Chamber and committees

The amount spent by councils on off-the-shelf housing is not held centrally.

Rent levels for both the national housing trust and for mid market rent homes built by housing associations using Scottish Government grant are expected to be set initially at around 80% of relevant Local Housing Allowance rate for the area.

The following 13 local authorities have so far confirmed their ongoing interest in the national housing trust. Other local authorities are currently looking at the proposals so may also be interested subject to further discussions.

Aberdeen City Council

Aberdeenshire Council

Angus Council

City of Edinburgh Council

Dundee City Council

East Dunbartonshire Council

East Lothian Council

East Renfrewshire Council

Glasgow City Council

Highland Council

Midlothian Council

Stirling Council

West Lothian Council.

Compensation is a contractual matter between the Approved Certifier and their client. Approved Certifiers are assessed as having the appropriate competency level to provide customers with assurance that design or construction work complies with building regulations. Certified aspects of projects are covered by insurance and a rigorous complaints, disciplinary and appeals process is managed by the certification scheme provider.

The maximum subsidy is £25,000 per unit for those councils which were successful in round two of the Incentivising Council House Building Fund, which is being increased for round three to £30,000 per unit. Round three of the fund is ongoing (closing date for applications is 30 April 2010). Funding is provided on completion of the project and therefore the actual grant levels cannot be supplied. Information will be published at the end of the 2010-11 financial year.

Local authorities do not receive any funding through the housing association grant scheme as this is solely for housing associations. I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-32881 on 21 April 2010 which provides details of the subsidy per house for local authority housing in 2010-11.

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 seeking to implement the provisions of section 23 of the Planning etc (Scotland) Act 2006 which will amend the existing legislation on planning agreements. We will shortly be consulting on regulations required to implement the new legislation. The underlying principles and mechanisms for negotiating planning agreements will not be altered.

The changes to legislation were not prompted by abuses of the planning system.

The Scottish Government has no plans to change the underlying principles and mechanisms for negotiating planning agreements. We will however shortly be publicly consulting on draft regulations required to implement the changes contained in the Planning etc (Scotland) Act 2006.

The provisions within section 23 of the Planning etc (Scotland) Act 2006 will specifically allow developers to propose unilateral obligations on developments and will introduce a formal mechanism for modifying or discharging agreements, including allowing appeals to Scottish ministers.

£50 million has been allocated to date for Council House Building.

It is estimated that £13.6 million of this allocation will be drawn down in 2010-11.

Details of planned funding for the 2010-11 Affordable Housing Investment Programme can be found here http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Built-Environment/Housing/investment/ahip/ahip2010-2011.

We plan to lay regulations and produce guidance to support the operation of the Home Owner and Debtor Protection (Scotland) Act 2010 by the end of June 2010.