Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government will be responsible for the introduction of enterprise zones in Scotland and we are currently considering how best to maximise their economic impact. No decisions have therefore been taken as yet on the annual budget necessary to support their introduction.

Homes built through the National Housing Trust initiative (NHT) will be available for rent below the levels of housing benefit limits which makes them accessible to households on lower incomes. The homes will form part of the overall programme of affordable housing supply receiving financial support from the Scottish Government.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-01735 on 11 August 2011. 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/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

We aim to deliver 30,000 affordable homes – an average of 6,000 per year over the next five years. We plan to build 5,000 new council houses during this parliament, but have not set an overall target for council/housing association homes for social rent.

This is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise. Scottish Enterprise leads on this program providing staff, marketing and other support.

I will ask Scottish Enterprise’s Chief Executive to write to you with the information.

In the 2020 Routemap for Renewable Energy in Scotland, the Scottish Government has set a target of 500 megawatts of community and locally-owned renewable energy by 2020. The Routemap is published on the Scottish Government website at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/RoutemapforRenewableEnergy.

The Community and Renewable Energy Scheme provides loans of up to £150,000 to farmers, land managers, rural businesses, cooperatives and communities to help meet the pre-planning consent costs of developing a proposal. It is a requirement of the loan scheme to have in place a binding legal agreement on community benefit, with payments to begin when a project becomes operational, and continue for a period of 20 years.

The Scottish Government is also committed to securing the establishment of a Green Equity Fund for community renewables for the post-planning phase of development. More detailed proposals for supporting community renewables from the next financial year onwards will be set out in the spending review later this year.

The National Housing Trust initiative (NHT) differs from the traditional grant funding approach in that the purchase of homes will be jointly funded by participating councils and developers, with the Scottish Government providing guarantees to councils to ensure they are able to repay any money they borrow to fund the scheme. As such, there is no Scottish Government money allocated to the NHT to build affordable homes in the same sense as monies would be allocated under grant-based schemes.

The Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES) now provides loans to farmers, land managers, rural businesses, cooperatives and communities for the pre-planning consent costs of developing proposals. The spending review later this year will give an opportunity to consider future funding for community renewables.

The Scottish Government is currently considering how best to introduce enterprise zones in Scotland, including exploring the creation of one or more low carbon enterprise zones, so as to maximise their possible economic impact.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-01735 on 11 August 2011. 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/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.