Chamber and committees

All households are encouraged to contact the Energy Assistance Package freephone number - 0800 512012 - to see if they can benefit from energy efficiency advice, an income maximisation check, a tariffs check, standard CERT insulation measures or more enhanced energy efficiency measures under Stage 4. From the Scottish House Condition Survey, it is estimated that there are around 2,000 households living in energy inefficient homes and with a disabled child under 16 that will qualify for Stage 4 measures, though it should be noted that this estimate is based on a relatively small survey sample for these household types.

As the eligibility for the new Energy Assistance Package focuses on energy inefficient homes, whereas eligibility for the old Central Heating Programme focussed on inefficient or broken heating systems only, it is not possible to readily compare. All households are encouraged to contact the Energy Assistance Package freephone number - 0800 512012 - to see if they can benefit from energy efficiency advice, an income maximisation check, a tariffs check, standard CERT insulation measures or more enhanced energy efficiency measures under Stage 4.

From the Scottish House Condition Survey, it is estimated that there are around 71,000 pensioner households that will qualify for Stage 4 measures. Of these, 15,000 are estimated to have never had central heating, 29,000 are expected to be aged over 75 and in energy inefficient homes, and 27,000 are aged between 60 and 74, in energy inefficient homes and are on one of a range of eligible benefits including the guarantee element of pension credit, attendance allowance or disability living allowance.

All households are encouraged to contact the Energy Assistance Package freephone number - 0800 512012 - to see if they can benefit from energy efficiency advice, an income maximisation check, a tariffs check, standard CERT insulation measures or more enhanced energy efficiency measures under Stage 4.

From the Scottish House Condition Survey, it is estimated that there are around 6,000 households in an energy inefficient home, with a child aged under five and on one of a range of eligible benefits, including child tax credits, working tax credits, attendance allowance or disability living allowance, though it should be noted that this estimate is based on a relatively small survey sample for these household types.

This question was answered in the Chamber. The answer can be viewed in the Official Report using the following link:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/officialReports/meetingsParliament/or-09/sor0326-01.htm

Only provisional data is currently available for the second and third quarters of 2008 (Q2 and Q3 2008). On the basis of these provisional estimates, the number of new build completions by housing associations in Q1-Q3 2008 (January to September 2008) was 2,041. This provisional estimate is 29% lower than the figure for new build completions in Q1-Q3 2007 (January to September 2007). This reduction should be interpreted with care.

Recent experience suggests that the provisional estimates for the second and third quarter of 2008 are likely to be revised significantly upwards as more complete data become available. For example, data for Q2, Q3 and Q4 2007 were revised upwards by 21%, 16% and 51% respectively between the time they were first published and their final revision at the end of the financial year.

This question was answered in the Chamber. The answer can be viewed in the Official Report using the following link:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/officialReports/meetingsParliament/or-09/sor0312-01.htm

The Affordable Housing Investment Programme allocations for 2009-10 were announced at the Chartered Institute of Housing Conference on 10 March in Aberdeen and are available on the Scottish Government website at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Built-Environment/Housing/investment/ahip/ahip-2009-10/.

They are shown here for ease of reference and include comparisons with 2007-08 and 2008-09 allocations.

Affordable Housing Investment Programme 2009-10

Planned Expenditure by Local Authority 2009-10

Local Authority Area/ Programme	2007-08 Original Approved Programme			2008-09 Original Approved Programme			2009-10 Planned Programme
	Core Programme	Top-Sliced	Total	Core Programme	Top-Sliced	Total	Core Programme	Top-Sliced	Total
	£m	£m		£m	£m	£m	£m	£m	£m
North
Highland	29.225	7.100	36.325	26.620	0.500	27.120	32.125	0	32.125
Orkney	5.904	0.096	6.000	5.033	0	5.033	7.904	0	7.904
Shetland	3.800	0	3.800	2.640	0	2.640	3.800	0	3.800
Western Isles	5.175	1.325	6.500	2.855	1.275	4.130	3.089	3.586	6.675
Aberdeenshire	14.708	1.800	16.508	19.637	0	19.637	14.708	0	14.708
City of Aberdeen	6.767	0	6.767	3.922	0	3.922	6.767	0	6.767
Moray	9.525	0	9.525	6.372	0	6.372	12.525	0	12.525
Total “ North	75.104	10.321	85.425	67.079	1.775	68.854	80.918	3.586	84.504
East
Angus	4.798	0.916	5.714	3.890	0	3.890	4.798	0	4.798
City of Dundee	10.000	2.250	12.250	7.766	0	7.766	10.000	0	10.000
Perth and Kinross	14.000	1.270	15.270	10.886	0	10.886	15.500	0	15.500
Clackmannanshire	2.800	0.700	3.500	2.150	0	2.150	4.800	0	4.800
Falkirk	5.000	2.366	7.366	3.866	0	3.866	8.000	0	8.000
Stirling	4.500	6.224	10.724	3.476	0	3.476	7.300	0	7.300
East Lothian	4.900	0.700	5.600	4.400	0	4.400	7.900	0	7.900
Fife	16.945	4.600	21.545	13.133	0	13.133	16.945	0	16.945
Midlothian	3.700	0.880	4.580	3.400	0	3.400	5.200	0	5.200
The Scottish Borders	7.200	0	7.200	5.600	0	5.600	7.200	0	7.200
West Lothian	8.500	1.720	10.220	6.600	0	6.600	10.000	0	10.000
City of Edinburgh	31.100	5.000	36.100	36.100	0	36.100	41.500	0	41.500
Total - East	113.443	26.626	140.069	101.267	0	101.267	139.143	0	139.143

 

Local Authority Area/ Programme	2007-08 Original Approved Programme			2008-09 Original Approved Programme			2009-10 Planned Programme
	Core Programme	Top-Sliced	Total	Core Programme	Top-Sliced	Total	Core Programme	Top-Sliced	Total
	£m	£m		£m	£m	£m	£m	£m	£m
West
Dumfries and Galloway	12.767	0	12.767	9.700	0	9.700	14.267	0	14.267
East Ayrshire	8.933	2.600	11.533	7.000	0	7.000	8.933	0	8.933
North Ayrshire	7.681	2.600	10.281	6.640	0	6.640	7.681	0	7.681
North Lanarkshire	17.661	6.300	23.961	14.600	0	14.600	17.661	0	17.661
South Ayrshire	5.183	1.491	6.674	6.300	0	6.300	6.683	0	6.683
South Lanarkshire	16.334	2.950	19.284	15.300	0	15.300	17.934	0	17.934
Argyll and Bute	11.175	6.500	17.675	8.757	6.000	14.757	12.675	12.000	24.675
West Dunbartonshire	10.350	0	10.350	7.835	0	7.835	10.350	0	10.350
East Dunbartonshire	4.950	0.850	5.800	4.386	1.000	5.386	7.950	0	7.950
Inverclyde	11.000	12.565	23.565	7.057	12.223	19.280	11.000	23.500	34.500
Renfrewshire	14.600	2.496	17.096	11.910	0.600	12.510	14.600	0	14.600
East Renfrewshire	3.925	0.850	4.775	3.271	0	3.271	5.425	0	5.425
Glasgow	78.500	4.500	83.000	78.000	5.000	83.000	78.000	5.000	83.000
Glasgow Housing Association	0	68.400	68.400	0	79.300	79.300	0	77.700	77.700
Total West	203.059	112.102	315.161	180.756	104.123	284.879	213.159	118.200	331.359
Strategic Land Acquisition (Edinburgh)							0	8.000	8.000
Open Market Shared Equity Pilot	0	30.000	30.000	0	24.000	24.000	0	60.000	60.000
Mortgage to Rent	0	10.000	10.000	0	10.000	10.000	0	20.000	20.000
AHIP Support Costs	0	3.836	3.836	0	4.000	4.000	0	1.000	1.000
Total	391.606	192.885	584.491	349.102	143.898	493.000*	433.220	210.786	644.006

Note: *2008-09 planned programme excludes the accelerated £40 million, 2009-10 planned programme includes £80 million accelerated funding.

The government has a target of approving 21,500 affordable homes over the three year period 2008-11. We plan to approve over 6,000 homes by the end of financial year 2008-09. Our recently announced programme for 2009-10 has a target of at least 6,500 unit approvals.

The Scottish Government has taken a number of measures to ensure that there is adequate legal protection for home owners facing repossession.

We have established a Repossessions Group, comprising representatives of the legal system, lenders, advice agencies and consumer interests. The group has been asked to provide advice to ministers by 30 April 2009 on whether the legal protection for homeowners in Scotland at risk of repossession provided through UK and Scottish legislation is adequate. If required, the group has been asked to make specific recommendations on ways in which either reserved or devolved legislation should be strengthened.

We are also improving access to legal advice and legal aid for those facing repossession, debt and other financial difficulties. We have made an additional £3 million available over the next two years to expand our in-court advice and other legal advice services, and we have agreed to increase the disposable income limits for civil legal aid, so that over a million more Scots can become potentially eligible from this spring.

The Scottish Government has taken a number of non-legislative measures to protect home owners in financial difficulty.

The £35 million Home Owners Support Fund helps those who cannot access support elsewhere to stay in their homes through the Mortgage to Rent and Mortgage to Shared equity schemes. The report of the evaluation of the Mortgage to Rent scheme was published in January on the Scottish Government website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/12/11115931/0, and a revised scheme will be launched on 16 March, alongside the new Mortgage to Shared Equity scheme.

We have also funded a £400,000 awareness raising campaign for National Debtline, including TV and online advertising, to encourage people to tackle debt problems at an early stage. An evaluation of the campaign is underway.

We are providing an additional £1 million to Citizens Advice to increase the capacity of face to face debt advice services.

The Scottish Government''s Repossessions Group will also consider whether any further legislative or non-legislative measures could be taken to protect home owners at risk of repossession.