The grant allocation at the beginning of each financial year is a single figure which includes provision for all relevant elements of the Affordable Housing Investment Programme (AHIP). In addition to Housing Association Grant, this includes grant mechanisms such as Rural Home Ownership Grant, Rural Empty Property grants, Grant for the Physical and Social Environment and Special Needs Capital grants. Housing Association Grant allocation is not recorded separately.

The following figures are therefore AHIP allocation to Argyll and Bute for 2007-08 and 2008-09.

Year	Allocation
2007-08	£17.675 million
2008-09	£14.757 million

 

Over the period 2008-11 the Scottish Government will be providing investment of over £1.5 billion for affordable housing across Scotland. £493 million in 2008-09, £566 million in 2009-10 and £591 million in 2010-11. Taking into account the local government settlement this is 19% more than planned by the previous administration for 2005-08. Over the period 2008-11 the Scottish Government aims to deliver more than 21,500 new affordable homes nationally which is in line with levels of approvals achieved for 2005-08 despite increasing costs. These will be split 6,000 in 2008-09, 7,100 in 2009-10 and 8,400 in 2010-11.

The information on average Housing Association Grant allocation per unit for Argyll and Bute for 2007-08 and 2008-09 is not available. The grant allocation at the beginning of each financial year is a single figure which includes provision for all relevant elements of the Affordable Housing Investment. Programme. This is not broken down to an allocation per unit.

Over the period 2008-11 the Scottish Government will be providing investment of over £1.5 billion for affordable housing across Scotland. £493 million in 2008-09, £566 million in 2009-10 and £591 million in 2010-11. Taking into account the local government settlement this is 19% more than planned by the previous administration for 2005-08. Over the period 2008-11, the Scottish Government aims to deliver more than 21,500 new affordable homes nationally which is in line with levels of approvals achieved for 2005-08 despite increasing costs. These will be split 6,000 in 2008-09, 7,100 in 2009-10 and 8,400 in 2010-11.

Private Sector Housing Grant allocations for 2007-08 and 2008-09 are as detailed in the following table.

The baseline allocations include the Scottish Government’s contribution towards Care and Repair running costs of approximately £2.4 million a year.

Private Sector Housing Grant	Baseline Allocation 2007-08 (£ Million)	Baseline Allocation 2008-09 (£ Million)
Scotland Total	67.45	67.34
Aberdeen City	2.66	2.78
Aberdeenshire	1.26	1.22
Angus	1.02	1.05
Argyll and Bute	3.15	3.18
Clackmannanshire	0.57	0.54
Dumfries and Galloway	2.22	2.20
Dundee City	2.12	2.19
East Ayrshire	0.96	0.96
East Dunbartonshire	0.80	0.79
East Lothian	1.48	1.36
East Renfrewshire	0.65	0.55
Edinburgh, City of	6.82	7.00
Eilean Siar	3.35	3.33
Falkirk	1.01	1.01
Fife	1.44	1.41
Glasgow City	10.22	10.66
Highland	4.32	4.35
Inverclyde	1.28	1.20
Midlothian	0.51	0.51
Moray	1.25	1.28
North Ayrshire	1.18	1.22
North Lanarkshire	3.26	2.56
Orkney Islands	1.13	1.12
Perth and Kinross	1.71	1.76
Renfrewshire	1.66	1.70
Scottish Borders	1.19	1.26
Shetland Islands	0.99	0.98
South Ayrshire	1.16	1.17
South Lanarkshire	4.87	4.77
Stirling	1.11	1.17
West Dunbartonshire	0.89	0.82
West Lothian	1.23	1.22

 

The information is not held centrally. This is a matter for individual local authorities.

However, the member may be interested to learn that Audit Scotland recently published details of possible fraud on the Blue Badge Scheme in their report on the National Fraud Initiative. As a result of a pilot scheme on data matching with some local authorities, 960 Blue Badges were cancelled, mainly where the holder had died and the badge had not been returned. Audit Scotland have decided to make this a mandatory part of the National Fraud Initiative in order that all local authorities will be involved in the next round.

The report can be found at:

http://www.audit-scotland.gov.uk/docs/central/2008/nr_080515_national_fraud_initiative.pdf.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-13741 on 9 June 2008.

Powers exist under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 available to local authorities to make all disabled parking bays legally enforceable.

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/webapp/wa.search.

There are existing powers under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 available to local authorities to make all disabled parking bays legally enforceable.

To date, 172 copies of Choosing Scotland’s Future have been sold by Blackwell’s bookshops. About 90 further copies have been sold via wholesalers and at the Edinburgh Book Festival.

Over 3,000 free copies were distributed to key stakeholders and public libraries following the launch of the paper, and a number of hard copies have been distributed internally within the government for use by policy officials with their stakeholders. The document is also available to download for free on the government’s National Conversation website – to date it has been downloaded over 9,200 times, and has been read online around 30,730 times.

This information is not held centrally. We have accepted the advice from the National Screening Committee that population screening for thrombophilia should not be offered. As with all the topics on which it offers advice, however, the committee keeps the evidence base under review.

It is usual in Scotland, however, for adult relatives of those with Factor V Leiden, the most common genetic mutation which gives rise to thrombophilia, to be offered genetic testing and given appropriate advice in the light of the result of that test.

The service operates a range of vehicle types deployed according to the clinical condition of the patient. Rapid Response Vehicles tend to be single responders, accident and emergency units should be double crewed, as should mid tier and urgent tier units.

The statement to Parliament on 4 June by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing made clear the position of the Scottish Government on these matters.

The Scottish Ambulance Service has confirmed that all traditional Accident and Emergency Units (AEUs) are rostered to be double crewed. However, in exceptional circumstances, such as short notice sickness absence, a single manned unit AEU may be deployed.

The statement to Parliament on 4 June by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing made clear the position of the Scottish Government on these matters.

In addition there are single crewed Paramedic Rapid Response Vehicles at the Vale of Leven.