals | 4,682 | 4,944 | 5,183 | 4,119 | 4,388 | 4,896 | 6,243 | 6,921 |
| % | 2.3 | 2.8 | 3.4 | 3.2 | 4.8 | 2.1 | 3.3 | 3.1 |
Source: NB1 returns submittedby local authorities to Scottish Government Communities Analytical Services Division(Housing Statistics), housing association data provided by Communities ScotlandInvestment Division.
While some social sector developmentsare specifically designed for wheelchair use, there is a general requirement forsocial sector new build to comply with Housing for Varying Needs standards. Thesestandards supersede Barrier Free design standards, and build upon the concept ofbarrier free principles, which state that housing and its environment should meetthe needs of almost everyone.
- Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 10 December 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 9 January 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average costs of fully wheelchair-accessible homes are compared with homes without such access.
Answer
The information requested isnot held centrally.
- Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 December 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 13 December 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) maximum, (b) minimum and (c) average cost was of land sold for housing units by each local authority to (i) local housing associations and (ii) private developers in each year since 1999.
Answer
This information isnot held centrally.
- Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 6 December 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is considering ways in which funding can be made more accessible to small organisations that rely on such funding for their survival.
Answer
The Scottish Governmentrecognises the important role and value provided by organisations, such as voluntarybodies and social enterprises, delivering services and support in communities. Fundingis primarily a matter for local authorities and other public bodies and thegovernment would encourage a significant role for voluntary organisations in theprovision of such services. I announced in the Scottish Budget that there wouldbe over £93 million over the next three years to support the development of an increasinglystrong third sector.
- Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 6 December 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider the creation of a one-stop shop to make it easier for voluntary and other social enterprise organisations to apply for funding.
Answer
The Scottish Governmentrecognises the important role and value provided by organisations, such as voluntarybodies and social enterprises, delivering services and support in communities. Fundingis primarily a matter for local authorities and other public bodies, thegovernment is keen to simplify the process of applying for support for voluntaryorganisations. I announced in the Scottish Budget that there would be over £93 millionover the next three years to support the development of an increasingly strong thirdsector.
- Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 3 December 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-4775 by John Swinney on 22 October 2007, whether it will consider introducing set criteria for designating land as greenspace.
Answer
The ScottishGovernment’s policy on open space is contained in
Scottish Planning Policy(SPP) 11: Open Space and Physical Activity, published earlier this month,available at:
www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2007/11/12152424/0.SPP 11 requires local authorities to prepare anaudit and strategy for open space. The development plan should identify andprotect open spaces which are valued and functional, or capable of beingbrought into functional use, and any other open space which contributes tolocal amenity, biodiversity or other planning objectives. Planning AdviceNote (PAN) 65: Planning and Open Space includes a typology of open spaceand can be viewed at www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2003/01/16188/16553.There is no intention at present to introduce further criteria for designatingland as greenspace.
- Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 19 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Maureen Watt on 28 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how it ensures that people with learning difficulties are involved in the formulation of anti-bullying strategies.
Answer
Respectme, Scotland’s anti-bullying service, provides information, advice and training to supportthose working with children and young people on all aspects of bullying. Respectmehas developed a toolkit to support training, including an outline of specific issuessuch as bullying related to disabilities. Respectme is working with Enable,the voluntary organisation which represents children and young people with learningdisabilities and will continue this work to develop specific elements of the toolkitwhich will address bullying of people with learning disabilities in more detail.This toolkit will inform the development of anti-bullying policies across Scotland.
- Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 19 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Maureen Watt on 28 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how many reports of bullying of children with learning difficulties were reported in each year since 2002, broken down by local education authority.
Answer
The information requestedis not held centrally.
- Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 19 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Maureen Watt on 28 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what support is available to children with learning difficulties who experience bullying in school.
Answer
Respect
me, Scotland’s anti-bullying service, provides advice, information and training to supportthose who work with children and young people in dealing effectively with incidentsof bullying.
In addition, the ScottishGovernment provides funding to ChildLine Scotland for the bullying helpline which offers free advice and support to thosebeing bullied.
Scottish local authoritiesand schools have a range of methods of supporting children and young people whoare bullied in school. In some circumstances being bullied or bullying another pupilmay affect a pupil’s education and a need for additional support may arise. TheEducation (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 provides a framework for the provision of this support.
- Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 15 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the planned provision of accident and emergency units in Glasgow will be reviewed in light of the recent forecast of a higher than expected rise in the Scottish population.
Answer
I have made it clearthat there will not be a general review of service changes that have already beenmade in the NHS. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde’s proposals for the modernisation of hospital services in Glasgow, which will also see the reconfiguration of accidentand emergency services, are now well underway.
The board’s strategyis intended to provide an appropriate network of emergency services in modern fit-for-purposefacilities. The board still has some way to go until its proposals are fully implementedand I expect it to continue to keep factors affecting demand for health care services,such as population change, under review as it takes this work forward.
