Chamber and committees

The Scottish Executive remainscommitted to the target to abolish the priority need distinction in homelessnesslegislation by 2012. This will entitle all unintentionally homeless people to permanentaccommodation. Local authorities have been set an interim target of reducing theproportion of non-priority assessments by 50% by 2009. We are committed to consideringa range of factors to assess local authorities’ capacity to achieve the 2012 target,as set out in my Statement on the Abolition of Priority Need published in December2005. The Homelessness Monitoring Group will report on the position in their nextannual report next year.

I am not aware that the ScottishExecutive has made any estimate of the cost of a basic funeral. Low-income familiesand benefit claimants can claim some of the costs to meet a basic funeral throughthe DWP’s Social Fund Funeral Payment. The amount allowable covers the necessarycost of specified items, including burial or cremation fees, plus up to £700 forall other funeral expenses. The publication What to do after a death inScotland is available on the Scottish Executive website. This offers adviceabout funeral arrangements in Scotland including information about financial assistance availablefrom the Social Fund.

The numbers of applications assessedas homeless under the homelessness legislation by local authorities are shown inthe following table.

Number of ApplicationsAssessed as Homeless by Local Authority: 2000-01 to 2005-06

	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Scotland	26,200	31,100	35,060	36,674	34,821	36,299
Aberdeen City	860	880	846	805	659	1,110
Aberdeenshire	640	620	667	629	723	736
Angus	270	310	445	536	529	531
Argyll and Bute	230	340	515	561	561	656
Clackmannanshire	350	390	376	408	512	598
Dumfries and Galloway	490	620	780	801	859	827
Dundee City	530	510	415	366	376	311
East Ayrshire	390	430	671	692	808	734
East Dunbartonshire	230	220	258	320	258	362
East Lothian	340	450	435	436	462	553
East Renfrewshire	120	150	122	195	246	260
Edinburgh, City of	3,470	3,550	3,815	4,283	4,192	4,287
Eilean Siar	50	60	124	130	173	155
Falkirk	940	930	1,021	992	808	879
Fife	1,530	1,800	2,325	2,824	2,621	2,729
Glasgow City	8,380	11,520	11,038	10,624	8,436	8,609
Highland	440	530	791	1,220	1,292	1,349
Inverclyde	190	220	364	550	430	509
Midlothian	250	310	405	422	483	467
Moray	210	270	546	383	413	346
North Ayrshire	650	820	1,382	1,295	1,109	1,076
North Lanarkshire	900	1,110	1,649	1,972	2,763	2,879
Orkney	60	70	50	65	88	87
Perth and Kinross	380	430	654	361	305	390
Renfrewshire	630	440	565	652	689	628
Scottish Borders,The	380	350	388	598	470	529
Shetland	90	110	109	105	69	43
South Ayrshire	570	590	551	554	552	546
South Lanarkshire	820	970	1,335	1,402	1,267	1,401
Stirling	460	420	505	455	535	517
West Dunbartonshire	530	660	835	860	1,133	1,230
West Lothian	910	1,010	1,078	1,178	1,000	965

Source: HL1returns by local authorities to the Scottish Executive Development Department AnalyticalServices Division (Housing Statistics).

Notes:

1. All applicationswithin period assessed as homeless (excluding potentially homeless).

2. Some householdsmay have applied several times during the period, and will be counted more thanonce.

3. Data priorto 2002 are estimated due to missing returns (rounded to the nearest 100 for Scotland level and the nearest 10 for local authoritylevel).

4. Due to thelive nature of the data collection system, figures are updated on a continuous basisand the information published here may differ from that published previously.

The Department of Work and Pensions(DWP) provide assistance to low-income families and benefit claimants in order tomeet some of the costs of a funeral through the regulated Social Fund Funeral Grant.The Social Fund as part of the DWP is a reserved matter to the UK Government butthe Executive is in regular contact with colleagues in the DWP on a number of issuesincluding benefits and assistance for low-income families including the Social Fund.

The Scottish ParliamentaryCorporate Body meets or reimburses the interest payments on a mortgage up tothe limit set by the Parliament for this purpose within the rules of the schemeapproved by the Parliament. It does not concern itself with whether the member islikely to make a gain or a loss.

Implicit in the question isthe assumption that property prices in Edinburgh continue to rise. On that basis, irrespective of thetype of mortgage, an owner would expect to make a profit when the property issold. Although Capital Gains Tax is a reserved matter to the UK Parliament,currently disposal of a second home would be liable to tax at a rate of 40%.

The functions of the currentSPCB with regard to the Members’ Allowances Scheme have been conferred byresolution of the Parliament unanimously agreed in June 2001. Therefore theSPCB interprets, administers and enforces the current scheme by virtue of thewill of Parliament as expressed in the provisions of the scheme. The Parliamenthas approved the payment of a variety of allowances. All payments underallowances schemes meet or reimburse actual expenditure. This includes meeting the interest on the capitalborrowed to purchase a property within the levels calculated in accordance withthe allowances scheme.

As a general statement ofprinciple, the SPCB would see that any allowances scheme should:

(a) ensure that members havesufficient resources to effectively undertake their parliamentary functions,and

(b) that members are not outof pocket in the performance of those functions.

The SPCB also, as I am sure doMSPs generally, seeks value for money in the use of allowances. From theinformation already published on allowances it can be noted that, in general,the costs of leasing property is higher than the costs of meeting interestpayments on the capital borrowed to purchase a property.

There is no review ofallowances currently being undertaken. Officials have been asked to identifyissues on allowances generally, not just the Edinburgh Accommodation Allowance,which issues will inform a legacy paper which the current SPCB intends to leavefor the incoming SPCB which will be elected in the next parliamentary session.

The number is 38. 

NHS Quality Improvement Scotland hasindependent status and determines its own work programme, taking full accountof NHS Scotland priorities.

In relation to thedevelopment of COPD clinical standards, I understand NHS QIS has taken the viewthat it would not be sensible for it to embark on a further piece of work onCOPD until Audit Scotland has completed work on its long term conditionsproject, which takes COPD as one of two marker conditions, and the Departmentof Health has published its COPD National Service Framework. As a general rule,NHS QIS believes that it is not a good use of public resources for it toduplicate work already under way elsewhere in the UK, unless there are strongreasons for it to do so.

As Mr Sheridan is aware,having received a written response from the Head of Allowances on 23 September2005, the SPCB does not monitor any financial gain or loss which may be made byan individual MSP who has claimed the Edinburgh Accommodation Allowance to meetthe interest on the capital borrowed to purchase a property, nor does the SPCBcalculate any such figures.