As foreshadowed in Firm Foundations: the Future of Housingin Scotland, the Scottish Government willbe consulting in coming weeks on proposals for getting better value from the currentarrangements for subsidising new social housing. The average subsidy in 2008-09will reflect the outcome of that consultation.

On the basis of the reforms proposedin Firm Foundations: theFuture of Housing in Scotland, the ScottishGovernment expects that the increased budget for affordable housing of £1.5 billionin 2008-11 will deliver more new affordable homes – including social rented housesand houses for low cost home ownership – than planned for 2005-08.

I have asked James Hynd, ActingChief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. His response is as follows:

The average unit cost of an affordablehome in 2006-07 was £115,071. Building cost inflation is currently sitting at 7%which will affect the cost of providing an affordable home in the current year and2008-09. However, the actual costs cannot be predicted at this point.

As set out in the government’scurrent consultation: FirmFoundations: The Future of Housing in Scotland, in order to meet growing demand for increased housingsupply, the Scottish Government will be consulting shortly on changes to HousingAssociation Grant from April 2008 and, in due course, on introduction of a competitiveapproach to investment.

The Homelessness etc (Scotland) Act2003 incorporates a target that the distinction between homeless households assessedas having a priority need for accommodation and those who are assessed as “non-priority”will be removed by 2012. The Scottish Government is committed to achieving thistarget.

If the target is achieved, unintentionallyhomeless households will generally be entitled to permanent accommodation as definedby the homelessness legislation. Section 32A of the Housing (Scotland) Act1987 allows for Scottish ministers to prescribe circumstances in which permanentaccommodation need not be provided. These circumstances are currently set out inthe Homeless Person Interim Accommodation (Scotland) Regulations 2002. A consultationon amendments to these Regulations will take place later this year.

The Homelessness Monitoring Groupwill publish a report on the situation as regards the 2012 target and future capacityfor progress later this year.

Section 5 of the Regulation ofCare (Scotland) Act 2001 requires Scottish ministers to keep the NationalCare Standards under review. We are currently considering how best to do this.

There is a procedure in placeto amend the standards if this is required urgently because of changes, for example,in legislation or policy.

It is expected that up to 15dental students will be enrolled at the new Aberdeen dental school in 2008,rising to 20 students per year in subsequent years.

The Aberdeen dentalschool will be established primarily to train dental students, although serviceprovision is expected to be affected positively when the students graduate and hopefullyremain in the area.

As part of the teaching programme,it is expected that the dental students will work in outreach training centres inGrampian and the North of Scotland.

The ScottishRecreation Survey, undertaken by Scottish Natural Heritage on a monthly basison a demographically representative sample of 1,000 adults living in Scotland, will indicate how many visits to the outdoors areundertaken per week.

As part of the new concordatagreed between the Scottish Government and COSLA, each local authority will aimto reach a single outcome agreement (SOA) with the Scottish Government at the earliestopportunity, based on the national outcomes and, under a common framework, localoutcomes to take account of local priorities. The SOA will cover all local governmentservices in each local authority area as well as a significant range of the responsibilitiesof Community Planning Partnerships where local authorities have a significant partto play. The initial agreements would be with each of the 32 councils with the possibilityof agreements with Community Planning Partnerships at some future date.

We are currently in discussionwith COSLA about the mechanics of introducing SOAs with each council for 2008-09.

New guidance on Careand Support for People with Co-occurring Substance Misuse and Mental Health Problemswas published on 10 December 2007. This recommends that all services shouldhave assessment processes to identify co-morbidity systematically and which willhelp match care appropriate to level and type of need.