Chamber and committees

No grant applications have been made so far in respect of 2000-01 by housing associations under section 54 of the Housing Act 1988.

This information is not held centrally.

The Scottish Executive has agreed to set up a joint Executive/SFHA working group to look at the detailed impact of the withdrawal of Section 54 (tax relief grant) on housing associations. If it proves to be the case that withdrawal of tax relief will cause particular difficulties for some associations in making adequate reserves for future repairs, or will affect their viability, Ministers have given an undertaking to consider how best to support such associations.

The Scottish Executive has agreed to set up a joint Executive / SFHA working group to look at the detailed impact of the withdrawal of Section 54 (tax relief grant) on housing associations.

Section 54 of the Housing Act 1988 will be repealed no earlier than April 2005.

It is for NHSScotland bodies to specify the performance standards they require when issuing an Invitation to Tender or Negotiate for a PFI/PPP contract. In doing so they will be expected to have regard to the guidance available from the Scottish Executive on requirements for the services concerned. These requirements apply irrespective of whether the services are provided by the public or private sector.

It is equally for NHSScotland bodies to formulate, propose and agree contractual arrangements with their private sector partner, for monitoring standards in operation.

Patients diagnosed with systemic sclerosis will be treated in General Practice or as in-patients or day cases in NHS hospitals. It is only possible to give figures broken down by health board for hospital patients, which is shown in the following table.

Health Board of Residence	Number of Patients
*Scotland	527
Argyll & Clyde	51
Ayrshire & Arran	22
Borders	15
Dumfries & Galloway	8
Fife	40
Forth Valley	24
Grampian	42
Greater Glasgow	113
Highland	19
Island Boards	1
Lanarkshire	48
Lothian	92
Tayside	54

*Patients whose health board of residence changed over the five-year period are counted separately under each health board but are counted only once in the Scotland total.

Information about face-to-face consultations between GPs and patients is gathered centrally as part of the Continuous Morbidity Recording in General Practice (CMR) system. CMR data are obtained from a sample of Scottish General Practices whose population is broadly nationally representative. From this, national estimates of the number of patients seen by GPs can be calculated. Information is available centrally for the four-year period between January 1997 and December 2000. It is estimated that approximately 680 patients were seen by General Practitioners in Scotland during this period, in respect of systemic sclerosis. Information is not available by health board of residence.

There is an unquantifiable element of double counting between these two sources, as many patients treated in NHS hospitals for systemic sclerosis will also be treated in General Practice.

A number of Executive working groups, both formal and informal, have had an input to matters covered by the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001.Groups which have had a specific or substantial connection to purposes connected with the Act and its implementation include the following:Housing Interests GroupThe Housing Interests Group first met in June 1999. Its purpose was to discuss the Executive's housing agenda, including the proposals in the Housing Green Paper and strategic issues for inclusion in the Housing (Scotland) Bill.The group is chaired by myself as Minister for Social Justice, and has included the following members in addition to officials from the Executive (other representatives of these organisations may also attend from time to time).

Name	Organisation
Robert Aldridge	Scottish Council for Single Homeless
David Alexander	Scottish Federation of Housing Associations
David Chalmers	Council of Mortgage Lenders
Alan Ferguson	Chartered Institute of Housing
Hugh Hall	Scottish Homes
Fanchea Kelly	CoSLA
Liz Nicholson	Shelter Scotland
John Carracher	Scottish Tenants Organisation

Working Group on Single Social Tenancy; Short Life Right to Buy Working Group, and Working Group on Implementation of Part 2 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001A steering group was set up between February 2000 and May 2001 to oversee the production of a model tenancy agreement for the new Scottish secure tenancy envisaged by the Housing (Scotland) Bill.A short-life Right to Buy Working Group met between July and December 2000 to consider the implications and details of the various proposals contained in the Housing (Scotland) Bill which related to the right to buy.A Housing Bill Implementation Working Group was set up in June 2001 to oversee the implementation of the provisions of Part 2 of the Housing (Scotland) Act. All three groups are chaired and supported by Scottish Executive officials. The membership of each group is shown in the following tables. Where an organisation is listed, members serve or served in their capacity as representatives of that organisation and other representatives of these organisations may also attend from time to time.Working Group on Single Social Tenancy

Name	Organisation
Geralyn Lewis	Scottish Federation of Housing Associations
Kenny Simpson	CoSLA
Ann Cunningham	Scottish Homes
Michael Thain	Chartered Institute of House in Scotland
Adrian Stalker	Shelter
Linda Spence	Scottish Tenants Organisation
Marion Brown	Tenant Involvement in the Islands, Grampian and Highland Rural Areas
Lesley Baird	Tenant Participation Advisory Service
Ilene Campbell	Tenants Information Service
Derek O'Carroll	Consultant

Short Life Right to Buy Working Group

Name	Organisation
Keith Anderson	CoSLA
David Alexander	Scottish Federation of Housing Association (SFHA)
Gavin Corbett	Chartered Institute of House in Scotland
Dr Tony O'Sullivan	Scottish Homes
David Chalmers	Council of Mortgage Lenders
Lorna Clark	Shelter

Working Group on Implementation of Part 2 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001

Name	Organisation
Alan McKeown	CoSLA
Elaine Zwirlein, Dundee City Council	CoSLA
Karen Watt	Scottish Homes
David Bookbinder	Scottish Federation of Housing Associations
Linda Ewart	Scottish Federation of Housing Associations
Michael Thain	Chartered Institute of Housing in Scotland
Marion Gibb	Shelter
Lesley Baird	Tenant Participation Advisory Service
Isabel Wilson	Tenants Information Service

Homelessness Task ForceThe Homelessness Task Force was established in August 1999, with a remit to:"Review the causes and nature of homelessness in Scotland; to examine current practice in dealing with cases of homelessness; and to make recommendations on how homelessness in Scotland can best be prevented and, where it does occur, tackled effectively."The task force is chaired by myself as the Minister for Social Justice and is supported by officials from the Scottish Executive. The other members are:

Name	Organisation
Robert Aldridge	Scottish Council for Single Homeless
David Alexander	Scottish Federation of Housing Associations
Pat Bagot	Scottish Homes
Suzanne Fitzpatrick	Department of Urban Studies, Glasgow University
Paul Howarth	Department of Work and Pensions (formerly the DSS)
Cllr Rita Miller	CoSLA
Liz Nicholson	Shelter Scotland
Catriona Renfrew	Greater Glasgow Health Board
Bill Robertson	Scottish Association of Social Work Directors
Margaret Taylor	Glasgow Council for Single Homeless
Mark Turley	CoSLA
Mel Young	The Big Issue in Scotland

Single Housing Plans GroupThe Single Housing Plans Group (SHPG) was established in February 2000 with a view to taking forward the Housing Green Paper proposal for a single housing plan for each local authority area. Membership of the group, chaired by Professor Duncan Maclennan, comprised representatives from the Scottish Executive, Scottish Homes, CoSLA, local authorities, the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations and the Chartered Institute of Housing. Following the submission of a report and series of recommendations to ministers, a smaller, more informal, working group, consisting of Scottish Homes, local authority, CoSLA and Scottish Executive representatives, met in order to produce guidance on the preparation of local housing strategies and to oversee the local housing strategies pilot process. This group will continue to meet throughout 2001 and into 2002.In addition to Executive officials, membership of the SHPG comprised:

Name	Organisation
Tony O'Sullivan	Scottish Homes
Alistair Dee	Scottish Homes
Alan Ferguson	Chartered Institute of Housing
Dave Alexander	Scottish Federation of Housing Associations
Kenny Simpson	CoSLA
Jim Hayton	South Lanarkshire Council
Keith Anderson	City of Edinburgh Council
Jill Stewart	Highland Council

Scottish Homes Steering GroupTo address the issues arising from the provision within the Act for the transfer of Scottish Homes' functions, staff and property to the Scottish ministers, a steering group was formed. Its members were senior Scottish Executive Development Department and Scottish Homes officials. Three sub-groups were established to look in detail at Finance, Structures and Staff, reporting findings to the steering group. A Transitional Issues Group was also established. This involved the Secretary of the Scottish Executive Development Department and the Chief Executive of Scottish Homes, and met to consider issues concerning the new Executive Agency, for which the present board at Scottish Homes would have no competence to make decisions.Grants to Housing AssociationsThe Act will give the Scottish ministers the power to withdraw grants under section 54 of the Housing Act 1988 from housing associations, and the Executive has made a commitment to set up a joint group with the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations to consider the effects of this.

There are no such plans. Systemic sclerosis is a relatively rare condition.

Managed clinical networks are for the medical professionals treating people with specific conditions to set up based on their assessment of local needs.