Chamber and committees

Powers undersection 9 of the Homelessness etc. Scotland Act 2003 were exercised in 2004 tobring into force the Homeless Persons (Unsuitable Accommodation) (Scotland) Order 2004.

As a consequenceof this Order, local authorities placing homeless households with children orpregnant women into temporary accommodation must ensure that such accommodationcomplies with the standards set out in the Order unless exceptional circumstances(also defined in the Order) apply.

Six-monthlyofficial statistics bulletins on homelessness are published by the Executive,and the latest bulletin can be found at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2007/03/12095510/0.

Information onlocal authorities’ offers, and homeless households’ take-up, of temporaryaccommodation as well as monitoring of local authorities’ compliance with the orderis reported in the bulletins.

We are acutelyaware of the importance of meeting Scotland’s widerange of housing needs. We are looking carefully at potential action to helpfirst time buyers. One of our key aims is improving measures to help moreindividuals and families who are currently excluded from the housing market byunaffordable prices. We are considering a range of measures to do this,including grants and a Scottish Housing Support Fund for shared equityprovision.

The Scottish Governmentis acutely aware of the importance of meeting Scotland’s wide range of housing needs,and is currently taking stock of the action required to ensure that sufficient housingis available for those on housing waiting lists who are in need.

Decisions onaffordable housing investment beyond 2008 will depend on the outcome of the spendingreview later this year.

The Scottish Governmentis currently assessing a broad range of housing issues across the country and isaware of the pressures on affordable housing in some areas. It is for local planningauthorities to determine whether they wish to employ specific planning measuresin order to intervene in local housing markets.

The Scotland Rural DevelopmentProgramme will open up new opportunities for rural communities. We are looking forways to encourage capacity building within those communities to ensure they cantake full advantage of these opportunities.

Ministers have not yet been ableto consider the evaluation of the Rural Voices pilot programme. The evaluation reportwill be published as soon as they have done so.

The Grants Panel allocated £922,000 for community environmental renewal grants to 38 projects. We believe that there is demand for the grant scheme and that there are good projects which can come forward. Were there to be any carry forward, then its use would be a matter for the incoming administration after the election.

Part of the proceeds of the aggregates levy is available to support communities affected by aggregates extraction through community environmental renewal grants. Grants are available to projects which address the environmental effects of past or present aggregates extraction involve the local community and have demonstrable social and/or economic benefit to the local community. It is open to any community affected by aggregates extraction to devise a project in accordance with the criteria.Grants were allocated according to merit by a Grants Panel, rather than on a geographical basis or in proportion to the amount raised by the levy in a particular area. The panel included representatives from COSLA, community councils, the aggregates industry, Scottish Natural Heritage and Scottish Environment Protection Agency. Any geographical or pro rata allocation of the proceeds of the levy would to some extent be arbitrary. For example, basing allocations on the current proceeds of the levy would disadvantage those areas that are affected by former extraction sites no longer in production. For that reason, we believe that a single national scheme to which all communities have equal access is the best approach.Further grants will be available in 2003-04. I will be looking to Forward Scotland, who will administer the 2003-04 scheme, to promote the scheme to communities which have not benefited from grants this year.

As stated in the White Paper Renewing Local Democracy: The Next Steps, published in March 2002, there are no plans to review local authority boundaries or the number of councils in the foreseeable future. The Review of Scotland's Cities published on 9 January 2003 identified that the prospects for Inverness's future are better than ever before, the city having established itself as the principal administrative and service centre for the Highlands. The wider Highlands benefits by having access to an unrivalled set of services in the region and the city benefits by the local jobs and growth its Highland Capital status brings. There is a clear and strong interdependence between the wider Highlands and the City of Inverness. The Review of Scotland's Cities made clear that cities can only be successful as part of a successful city-region and emphasised the importance of all city and regional stakeholders working in partnership. Inverness and the wider Highlands has the great advantage of having no artificial administrative boundaries to impede the development of a cohesive city-region. In that context the Scottish Executive has very strongly welcomed the recent establishment by local stakeholders, including Highland Council, of a City Partnership to address the particular needs of Inverness and its relationship with the surrounding region.

I have asked Graeme Munro, Director and Chief Executive of Historic Scotland to reply. His response is as follows:Of the 66 representations received about the future of Castle Tioram, 62 were in favour and four objected to the plans put forward by the current owners to redevelop the castle.