Mary Mulligan

24 Jan 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many applications for the New Supply Shared Equity scheme were made in 2010.

Answer · Alex Neil: The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally. Registered Social Landlords administer New Supply Shared Equity on behalf of the Scottish Government.</p>

20 Jan 2011 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many parenting orders have been issued in the Linlithgow constituency.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: Such information is not held centrally. The Scottish Government is not aware of any parenting orders having been issued in the Linlithgow constituency.</p>

13 Jan 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many housing association houses were completed in (a) 2008, (b) 2009 and (c) 2010.

Answer · Alex Neil: There were 5,797 housing association houses completed in 2008 and 8,654 were completed in 2009. The figure for 2010 will be published on 23 February 2011. These figures include all Housing Association completions carried out through the Affordable Housing Inv…

13 Jan 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many council houses were completed in (a) 2008, (b) 2009 and (c) 2010.

Answer · Alex Neil: There were 195 council houses completed in 2008 and 452 in 2009. The figure for 2010 will be published on 23 February 2011.</b></p> <p >This information is published on the Housing Statistics for Scotland pages of the Scottish Government''s website at:</p> …

12 Jan 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what it proposes to do with the new £50 million competitive funding contained in the draft housing budget.

Answer · Alex Neil: We will use the fund to encourage applications from all providers to increase new affordable housing supply as much as possible. Further details will be made available shortly.</p> m

12 Jan 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive which aspects of the Supporting Transitions budget will be affected by the reduction in that budget line of £20.2 million between 2010-11 and 2011-12.

Answer · Alex Neil: Whilst some decisions have been taken about the allocation of the £57.2 million budget published in the draft budget 2011-12, further decisions remain to be finalised. Therefore, it is not possible at this stage to confirm which aspects of the draft budget wi…

12 Jan 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive which aspects of the Supporting Sustainability budget will be affected by the reduction in that budget line of £20.7 million between 2010-11 and 2011-12.

Answer · Alex Neil: The reductions arise from the agreed profile of grant payments due to landlords which acquired housing stock transferred from local authorities; and from a reduction in the budget supporting the Energy Assistance Package, reflecting the reduction of almost 25…

10 Jan 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the Affordable Housing Investment Programme has been allocated to each local authority in each year since 2006-07, also expressed in real terms.

Answer · Alex Neil: The following table shows how much of the Affordable Housing Investment Programme has been allocated to each local authority in each year since 2006-07, also expressed in real terms. </p> <p >GDP deflators for the real term figures have been sourced from HM …

10 Jan 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the 2010-11 Energy Assistance Package budget is expected to be spent on households with children.

Answer · Alex Neil: The proportion of the budget spent on households with children will depend on demand and, where Stage 4 measures are installed, with the nature of the measures.</p>

10 Jan 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the 2009-10 Energy Assistance Package budget was spent on households with children.

Answer · Alex Neil: This information is not collected centrally.</p>

10 Jan 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many households with children are expected to receive support under each stage of the Energy Assistance Package in 2010-11.

Answer · Alex Neil: This will depend upon demand and is not fully known at this stage as the year runs up until 31 March 2011. The latest available figures are as follows.</p> <p >Referrals Between 1 April 2010 and 3 January 2011</p> <table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=…

10 Jan 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many households with children received support under each stage of the Energy Assistance Package in 2009-10.

Answer · Alex Neil: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-37227 on 11 November 2010. 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/App…

10 Jan 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many households with disabled people received support under each stage of the Energy Assistance Package in 2009-10.

Answer · Alex Neil: This information is not collected centrally.</p>

10 Jan 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the Energy Assistance Package budget for 2009-10 was spent on (a) improved insulation and (b) central heating installation.

Answer · Alex Neil: It is not possible to disaggregate the spend on insulation and heating, with most jobs including both types of measure. In addition to those measures funded by the EAP budget under Stage 4, there are Stage 3 insulation measures which are funded by the Carbon …

10 Jan 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the Energy Assistance Package budget was in 2009-10 and how much was spent.

Answer · Alex Neil: In 2009-10, the core Energy Assistance Package (EAP) budget was £45.36 million and this included for installations by Scottish Gas and administration of EAP by EST, funding for Energy Action Scotland and the Scottish Fuel Poverty Forum. This budget was fully …

20 Dec 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on the reported comment by the chief executive of the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations that “when the value of forward commitments is deducted from the draft housing budget, the amount of money left could be as little as £150 million”.

Answer · Alex Neil: I wrote on 17 November 2010 to the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations and other key housing and regeneration stakeholders setting out the implications of the draft 2011-12 budget published that day. This correspondence explained that the provision in…

20 Dec 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what housing rents were charged by each (a) housing association and (b) local authority in 2009-10.

Answer · Alex Neil: Statistics on average Registered Social Landlord (RSL) rents are published by the Scottish Housing Regulator at:</p> <p ><a href="http://www.scottishhousingregulator.gov.uk/stellent/groups/public/documents/webpages/shr_statisticstables2009-10.hcsp#TopOfPage"…

20 Dec 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive in what way the additional houses to be built under the National Housing Trust will benefit lower income households as stated by the Minister for Housing and Communities to The Herald on 14 December 2010.

Answer · Alex Neil: The level of rent for homes procured through the National Housing Trust (NHT) initiative is expected to start at 80% of the current Local Housing Allowance rate in each area. At this level they will be affordable to households on lower incomes, including thos…

15 Dec 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the additional houses to be built under the National Housing Trust will, after five years, become the property of the developers that have invested 30% of the build cost.

Answer · Alex Neil: Homes built under the National Housing Trust initiative will not become the property of the developers. A special purpose vehicle (SPV) for each site will own the homes as long as they remain available for rent under the initiative. The members of each SPV wi…

15 Dec 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will underwrite the funding by local authorities for the additional houses to be built under the National Housing Trust for 10 years.

Answer · Alex Neil: In short, yes. The Scottish Government''s guarantee to participating local authorities will last for 10 years from the date when each local authority lends funds to part finance the purchases of the National Housing Trust initiative homes. The guarantee will …

15 Dec 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average rent will be of houses built under the National Housing Trust.

Answer · Alex Neil: The level of rent for homes procured through phase one of the National Housing Trust initiative is expected to start at 80% of the current Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rate in each area. Rents are expected to increase by the Consumer Price Index plus 1% each…

15 Dec 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the additional houses to be built under the National Housing Trust will be available at intermediate rents.

Answer · Alex Neil: All homes provided under the National Housing Trust initiative will be available at intermediate (mid-market) rents. These are rental levels which are also affordable to those receiving the new, reduced, levels of housing benefit following the cuts to Local H…

15 Dec 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the additional houses to be built under the National Housing Trust are in addition to the target of 6,000 affordable homes to be built in 2011-12.

Answer · Alex Neil: Houses procured under the National Housing Trust initiative form part of the programme of 6,000 affordable homes to be taken forward in 2011-12.</b></p>

29 Nov 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average mid-market rent is in the social rented sector, broken down by local authority.

Answer · Alex Neil: Properties for mid-market rent are generally not provided by landlords in the social rented sector. The great majority of properties for mid-market rent are provided by landlords in the private rented sector, through RSL subsidiaries.</p> <p >At present, th…

29 Nov 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has conducted research on the appeal of mid-market rented property in the social rented sector.

Answer · Alex Neil: Research specifically examining the appeal of mid-market rented property in the social rented sector has not been conducted by the Scottish Government to date. However, the current Communities Analytical Services business plan for 2010-11 includes a project o…

29 Nov 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive for what reason there was a 46% reduction in new build starts under the Affordable Housing Investment Programme in the third quarter of 2010 compared to the same period in 2009

Answer · Alex Neil: The main reason that new build starts in Q3 2009 were much higher than in Q3 2010 is due to a large number of council house building starts being recorded in Q3 2009 mainly resulting from Rounds 1 and 2. Lower levels of starts coincided with Q3 2010. </p> <p…

29 Nov 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will issue guidance to local authorities on borrowing in light of statistics suggesting that the housing debt of local authorities will rise by 12% to £2.4 billion by March 2011.

Answer · Alex Neil: Each local authority is under a statutory duty to determine and keep under review the maximum amount that it can afford to allocate to capital expenditure. In determining this amount, the local authority must have regard to the Chartered Institute of Public F…

24 Nov 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive (a) how many and (b) what percentage of houses built under the Affordable Housing Investment Programme between September 2009 and 2010 were rehabilitations.

Answer · Alex Neil: As published on the Housing Statistics for Scotland web pages on the Scottish Government website, the number of rehabilitations completed under the Affordable Housing Investment Programme (AHIP) between Quarter 4 2009 (beginning of October 2009) and Quarter 3…

24 Nov 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive (a) how many and (b) what percentage of houses built under the Affordable Housing Investment Programme between September 2009 and 2010 were bought off the shelf from private developers.

Answer · Alex Neil: As published on the Housing Statistics for Scotland web pages on the Scottish Government website, there was a total of 116 off the shelf purchases from private developers under the Affordable Housing Investment Programme (AHIP) between Quarter 4 2009 (beginni…

24 Nov 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive (a) how many and (b) what percentage of houses built under the Affordable Housing Investment Programme between September 2009 and 2010 were for sale.

Answer · Alex Neil: As published on the Housing Statistics for Scotland web pages on the Scottish Government website, the number of houses completed for low cost home ownership under the Affordable Housing Investment Programme (AHIP) between Quarter 4 2009 (beginning of October …