Mary Mulligan

20 Aug 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many homeowners have benefited from the mortgage to rent scheme since January 2009.

Answer · Alex Neil: Since January 2009, 183 households have benefited from the mortgage to rent scheme.</p>

20 Aug 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what measures have been established at a national level for measuring the effectiveness of Care and Repair.

Answer · Alex Neil: There are 12 Care and Repair national indicators introduced with effect from April 1999. These can be seen at:</p> <p ><a href="http://www.careandrepairscotland.co.uk/static/docs/performance_indicators2006_07.pdf">http://www.careandrepairscotland.co.uk/stati…

20 Aug 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive which Scottish Government guidance stipulates national minimum standards for Care and Repair.

Answer · Alex Neil: National minimum standards for Care and Repair are detailed in the publication <i >Care and Repair Standards and Guidance (2004)</i>. This is available to view at: </p> <p ><a href="http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/26800/0023526.pdf">http://www.scotla…

20 Aug 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the minutes of the short-life working group on housing support data collection will be made publicly available.

Answer · Alex Neil: Yes. Minutes and papers will be published on the Housing and Regeneration Statistics Section of the Scottish Government website.</p>

20 Aug 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when the short-life working group on housing support data collection will meet.

Answer · Alex Neil: The first meeting of the group is planned for mid-October and the group should meet a further three to four times.</p>

20 Aug 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive who the members are of the short-life working group on housing support data collection.

Answer · Alex Neil: In addition to the Housing Access and Support Statistician who will chair the group, the group will have representatives of Scottish Local Authorities, The Scottish Council for Single Homeless, the Housing Support Enabling Unit, Housing Support Providers, The…

11 Aug 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when the minutes of the most recent meeting of the Fuel Poverty Forum Equalities Working Group will be made publicly available.

Answer · Alex Neil: The minutes of the most recent meeting of the Fuel Poverty Forum''s Equalities Working Group will be published on the Scottish Government website with the minutes of the forum''s 7 July meeting. The minutes of that meeting will be published after they are app…

11 Aug 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-25968 by Alex Neil on 3 August 2009, how many of the 4,535 visits to the House Key website were from people seeking support in resolving their individual housing problems.

Answer · Alex Neil: This information is not collected as it is not possible to measure the intention of visits to the House Key website.</p>

11 Aug 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated average unit cost for 2009-10 is for general needs housing for rent provided by a (a) registered social landlord and (b) local authority, showing the (i) overall cost and (ii) that part of the cost paid for directly from the public sector budget.

Answer · Alex Neil: The target grant per unit (for a three person house) for a Registered Social Landlord in 2009-10 is £74,000. The final grant rate in a year is dependent on the actual costs and grant rates of all of projects approved in the year.<i > </i></b>We do not estimat…

11 Aug 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it has taken to commission an annual assessment of the need for affordable housing in light of its decision not to continue with the method developed by Professor Bramley and colleagues at Heriot-Watt University and what the results of any alternative modelling are.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The Scottish Government published new guidance for local authorities in early 2008 which provides a step by step approach to assessing housing need and demand across all tenures. Data from these assessments is expected from early 2010 onwards and will supple…

11 Aug 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what conversations it has had with national housing organisations regarding the need to provide 10,000 affordable homes for rent in (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12 and (c) 2012-13

Answer · Alex Neil: The Scottish Government holds frequent discussions with national housing organisations to support our shared efforts to increase the supply of affordable housing.</p>

11 Aug 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what estimates it has made of the number of new affordable homes for rent required in (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12 and (c) 2012-13.

Answer · Alex Neil: Estimates for those specific years have not been made. However, the most recent update of Professor Glen Bramley''s model of affordable housing need was published in November 2006 and offered five-yearly assessments to 2021 of housing need and affordability a…

7 Aug 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executivewhen the next meeting of the Fuel Poverty Forum will take place.

Answer · Alex Neil: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-25600 on 16 July 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/B…

7 Aug 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executivewhen the minutes of the most recent meeting of the Fuel Poverty Forum will be made publicly available.

Answer · Alex Neil: The minutes of the 7 July meeting of the Fuel Poverty Forum will be published on the Scottish Government website following approval of these minutes by members at the next meeting of the Forum on 27 October 2009.</p>

7 Aug 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when the most recent meeting of the Fuel Poverty Forum took place.

Answer · Alex Neil: The most recent meeting of the Fuel Poverty Forum took place on 7 July 2009.</p>

4 Aug 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what procedures are being put in place to monitor the quality of the insulation measures under the Home Insulation Scheme announced in a press release of 30 July 2009.

Answer · Alex Neil: The Energy Saving Trust (EST) has been appointed as managing agent for the scheme and will work with delivery partners to ensure that the appropriate insulation measures are installed to a high standard. This will include the management of complaints and quer…

4 Aug 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive which 23 local authorities applied to be included in the Home Insulation Scheme.

Answer · Alex Neil: A proforma was issued to local authorities on 1 May inviting them to put forward proposals for a particular area or areas to benefit from the Home Insulation Scheme, either in 2009-10, or 2010-11. Details of the applications received are as follows:</p> <tab…

4 Aug 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what measures are being put in place to ensure that there is ongoing monitoring and reporting on homelessness prevention as recommended in the recent guidance to local authorities on section 11 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Section 11 of the Homelessness etc (Scotland) Act 2003 was introduced on 1 April 2009, and guidance on this is available on the Scottish Government website. The Scottish Government, following discussion with CoSLA, will collect basic data from local authoriti…

23 Jul 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people received housing support in 2008-09.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The information requested is not held centrally.</p> <p >Statistics were previously collected on the number of people receiving a housing support service funded through the Supporting People programme. Following the end of ring fencing of the Supporting Peo…

22 Jul 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people purchased properties under the Open Market Shared Equity Pilot scheme prior to March 2009, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Prior to 31 March 2009 the following number of people purchased properties under the Open Market Shared Equity Pilot scheme:</p> <table border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 > <thead> <tr > <td width=132 nowrap valign=bottom > <p align=center >Loc…

22 Jul 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have purchased properties under the Open Market Shared Equity Pilot scheme since March 2009, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Since the launch of the temporary expansion of the Open Market Shared Equity Pilot scheme on 31 March 2009, as at 31 July 2009 the following number of people have purchased properties:</p> <table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 > <thead> <tr > <…

22 Jul 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have applied to the Open Market Shared Equity Pilot scheme since it was expanded across Scotland in March 2009, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Since the launch of the temporary expansion of the Open Market Shared Equity Pilot scheme (OMSEP) on 31 March 2009, as at 31 July 2009 the following number of people have returned a completed application form:</p> <table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=…

21 Jul 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to address the conclusion of the recent ODS Consulting research on tackling community regeneration that “equalities issues are understated in the Fairer Scotland Fund”.

Answer · Alex Neil: The desk-based research conducted by ODS Consulting was commissioned to inform debate at a conference held in June to examine the long-term impact of national area based regeneration programmes.</p> <p >In our Fairer Scotland Fund (FSF) guidance, issued on …

21 Jul 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to address the conclusion of the recent ODS Consulting research on tackling community regeneration that “community members have found it harder to influence decisions, with a feeling that the process [of community planning] is more high level and “top down” than in…

Answer · Alex Neil: The desk-based research conducted by ODS Consulting was commissioned to inform debate at a conference held in June to examine the long-term impact of national area based regeneration programmes.</p> <p >In keeping with previous approaches, such as Social Inc…

21 Jul 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people it estimates will benefit from the central heating installation measures provided through the Energy Assistance Package.

Answer · Alex Neil: The Energy Assistance Package presents a holistic approach to tackling fuel poverty by providing a range of people with a range of services at each stage including: income maximisation, energy efficiency advice and social tariff checks at stages 1 and 2, stan…

21 Jul 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people it estimates will benefit financially from the benefit and tax credit checks and advice on low-energy tariffs provided though the Energy Assistance Package.

Answer · Alex Neil: It is estimated that up to 50,000 people will be referred at stage 2 for benefit health checks and advice on social tariffs in the first year of the package. We intend to publish statistical information monthly on the Energy Saving Trust website “ see here:</…

21 Jul 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people it estimates will benefit from the insulation measures provided through the Energy Assistance Package.

Answer · Alex Neil: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W“25594 on 30 July 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/B…

20 Jul 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many enquiries there have been to the online House Key service by people seeking housing support.

Answer · Alex Neil: Since December 2008 there have been 4,535 visits to the House Key website.</p>

20 Jul 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost was, including staffing costs, of setting up the House Key online service.

Answer · Alex Neil: The House Key website was originally launched in May 2006 by the Elderly Accommodation Counsel, with the help of an £18,000 grant from the Scottish Government.</p> <p >A tendering exercise was conducted to bring the service onto the Scottish Government websi…

25 Jun 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-24792 by Fergus Ewing on 22 June 2009, which sheriff court would deal with cases from local authority areas that do not have a sheriff court, in particular East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Midlothian and North Ayrshire.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: In general, the sheriff court that has jurisdiction in a repossession case is dependent on the location of the property in question.</p> <p >Normally, cases relating to properties in East Dunbartonshire will be dealt with at either Glasgow or Dumbarton Sheri…