Chamber and committees

Estimates for those specific years have not been made. However, the most recent update of Professor Glen Bramley''s model of affordable housing need was published in November 2006 and offered five-yearly assessments to 2021 of housing need and affordability at local authority, and housing market area levels based on data from 2005.

In many cases, Bramley''s estimates differ from the housing needs assessments undertaken for individual local authorities. This is due to the fact that local authority housing needs assessments vary in terms of coverage, time series and methodology. While it is not possible to model national affordable housing need with complete precision, the Scottish Government published new guidance for local authorities in early 2008 which provides a step-by-step approach to assessing housing need and demand across all tenures. Data from these assessments is expected from early 2010.

The Scottish Government is currently considering how the Bramley model of affordable housing need could be updated in light of the significant changes in the economic climate.

A proforma was issued to local authorities on 1 May inviting them to put forward proposals for a particular area or areas to benefit from the Home Insulation Scheme, either in 2009-10, or 2010-11. Details of the applications received are as follows:

Local Authority	Application Received for 2009-10 and/or 2010-11	Application Received for 2010-11 only	No Application Received
Aberdeen City			¼
Aberdeenshire	¼
Angus	¼
Argyll and Bute			¼
Clackmannanshire	¼
Comhairle Nan Eilean Siar	¼
Dumfries and Galloway		¼
Dundee City	¼
East Ayrshire			¼
East Dunbartonshire	¼
East Lothian	¼
East Renfrewshire			¼
Edinburgh City	¼
Falkirk		¼
Fife	¼
Glasgow City	¼
Highland	¼
Inverclyde	¼
Midlothian	¼
Moray			¼
North Ayrshire			¼
North Lanarkshire	¼
Orkney	¼
Perth and Kinross			¼
Renfrewshire		¼
Scottish Borders	¼
Shetland	¼
South Ayrshire		¼
South Lanarkshire	¼
Stirling	¼
West Dunbartonshire			¼
West Lothian			¼

 

The Energy Saving Trust (EST) has been appointed as managing agent for the scheme and will work with delivery partners to ensure that the appropriate insulation measures are installed to a high standard. This will include the management of complaints and queries regarding the installations, and ensuring that the quality of the measures installed conform to the standards required under the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT).

Under CERT, energy suppliers are required to carry out technical monitoring of 5% of professionally installed insulation and heating measures and carry out customer satisfaction monitoring on 1% of measures. The technical monitoring has to be carried out in an independent manner by a suitably qualified person and this will apply automatically to the CERT measures installed under the Home Insulation Scheme (HIS). In addition, the Energy Saving Trust will be carrying out 5% customer satisfaction monitoring on HIS clients.

There will therefore be two layers of monitoring considering both the technical and customer satisfaction aspects of the scheme. Monthly reports will also be provided to the Scottish Government and Fuel Poverty Forum on a range of outcomes under HIS including the measures installed and the numbers of complaints received.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-25600 on 16 July 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 most recent meeting of the Fuel Poverty Forum took place on 7 July 2009.

The minutes of the 7 July meeting of the Fuel Poverty Forum will be published on the Scottish Government website following approval of these minutes by members at the next meeting of the Forum on 27 October 2009.

The Scottish Government published new guidance for local authorities in early 2008 which provides a step by step approach to assessing housing need and demand across all tenures. Data from these assessments is expected from early 2010 onwards and will supplement national modelling of housing need. The last update of the Bramley model predated the credit crunch. The Scottish Government is currently considering how it could be updated in the light of significant changes in the economic climate

Section 11 of the Homelessness etc (Scotland) Act 2003 was introduced on 1 April 2009, and guidance on this is available on the Scottish Government website. The Scottish Government, following discussion with CoSLA, will collect basic data from local authorities on notices received under section 11. This is being collected on a quarterly basis and comprises the number of notices received in the quarter, broken down to distinguish where they came from “ lenders, social landlords or private landlords.

A broader evaluation of the impact of the commencement of section 11 will be taken forward within the next year.

The information requested is not held centrally.

Statistics were previously collected on the number of people receiving a housing support service funded through the Supporting People programme. Following the end of ring fencing of the Supporting People budget in April 2008, the Scottish Government consulted with a wide range of stakeholders on whether to continue to gather information on numbers receiving housing support.

Details of the outcome of the consultation have been published on the Scottish Government''s website at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Housing-Regeneration/SurveySupportingPeople.

Planned changes to data collection on housing support services to bring this better into line with the annual home care census were agreed by the Housing Support Forum at its meeting on 23 June, and a short-life working group is being established to take this forward.

Prior to 31 March 2009 the following number of people purchased properties under the Open Market Shared Equity Pilot scheme:

Local Authority	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	Total
Aberdeenshire	0	0	0	4	4
City of Aberdeen	0	0	0	14	14
City of Edinburgh	45	372	415	213	1,045
East Lothian	3	70	74	53	200
Highland	0	0	0	19	19
Midlothian	0	45	62	34	141
Moray	0	0	0	1	1
Perth and Kinross	0	0	0	3	3
Stirling	0	0	0	4	4
West Lothian	1	36	89	127	253
Total	49	523	640	472	1,684

 

The original Homestake Open Market Pilot scheme established in 2005 only operated within Edinburgh and the Lothians. This scheme was replaced by the Open Market Shared Equity pilot scheme and expanded to a total of ten local authority areas following the launch of the Low-cost Initiative for First-Time Buyers (LIFT) in October 2007.