Questions and answers

Question reference: S2W-30148

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 November 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 29 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of the population have been in receipt of income support in each year since 1999, also broken down by local authority area.

The following table shows thepercentage of population aged 16 to 59 claiming Income Support by Scottishlocal authority.

Percentage of the PopulationAged 16 to 59 Claiming Income Support, 1999-2006

Local Authority	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
Aberdeen City	5.6	5.9	6.1	6.4	6.4	6.3	5.9	5.8
Aberdeenshire	3.3	3.5	3.6	3.7	3.6	3.4	3.3	3.2
Angus	4.9	5.2	5.4	5.5	5.6	5.5	5.2	5.1
Argyll and Bute	5.5	5.5	5.6	5.7	5.6	5.4	5.2	5.0
Clackmannanshire	8.2	8.4	8.8	8.6	8.7	8.3	8.0	8.1
Dumfries and Galloway	5.5	5.6	5.8	5.9	5.9	5.8	5.7	5.7
Dundee City	10.1	10.2	10.4	10.6	10.5	10.5	10.0	9.7
East Ayrshire	8.4	8.6	8.8	8.8	8.7	8.8	8.5	8.4
East Dunbartonshire	3.7	3.8	4.0	4.0	3.9	3.8	3.7	3.6
East Lothian	5.9	5.8	5.7	5.8	5.6	5.3	5.1	5.1
East Renfrewshire	4.1	4.2	4.2	4.3	4.3	4.1	3.9	3.8
Edinburgh, City of	6.7	6.7	6.7	6.6	6.5	6.2	6.0	5.9
Eilean Siar	5.0	5.1	5.0	5.1	5.1	5.0	4.7	4.5
Falkirk	6.8	7.1	7.0	7.0	6.9	6.6	6.4	6.2
Fife	6.4	6.4	6.5	6.5	6.6	6.4	6.2	6.2
Glasgow City	16.2	16.5	16.4	16.2	15.5	14.8	14.1	13.7
Highland	5.6	5.8	5.8	6.0	5.9	5.8	5.5	5.5
Inverclyde	11.5	11.6	11.7	11.9	11.5	10.9	10.5	10.3
Midlothian	6.4	6.3	6.4	6.4	6.2	6.1	5.8	5.5
Moray	4.5	4.7	4.8	4.7	4.5	4.3	4.2	4.1
North Ayrshire	9.4	9.6	9.8	10.0	9.7	9.5	8.9	8.8
North Lanarkshire	9.5	9.7	9.9	9.9	9.8	9.3	9.0	8.7
Orkney Islands	3.2	3.2	3.4	3.5	3.5	3.3	3.2	3.2
Perth and Kinross	4.6	4.7	4.9	4.7	4.7	4.6	4.5	4.4
Renfrewshire	8.4	8.6	9.0	8.9	8.9	8.4	8.0	7.9
Scottish Borders	4.3	4.5	4.7	4.9	4.8	4.5	4.4	4.4
Shetland Islands	3.3	3.5	3.3	3.4	3.4	3.4	3.4	3.4
South Ayrshire	6.7	6.8	6.9	7.1	7.1	6.9	6.9	6.6
South Lanarkshire	7.9	8.0	8.2	8.2	8.1	7.8	7.3	7.1
Stirling	5.8	5.7	5.7	5.7	5.6	5.4	5.2	5.2
West Dunbartonshire	10.9	11.1	11.2	11.4	11.4	10.8	10.5	10.3
West Lothian	6.9	6.9	6.9	7.0	7.0	6.7	6.5	6.4
Scotland	7.8	8.0	8.1	8.1	8.0	7.7	7.4	7.2

Source: Benefit claimants fromDWP Information Directorate: Work and PensionsLongitudinal Study. Populations from GRO(S) mid year population estimates.

Note: August snapshot for allyears except May 2006.

Question reference: S2W-29784

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 November 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 24 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many eligible applicants it estimates will have to wait until after the winter for (a) the provision of free central heating and insulation under its central heating programme and (b) grants to have their homes insulated under the Warm Deal scheme, broken down by local authority area.

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

Information is not kept in theform requested covering local authority area but by main postcode area.

The central heating and WarmDeal Programmes are demand-led. The number of people waiting and the length of timeeach individual has to wait are dependent on the number of eligible applicants andthe target number of installations in any one year. The average waiting time iscurrently around six months. Where householders require gas connections, electricalupgrades, building warrants etc it may, in some circumstances, take longer for themto receive the measures.

The target number of centralheating and warm deal installations in 2006-07 is 12,000 and 12,800 respectively.However, to address the continuing high demandwe are allocating an additional £5 million, between now and the end of this financialyear, to help up to 5,000 more householders benefit from these successfulprogrammes.

Question reference: S2W-29785

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 November 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 22 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) average and (b) longest waiting times have been for the (i) assessment of eligible applications and (ii) awarding of grants under the Warm Deal scheme in each year since its introduction, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S2W-29787

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 November 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 22 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many eligible applicants have waited for at least six months for (a) the provision of free central heating and insulation under its central heating programme and (b) grants to have their homes insulated under the Warm Deal scheme in each year since the initiatives were introduced, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S2W-29786

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 November 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 22 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) average and (b) longest waiting times have been for the (i) assessment of eligible applications and (ii) installation of central heating under its central heating programme in each year since its introduction, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S2W-29767

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 November 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 22 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many eligible householders received free central heating, insulation and other benefits worth around £3,000 per household by March 2006 from the Executive’s 2005-06 budget of £57 million for its central heating programme and Warm Deal scheme.

Question reference: S2W-29852

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 November 2006
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 22 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many children, who would previously have been dealt with by a children’s hearing panel, it estimates will not now be dealt with as a result of the decision by the Principal Reporter of the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration to prioritise cases by risk, in light of the decision of Scottish ministers to refuse a request for £20 million of additional funding to support its front-line services.

We are not in a position to providesuch an estimate.

While there has been a steepincrease in the number of referrals in the last year in particular, the percentageof those going to a hearing has remained proportionately similar. At present only10% of referrals to the Children’s Reporter go to a Children’s Hearing.

That is why the multi-agencyMinisterial Task Group was set up in the summer. The new model being developed bythe group will help referring agencies to ensure that children receive the helpthey need when they need it without having to await the outcome of a reporteror hearings decision. It will also help agencies to identify when compulsory measuresmight be needed to ensure appropriate referrals are being made.

The SCRA plans to introduce itscase filtering tool because of the increasing number of referrals where there isno need for compulsory measures of supervision. The tool is intended to help reducethe risk to children by ensuring reporters and hearings can focus on those mostin need of compulsion.

Question reference: S2W-29851

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 November 2006
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 22 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what additional financial resources it plans to allocate to the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration in each of the next three years to address the rising number of referrals on both offence and non-offence grounds.

The SCRA’s overall annual grant-in-aid has increased by over£10 million since 2001 to over £24 million in 2006-07 and 2007-08. It is not possibleto provide details of grant-in-aid funding beyond 2007-08 until the outcomes of the next Spending Review are known.

Consideration is currently beinggiven to three proposals for additional funding and the SCRA will be informed of the outcome in due course. We monitor resourcing requirements, in close liaisonwith the SCRA management, in order to optimise the administration’s effectiveness.

Question reference: S2W-29847

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 November 2006
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 22 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive when it estimates that the number of referrals to the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration on non-offence grounds will peak.

Question reference: S2W-29846

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 November 2006
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 22 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive when it estimates that the number of referrals to the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration on offence grounds will peak.

The Scottish Executive has madeno such estimates for either offence or non-offence grounds, nor are we in a positionto do so.

The multi-agency MinisterialTask Group, which was set up in the summer, has been developing a new way of workingfor the referrals process. The new model will help referring agencies to identifywhen compulsory measures might be needed and, when they are not, help agencies todeliver services for children much more quickly without a referral to thereporter.

We are primarily concerned thatchildren who offend or are at risk get an appropriate, proportionate and timelyresponse so that positive outcomes are secured. Where that may entail compulsorysupervision in an individual case, then the matter should be referred to theprincipal reporter.

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