Chamber and committees

(i) The Common Repairs Working Group comprises representatives of the following organisations:

Scottish Executive

Scottish Consumer Council

Scottish Homes

CoSLA (Convention of Scottish Local Authorities)

CIH (Chartered Institute of Housing in Scotland)

SFHA (Scottish Federation of Housing Associations)

STO (Scottish Tenants Organisation)

Queens Cross Housing Association

The group has no budget nor have any expenses been paid to members.

(ii) The Single Social Tenancy Working Group comprises members of the following organisations:

Scottish Executive

CoSLA

Scottish Homes

SFHA

STO

TPAS (Tenant Participation Advisory Service)

TIS (Tenants Information Service)

TIGHRA (Tenant Involvement in the Islands Grampian and Highland Rural Areas

Shelter

CIH

The group has no budget nor have any expenses been paid to members.

(iii) The membership of the Homelessness Task Force is as follows:

Deputy Minister for Communities, Jackie Baillie MSP, Chair

Mr Robert Aldridge, Director, Scottish Council for Single Homeless

Ms Pat Bagot, Policy and Practice Manager, Scottish Homes

Mr David Belfall, Head of Group, Development Department, Scottish Executive

Ms Suzanne Fitzpatrick, Department of Urban Studies, Glasgow University

Councillor Rita Miller, Convener of Community Services, South Ayrshire Council

Ms Liz Nicholson, Director, Shelter Scotland

Mr David Orr, Director, Scottish Federation of Housing Associations

Ms Catriona Renfrew, Director of Commissioning, Greater Glasgow Health Board

Ms Hilary Reynolds, Department of Social Security

Mr Bill Robertson, Director, Angus Council Social Work Services, representing the Association of Directors of Social Work

Ms Margaret Taylor, Director, Glasgow Council for Single Homeless

Mr Mark Turley, Director of Housing Edinburgh City Council

Mr Mel Young, Director, The Big Issue in Scotland

The members of the group do not receive a salary or fee but are reimbursed for travel and associated expenses incurred in carrying out the group's work.

(iv) The membership of the Renewing Local Democracy Working Group is as follows:

Richard Kerley, Chairman Director of the MBA degree at University of Edinburgh Management School; former councillor

Vikram Lall, Corporate Finance Director of Bell Lawrie

Marilyn Livingstone MSP

Neil McIntosh, Former Chairman of the Commission on Local Government and the Scottish Parliament; former Chief Executive of Strathclyde Regional Council

Cllr. Norman Murray, President CoSLA; councillor and leader of East Lothian Council

Sandra Osborne MP

Sheila Ritchie, Former leader of Gordon District Council

Cllr. Daphne Sleigh, City of Edinburgh councillor

Bill Speirs, General Secretary STUC

Maureen Watt, Former Grampian Region councillor; former member of Commission on Local Government and the Scottish Parliament

The members of the group do not receive a salary or fee but are reimbursed for travel and associated expenses incurred in carrying out the group's work.

Membership of these groups is detailed below.

Members of groups (i), (ii) and (iii) are entitled to claim for travelling and subsistence expenses, which are paid in accordance with Scottish Executive staff rates. Remuneration and expenses of members of group (iv) are the concern of the individual organisations.

(i) Race Equality Advisory Forum

Saqib Abbasi

Rowena Arshad

Jackie Baillie (Chair)

Ephraim Borowski

Philomena DeLima

Matthew Farrow

Tesfu Gessesse

Jatin Haria

Subhash K Joshi

Dharmendra Kanani

Aziza Khand

Martin MacEwen

Shamime Mansoori

Mukami McCrum

Philip Muinde

Dorothy Neoh

Najimee Parveen

Vijay Patel

Robina Qureshi

Selma Rahman

Sofi Taylor

Officials from the Equality Unit provide the Secretariat

(ii) Review of Councils for Voluntary Service

Jackie Baillie (Chair)

Kath Gallagher

Jon Harris

Chris Higgins

Adrienne Kelbie

Margaret Wilson

Along with officials from the Scottish Executive. This group completed its work in January 2000.

(iii) Strategic Review of Executive Funding to the Black and Ethnic Minority Voluntary Sector

Ephraim Borowski

Liz Burns

Hilary Campbell

Sandra Carter

Jon Harris

Hayat Hewitt

Steven Marwick

Dorothy Neoh

Vijay Patel

Along with officials from the Scottish Executive

In addition to the current membership, a representative from the Council for Racial Equality will be invited to the next meeting, along with Mrs Linda Goldberg of Cosgrove Care, the Jewish Association for the Mentally Handicapped.

(iv) The Common Housing Registers Steering Group

The following organisations are represented on the Common Housing Registers Steering Group:

Scottish Executive

Chartered Institute of Housing

CoSLA

Shelter

Scottish Federation of Housing Associations

Scottish Homes.

The membership of the Homelessness Task Force is drawn from a number of statutory, voluntary and professional bodies. The statutory and professional bodies, such as CoSLA and the Association of Directors of Social Work were invited to put forward individual nominations for membership. Invitations to the voluntary organisations were made to the Directors of the voluntary organisations concerned. The task force does not hold a budget, but the Scottish Executive reimburses members for travel and associated expenses incurred in carrying out the group's work. To date the group has met on nine occasions.

Leading figures from key voluntary organisations, who had expressed keen interest in Part V issues, were invited to participate in the Review Group and to represent the views of their members. The group is chaired by Jackie Baillie, the Deputy Minister for Communities, and has met on four occasions so far. It has no dedicated budget.

Members were selected to bring a variety of perspectives to the remit of the group, in the light of the McIntosh report's recommendation that the group should include strong representation from local government and also a strong independent element.

The total budget for the panel for 2000-01 is £20,000 to meet the travel costs for visits to councils and panel meetings, and the expected publication costs of the panel's final report. None of the panel members is receiving any remuneration over and above incidental travel and subsistence expenses.

Since the panel was established, there have been seven full panel meetings and 36 meetings with individual councils. Panel members are now starting a second round of meetings with individual councils. In addition, a number of further full panel meetings will take place between now and the end of the LAP process.

The Supporting People Stakeholders' Group was established in January 2000. The Scottish Council of Voluntary Organisations, the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations, Scottish Homes, the Confederation of Scottish Local Authorities, the Scottish Council for the Single Homeless and the Scottish Health Board Managers Group were invited to nominate members. The Scottish Executive laid down no criteria for selection. The group is an advisory group and has no dedicated budget allocation. It has so far met twice on 19 January and 24 March respectively.

The Working Group on Houses in Multiple Occupation Guidance was established in July 1999 to oversee the preparation of guidance to local authorities on the establishment and administration of the proposed mandatory licensing scheme in their areas. The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, the Scottish Council for the Single Homeless, the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, the Chartered Institute of Housing and the Royal Institute for Environmental Health in Scotland were invited to nominate members. The Scottish Executive laid down no criteria for selection. The group is an advisory body and has no dedicated budget allocation. The group has so far met four times on 3 September 1999, 29 October 1999, 6 December 1999 and on 4 February 2000 respectively.

Following the McIntosh report the Executive has consulted on a number of issues including the timing of elections and the eligibility of local government employees. We are presently considering the responses to these issues. It also established the Renewing Local Democracy Working Group to consider, among other issues, the electoral system for local government: that group is expected to report shortly. The Executive will review the administrative arrangements for local government elections, including polling hours, in the light of the post-McIntosh consultation and the report of the Renewing Local Democracy Working Group.

PQ S1W-5202 was answered on 23 May 2000.

Since 6 May 1999 I have set up the following groups relating to local government finance:

the Strategic Issues Joint Working Group;

the "It Pays to Pay" implementation working group; and

the Deprivation Review Steering Group.