Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-29299, on 9 December 2009. 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/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-29298, on 9 December 2009. 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/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

The Scottish Government is undertaking an update survey in November on SME Access to Finance, which follows on from the publication of the first survey in July 2009. The survey will examine issues around accessing finance for small and medium-sized businesses in Scotland, and will include a new question to gauge the extent to which small businesses have secured finance against their personal homes.

The link to the first report on SME Access to Finance is given below:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Economy/access-finance/report.

Whilst we are aware that a number of projects are seeking funding from other sources, it is not our intention to seek to influence grant making bodies in favour of certain applicants to the disadvantage of others. We are, however, considering the practical support we can offer both successful and unsuccessful projects through our Town Centres and Local High Streets Learning Network.

The learning network offers a forum for practitioners to share ideas and best practice generally from others delivering town centre regeneration. The network will enable them to share experiences of how successful funding packages have been put together and will particularly look to disseminate learning emerging from evaluation of the Town Centre Regeneration Fund.

The Scottish Government and the General Register Office for Scotland both collect data annually on the number of empty properties throughout Scotland. Information on derelict homes will be collected as part of this.

The Scottish Government also collects data annually, by local authority, on the number of vacant local authority dwellings, including on the length of the vacancy and the status of the dwelling. In addition, the Scottish Housing Regulator gathers data annually on the number of self contained housing association dwellings, by local authority, that are vacant. Information is also collected on the number of self contained dwellings that are unavailable for let, because of demolition, rehabilitation or other reasons.

The Scottish Government would encourage local authorities to make use of the powers available to them under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006, to provide assistance to home owners. Owners of houses adjacent to properties in disrepair and dereliction may be able to access information and advice from authorities under their schemes of assistance, or to secure enforcement action using work notice powers under that act, where the authority thinks it is appropriate.

The majority of projects achieved adequate scores in most of the criteria. However, bids that were able to show that they exceeded the criteria were prioritised for funding. In addition, account was taken of the need to achieve a fair geographic spread, with all areas of Scotland benefiting from funding.

Local authorities receive funding through Private Sector Housing Grant (PSHG) to help them deal with disrepair in private sector housing. In 2009-10, the total PSHG allocation was £67.335 million. Authorities are responsible for determining the priorities in their area when allocating these resources. This will continue to be the case from 2010-11 when PSHG will be rolled up into the General Capital Grant.

More generally, the Scottish Government is providing local government in Scotland with significant levels of funding. It is the responsibility of each local authority to allocate the total financial resources available to it, including the money raised locally through the council tax, on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled its statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities, including the Scottish Government''s key strategic objectives.

There are no current plans for future rounds of funding from the Town Centre Regeneration Fund.

The Scottish Government would encourage local authorities to make use of the powers available to them to tackle disrepair in private sector housing.

From 1 April 2009, local authorities have had new powers under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 to tackle disrepair. An authority can issue a work notice on a house which is substandard, or a maintenance order requiring a maintenance plan for a house which has not been, or is unlikely to be, maintained to a reasonable standard. If the owner does not comply, for example where they are absent, the local authority can enforce the notice or plan and recover the costs from the owner. This can include issuing a repayment charge against the property.

Local authorities also have powers under the Building (Scotland) Act 2003 to deal with defective or dangerous buildings. Where the local authority considers that a building has defects that require to be dealt with to prevent significant deterioration, they can serve a notice on the owner. The type of defects that can be dealt with are those required to bring the building into a reasonable state of repair having regard to its age, type and location.