Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has set out, through its More Homes Scotland approach, the real commitment needed to deliver its ambitious target of delivering at least 50,000 affordable homes supported by at least £3 billion of investment, use of grants, loans and guarantees.

The funding initiatives designed to contribute towards the affordable homes target are: grant funding homes for social rent; grant funding homes for mid-market rent; National Housing Trust initiative; Local Affordable Rented Housing Trust; Mid-Market Rent invitation; Town Centre Empty Homes Fund; Rural and Islands Housing Fund; Partnership Support for Regeneration; Open Market Shared Equity Scheme; New Supply Shared Equity Scheme; and the Home Owners Support Fund.

The Scottish Government regularly meets with local authorities, developing housing associations and other partners across Scotland to monitor progress towards meeting its target to deliver at least 50,000 affordable homes.

We have set out through the More Homes Scotland Approach how we aim to increase housing delivery across all tenures, through funding, but also through joint working as shown by the Joint Housing Policy and Delivery Group (JHPDG) action plan.

The delivery and monitoring process which successfully delivered and exceeded the previous 30,000 affordable housing target is also being employed again through the use of Strategic Local Programme Agreements (SLPA). SLPAs are developed between local authorities and the Scottish Government and detail the projects that have been agreed by both as priorities for housing investment funding, including existing projects which have not yet completed, new planned projects and future pipeline projects.

This supports an approach to dealing with need that is identified and addressed at local authority level using local knowledge and input from stakeholders to deliver housing in the right numbers and in the right place to ensure sustainable communities.

The Scottish Government and its agencies have spent sums with the Pennon Group through its subsidiary Viridor as detailed in the following table.

The Scottish Government collect information on homeless households from Local Authorities. Local authorities ask homelessness applicants whether they have slept rough in the previous 3 months and if they slept rough the night before approaching the Council and this is recorded and published.

Source: HL1 dataset as at 25/05/16

(http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Housing-Regeneration/RefTables/Homelessness201516)

There is no specific budget allocated to assist rough sleepers. Local Authorities have the statutory responsibility for the delivery of housing and homelessness services in their area, including allocating budgets.

The local government finance settlement for 2016-17 amounts to over £10.3 billion. The vast majority of the revenue funding is provided by means of a block grant from the Scottish Government. It is the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

Viridor has provided regular updates to the Scottish Government on the circumstances at the Glasgow Recycling and Renewable Energy Centre (GRREC) Project in Polmadie, Glasgow.

On, 15 November, Viridor advised Scottish Government that it was terminating its contract with Interserve due to repeated failures on the part of the contractor to meet project milestones. Viridor advises that Interserve was notified of this decision on
15 November, although the Scottish Government was not advised on whether Interserve subsequently notified its subcontractors. The First Minister spoke with senior management at Viridor on 15 November and was advised that the project will recommence as soon as possible, and that Viridor will look to retain employment opportunities in the local area.

Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE) support has been offered to those affected. Viridor has stated that it expects most of the affected employees will be subject to a TUPE transfer to a new contractor early in 2017.

The Fair Work Convention is an independent advisory group and does not have a formal investigatory role or remit.

The Scottish Government has met with Glasgow City Council, the Glasgow Homelessness Network, Glasgow City Mission and the Simon Community Scotland and others to discuss issues around homelessness and rough sleeping in Glasgow.

The Scottish Government meets regularly with local authorities through meetings with the Housing Options Hubs. The Housing Options Hubs look at ways of preventing homelessness and enabling access to people’s widest housing options. Meetings concentrate on a range of areas, including the issue of rough sleeping. All 32 local authorities are a member of one of the Hubs.

The Scottish Government engages with other through the Homelessness Prevention and Strategy Group (HPSG), COSLA, ALACHO, NHS Health Scotland, SOLACE, Shelter and Homeless Action Scotland are members of this group. Rough sleeping is discussed at these meetings as part of the HPSG workplan for 2016-17.

The Scottish Government is also working with its partners in areas such as Health and Social Services and with third sector organisations, including Glasgow Homelessness Network, to improve outcomes for homeless people who may need more support to access and stay in housing and to stop them becoming homeless again.

Scotland’s strong housing rights for homeless households mean that nobody should have to sleep rough. Local Authorities have the statutory duty for the delivery of housing and homelessness services in their area. This includes the provision of emergency accommodation for those sleeping rough, taking account of local circumstances and priorities.

Homelessness statistics indicate that the number and proportion of homeless applicants in Scotland reporting that they had slept rough before applying has decreased year on year over the past five years. However, we recognise that some rough sleeping will result from more complex needs and we are working with partners in Health and the Third Sector to ensure we have better information on rough sleepers and their needs to help address this issue.

Scotland’s strong housing rights for homeless households mean that nobody should have to sleep rough. Local Authorities have the statutory duty for the delivery of housing and homelessness in their area. This includes addressing rough sleeping, taking account of local circumstances and priorities.

Homelessness statistics indicate that the number and proportion of homeless applicants in Scotland reporting that they had slept rough before applying has decreased year on year over the past five years. However, we recognise that some rough sleeping will result from more complex needs and we are working with partners in Health and the Third Sector to ensure we have better information on rough sleepers and their needs to help address this issue.

Addressing homelessness amongst those with multiple and complex needs is a key priority for the national Homelessness Prevention and Strategy Group, which oversees homelessness in Scotland.