Communities Committee, 21 Sep 2005

Meeting date: Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Official Report 239KB pdf

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Subordinate Legislation

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Housing Grants<br />(Assessment of Contributions) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2005 (Draft)

I welcome Johann Lamont, the Deputy Minister for Communities, who has joined us for item 2 on our agenda. Accompanying her is Jean Waddie, of the private sector housing team at the Scottish Executive.

As members are probably aware, this Scottish statutory instrument is subject to the affirmative procedure, so the minister is required under rule 10.6.2 of standing orders to propose by motion that the draft instrument be approved. Members have received copies of the draft Housing Grants (Assessment of Contributions) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2005 and the accompanying documentation. I invite the minister to speak briefly to the SSI.

The regulations will make a small change to the test of resources for housing improvement grants in order to improve the position for adults with incapacity who might need adaptations to their homes. The test of resources for housing grants contains special provisions to help disabled people when they apply for grant to adapt their homes. The current regulations allow those additional benefits to come into play only when the application for grant is made by a disabled person, but there is no provision for application to be made on behalf of a disabled person. It was brought to our attention that that meant that disabled people who lacked the capacity to apply personally could be excluded from the special arrangements unless an intervention order or a guardianship order were obtained under the Adults With Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000. We do not feel that that formal procedure is necessary in most cases for a grant application. The amendment will allow an application for a grant for an adaptation to be made on behalf of a disabled person, while allowing them still to benefit from the special arrangements on the test of resources. The person making the application would be treated as the applicant in all other respects, so that they will be able to deal with correspondence, payments and so on. The proposal should ensure that all disabled people can benefit from the grant arrangements, which are there to help them.

As members have no comments to put—you have obviously answered all of our concerns, minister—I ask the minister to move motion S2M-3182.

Motion moved,

That the Communities Committee recommends that the draft Housing Grants (Assessment of Contributions) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2005 be approved.—[Johann Lamont].

Motion agreed to.

Does the committee agree to report to Parliament on our decision on the regulations?

Members indicated agreement.

Meeting suspended.

On resuming—