Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is making a significant investment and taking a range of action to stimulate activity and create and support employment in the housing sector, including through the Innovation and Investment Fund, the New Supply Shared Equity with Developers Scheme and the National Housing Trust initiative. In addition, we intend shortly to announce a call for bids to a Housebuilding Infrastructure Loan Fund and are supporting work by Homes for Scotland to stimulate activity through the development of a private sector mortgage indemnity scheme for new build housing.

The Scottish Government plans to introduce powers to allow local authorities to charge a Council Tax levy on long-term empty properties. This will aim both to encourage homeowners to make their homes available for rent or sale and to raise additional revenue to fund affordable housing.

Local authorities already have powers under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 to issue work notices or maintenance orders to homeowners where a house is sub-standard to require the owner to bring it into and keep it in a reasonable state of repair. In both cases, the local authority can enforce the notice or order if the owner fails to take action. If a property is in a serious state of disrepair, local authorities can also obtain a Compulsory Purchase Order in order to take ownership of the property.

As set out in the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006, a private landlord cannot let a property unless it meets the requirements of the Repairing Standard at the start of and during a tenancy. Whilst it is the Private Rented Housing Panel which considers cases where a tenant feels their landlord is not complying with the Repairing Standard, local authorities will be required under the Private Rented Housing (Scotland) Act 2011 to take account of breaches of the Repairing Standard when considering whether someone is fit and proper to be a landlord under the landlord registration regime.

In 2010-11, the Scottish Government supported 21,561 modern apprenticeship new starts. We have committed to offer 25,000 modern apprenticeship opportunities in 2011-12.

In 2010-11, the Scottish Government, through Skills Development Scotland, supported 532 apprentices in North Ayrshire. Skills Development Scotland is working with North Ayrshire Council to improve employer participation in the modern apprenticeship programme in the area.

Employment is a matter reserved to the UK Government which now delivers the majority of its employment services via the single Work Programme which incorporates Jobcentre Plus and contracted support.

The Scottish Government’s approach is to focus employability support on the needs of the individual client, rather than having initiatives for particular groups. Women may require additional support, for example, to access childcare or to increase their skills and people facing the most significant challenges to entering and sustaining employment can gain early access to Training for Work, the Scottish Government’s vocational training programme for unemployed adults. They may also be supported by specific programmes funded by local employability partnerships working within community planning partnerships.

NHS Ayrshire and Arran is currently reviewing its property and accommodation.

There are no plans for ministers to meet with NHS Ayrshire and Arran specifically to discuss its estate.

Encouraging young people to stay in learning post-16 is the best way to ensure their long-term employability. We continue to work with North Ayrshire Community Planning Partners, led by North Ayrshire Council, to consider options to address unemployment, including youth unemployment in the area. Practical measures include:

supporting the North Ayrshire Council More Choices More Chances Partnership to ensure every young person gets a 16+ Learning Choices offer well in advance of their school leaving date or any subsequent period of learning during the Senior Phase of Curriculum for Excellence;

providing over £500,000 to develop and deliver Activity Agreements for those young people who have disengaged from learning and are furthest from the labour market, and

ensuring national training programme provision is aligned with opportunities in the local labour market. Starting in 2010-11, Skills Development Scotland has aligned its pre-employment programmes (Get Ready for Work and Training for Work) with local labour markets, including those in North Ayrshire, through contract co-decision making with Community Planning Partnerships. This will help to drive up job related outcomes from our employability programmes.

The Scottish Government’s Low-Cost Initiative for First Time Buyers (LIFT) brings together a range of schemes to help first time buyers. For 2011-12, we are continuing to invest in the Open Market Shared Equity Scheme and the New Supply Shared Equity with Developers Scheme, and other shared equity developments are being considered within the Innovation and Investment Fund.

In addition, the Scottish Government recently agreed to support work by Homes for Scotland to develop a private sector mortgage indemnity scheme to help first-time buyers and others aspiring to purchase a new home.

The latest available statistics in the following table provide the number of applications in North Ayrshire where the applicant household was assessed as either priority unintentionally homeless or as priority intentionally homeless, from 1 January to 30 September 2010.

Information for the period 1 October 2010 to 31 March 2011 will be available from
30 August when the 2010-11 homeless statistics bulletin is published.

The Scottish Government does not have a definition of unintentionally homeless.

Rather, the definition of intentionally homeless is set out in section 26 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987:

A person becomes homeless intentionally if he/she deliberately does or fails to do anything in consequence of which he/she ceases to occupy accommodation which is available for his/her occupation and which it would have been reasonable for him/her to continue to occupy.