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Community Charges (Registration) (Scotland) (No. 2) Regulations 1988. My right hon. and learned Friend has no plans to change these arrangements.Section 20C of the 1987 Act which was inserted by the 1989 Act requires community charges registration officers to supply to the Secretary of State, on request, information that was obtained by them for the purpose of carrying out their functions, provided that the information is not personal information as defined in that section. The section also provides that regulations may permit registration officers to supply such information to any person on request and may charge a prescribed fee for doing so. No regulations under this section have yet been made.
Self-governing Schools
Mr. Allan Stewart : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will place in the Library a list of those schools in Strathclyde region which are eligible to apply for self-governing status.
Mr. Lang : Any education authority school, other than a nursery school, for which a school board is established is eligible to call a ballot of parents on self-governing status. Information on which individual schools have boards is not held centrally, but provisional figures for Strathclyde suggest that almost all secondary schools, nine out of 10 primary schools and half the special schools in the region are eligible.
Legal Reforms
Mr. Nigel Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what representations he has received on his reforms for (a) administration of estates and (b) multi-disciplinary practices.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : My right hon. and learned Friend received 27 responses to his 1989 consultation paper "The Legal Profession in Scotland" which made reference to the confirmation of executors which is the only part of the administration of estates reserved to solicitors. He received 24 responses to his proposals for multi-disciplinary practices as set out in his 1987 discussion document "The Practice of the Solicitor Profession in Scotland". He has also received a number of representations about the provisions of the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Scotland) Bill which relate to confirmation of executors and multi- disciplinary practices.
Mr. Nigel Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what research his Department has conducted into the effect of the proposed legal reforms on rural practices.
Sir David Steel : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what research his Department has conducted into the effect of the proposed legal reforms on rural practices.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : I refer the right hon. and hon. Members to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Roxburgh and Berwickshire (Mr. Kirkwood) on 18 January 1990.
Mr. Nigel Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what response he has received to his proposals for multi-disciplinary practices.
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Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : My right hon. and learned Friend invited views on proposals to remove the existing statutory barriers which prevent solicitors from entering into multi- disciplinary practices in his consultative paper "The Practice of the Solicitor Profession in Scotland", which was published in November 1987. Twenty-four organisations and individuals, mainly from the legal, financial and property sectors, submitted responses.Mr. Nigel Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland when he last met members of the Scottish Law Society to discuss legal reform.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : My right hon. and learned Friend meets members of the Law Society of Scotland from time to time, both formally and informally, for discussions on a wide range of topics. The last such formal occasion was his address to the Society's special conference on his policy statement "The Scottish Legal Profession : The Way Forward" on 23 October 1989.
Conveyancing
Mr. Nigel Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what responses he has received from Scottish-based organisations regarding conveyancing reform.
Sir David Steel : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what responses he has received from Scottish-based organisations regarding conveyancing reform.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : Thirty Scottish-based organisations, mainly from the legal, financial and
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property sectors, responded to the proposals on conveyancing in the consultation paper "The Legal Profession in Scotland", published in March 1989.Nurses
Mr. McFall : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many student nurses qualified in the summer of 1989 ; and how many of them now have nursing posts within the National Health Service.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : In the period 1 May to 30 September 1989 1, 111 students in Scotland qualified for registration as first level nurses. Information on how many of them entered the National Health Service is not held centrally.
Mr. Norman Hogg : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what progress has been made in the regrading of nurses ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : Nurses in clinical practice were regraded with effect from 1 April 1988. The new grading structure for senior nurse education posts was introduced with effect from 1 April 1989. A new grading structure for senior nurse management posts is currently being negotiated with the staff side.
Illegal Poisoning
Mr. Wilson : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many prosecutions there have been involving the use of poisons against wildlife in each of the past 10 years.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : The information requested is not collected centrally.
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Disability
Mrs. Margaret Ewing : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list those disability organisations he has met in the past year.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : My right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland has not met formally any of the disability organisations in the past year, but he launched the Scottish Council on Disability's computerised information service on 19 May 1989 and on 30 May 1989 he launched from the esplanade of Edinburgh castle the International Spinal Research Trust's "PUSH-2" event--a five-week wheelchair push to London by three young paraplegics. On 1 December 1989 my hon. Friend the Minister of State opened the Scottish Council on Disability's new mobile advice centre. On 22 January 1990 he opened a conference on care in the community at which disabled organisations were represented.
Scottish Office officials are in regular contact with many of the organisations representing people with disabilities.
Mrs. Margaret Ewing : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what additional budget allocation he has made for provision for the disabled in Scotland.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : Responsibility for services for the disabled is a matter for health boards and local authorities within the resources available to them. Provision for hospital and community health expenditure by health boards has been increased by 8.3 per cent. and revenue support grants to local authorities by 7.5 per cent. for next year.
Mrs. Margaret Ewing : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether his Department has any unit or civil servant specifically allocated to the task of ensuring provision for the disabled in Scotland.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : One branch of the Scottish Home and Health Department has a co-ordinating role for matters relating to the physically disabled but functional topics are dealt with by officials in the various Departments which comprise the Scottish Office.
Electoral Registers
Mr. Doran : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the number of electors on the current electoral registers, published on 15 February 1990, in each of the parliamentary constituencies in Scotland.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : This information, which will be published by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys in its EL series of monitors, is not yet available centrally.
Mr. Doran : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the number of electors on the current electoral registers, published on 15 February 1990, in each regional electoral division and in each district ward in each of the local government areas of Scotland.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : This information will be available in April. I will send it to the hon. Member as soon as it is ready, and place a copy in the Library.
Homelessness
Mr. Norman Hogg : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many persons are homeless in each of the district council areas.
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Lord James Douglas Hamilton : The only figures available relate to the number of applicants assessed as homeless by local authorities under part II of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987, which will not be equal to the numbers currently homeless. These figures, as recorded by local authorities, are given in the following table :
Applicants assessed as homeless under Part II of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987 by district, Scotland, 1988-89 District |Number ------------------------------------------ Borders Berwickshire |6 Ettrick and Lauderdale |21 Roxburgh |29 Tweeddale |n/a Central Clackmannan |17 Falkirk |458 Stirling |158 Dumfries and Galloway Annandale and Eskdale |48 Nithsdale |144 Stewartry |21 Wigtown |55 Fife Dunfermline |254 Kirkcaldy |258 North East Fife |88 Grampian Aberdeen |625 Banff and Buchan |111 Gordon |36 Kincardine and Deeside |8 Moray |41 Highland Badenoch and Strathspey |- Caithness |12 Inverness |51 Lochaber |22 Nairn |16 Ross and Cromarty |18 Skye and Lochalsh |20 Sutherland |8 Lothian East Lothian |355 Edinburgh |1,167 Midlothian |87 West Lothian |119 Strathclyde Argyll and Bute |96 Bearsden and Milngavie |26 Clydebank |632 Clydesdale |8 Cumbernauld and Kilsyth |89 Cumnock and Doon Valley |38 Cunninghame |147 Dumbarton |461 East Kilbride |132 Eastwood |7 Glasgow |1,312 Hamilton |82 Inverclyde |111 Kilmarnock and Loudoun |147 Kyle and Carrick |294 Monklands |214 Motherwell |121 Renfrew |261 Strathkelvin |91 Tayside Angus |177 Dundee |403 Perth and Kinross |98 Islands Councils Orkney Islands |n/a Shetland Islands |63 Western Isles |37
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Off Licences
Mr. Norman Hogg : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many representations he has received calling for the Sunday opening of off- sales licensed premises ; and if he will list the organisations making these representations.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : The Scottish Home and Health Department has received 50 representations from organisations and from individuals in favour of allowing off-sales licensed premises to open on Sunday in Scotland. The organisations making these representations were as follows :
Strathclyde Licensed Trade Association
British Retailers Association
Delting Community Council
Arbroath Community Council
Lossiemouth Community Council
East Lothian Licensing Board
Kirriemuir Community Council
Wigtown Licensing Board
St. Andrew's and Deerness Community Council
Law Society of Scotland
Midlothian Licensing Board
Headteachers' Association of Scotland
Falkirk Licensing Board
Tollcross Community Council
Annandale and Eskdale District Council
Eskbank Trading Post
Clackmannan District Council
Clydebank District Council
North East Fife District Licensing Board
Scottish Licensed Trade Association
Scottish Consumer Council
Bearsden and Milngavie District Council
Cumnock and Doon Valley District Licensing Board Kirkcaldy District Council
Kincardine and Deeside District Council
Salsburgh Community Council
Greenhills Community Council
Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland
Association of Scottish Police Superintendents
Stakis plc
City of Dundee Licensing Board
Kyle and Carrick District Council
Stirling District Council
Midlothian District Council
Berwickshire District Council
MacArthur Stewart and Company
Co-operative Union Ltd.
Stewartry District Council and Licensing Board
Association of Chief Police Officers (Scotland)
Edinburgh District Licensing Board
South Ronaldsay and Burray Community Council
Banff and Buchan District Council
Cumbernauld and Kilsyth District Council
Scottish Grocers' Federation
Scotch Whisky Association
Eye Tests
Mr. Norman Hogg : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on the results of his Department's monitoring of the effects of the introduction of charges for eyesight checks.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : Figures on the number of National Health Service sight tests carried out between 1 April and 31 December 1989 will shortly be available. The results of a survey on the total number of sight tests carried out in Scotland in the first quarter of 1990 compared with earlier periods should be available by the early summer.
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Dental Checks
Mr. Norman Hogg : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on the results of his Department's monitoring of the effects of the introduction of charges for dental checks.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : The total number of courses of dental treatment scheduled for payment in Scotland in the calendar year 1989 was 3,144,000. The corresponding figure for 1988 was 3,054,000. There is no evidence that the introduction on 1 January 1989 of the charge for a dental examination has deterred people from seeking dental treatment.
Police
Mr. Norman Hogg : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the ratio of police officers to population in (a) Aberdeen, (b) Dundee, (c) Edinburgh and (d) Glasgow ; and if he will make a statement.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : In the ratios set out in the table no account has been taken of police offices, for example, engaged on CID and traffic duties who have responsibilities over areas wider than those specified, and the figures do not provide a sound basis for comparing the level of policing provided in the areas concerned.
Area |Ratio ---------------------- Aberdeen |1:433 Dundee |1:406 Edinburgh |1:343 Glasgow |1:298
Mr. Norman Hogg : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the ratio of police officers to population in Cumbernauld, Glenrothes, Irvine, Livingston and East Kilbride.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : In the ratios set out in the table, no account has been taken of police officers, for example, engaged on CID and traffic duties who have responsibilities over areas wider than those specified, and the figures do not provide a sound basis for comparing the level of policing provided in the areas concerned.
Area |Ratio -------------------------- Cumbernauld |1:666 Glenrothes |1:459 Irvine |1:411 Livingston |1:668 East Kilbride |1:711
Ambulance Dispute
Mr. Norman Hogg : To ask the Secretary of State of Scotland when he next expects to meet the trade unions representing ambulance staff.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : My right hon. and learned Friend has no such meeting arranged.
Ministerial Visits
Mr. Norman Hogg : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland when the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State last visited Cumbernauld ; and if he will make a statement.
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Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : I paid a housing visit to Cumbernauld and Kilsyth district council on Friday 16 February. During the visit I announced a supplementary HRA capital allocation for 1989-90 for Cumbernauld and Kilsyth district council of £0.200 million. I also noted the district council's representations about its provisional housing capital allocations for 1990-91 and undertook to keep these in mind when final capital allocations for housing are determined in March.Column 84
Rateable Values
Mr. Allan Stewart : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he will provide for the districts of Eastwood and Renfrew, and for Scotland, the number and rateable value of houses, etc., immediately prior to the introduction of the community charge with rateable values in the following bands : (a) up to £300, (b) £301 to £600, (c) £601 to £900, (d) £901 to £1,200, (e) £1,201 to £1,500 and (f) over £1,500.
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