Chamber and committees

Under the concordat agreed betweenScottish ministers and COSLA, the Supporting People fund and an element of the ViolenceAgainst Women Fund will from 1 April 2008, be absorbed into the main local government settlement.This decision to remove ring fencing from these funds will not be postponed.

Removingthe ring fencing from these funds will reduce unnecessary administrative and accountingburdens, freeing up more resources for front line services, as well as promotingmore integrated and efficient planning and delivery of services, and allow moreflexibility in how support packages for individuals are funded.

Bothnational and local government recognise the importance of tackling violence againstwomen. The Scottish Government will be providing local government in Scotland withrecord levels of funding over the period covered by the spending review 2008-11.It will be the responsibility of each local authority to allocate the resourcesavailable to it on the basis of local needs and priorities, to fulfil its statutoryobligations and meet the Scottish Government’s key strategic objectives and nationaloutcomes, which were set out in the concordat and agreed with COSLA.

Furthermore, the Scottish Governmenthas shown its on-going commitment to the work to tackle violence against women,including domestic abuse through the allocation of more than £40 million over thenext three years to this agenda. For example, both the Violence Against Women Fundand the Children’s Services Women’s Aid Fund will continue, as well as funding forScottish Women’s Aid.

The Domestic Abuse Accommodationand Provision Working Group, which was established by the National Group to AddressViolence Against Women is due to meet at the end of February 2008. Scottish Women’sAid is represented on this group, as is COSLA, and the Violence Against Women Teamand Housing Support from the Scottish Government.

The issue of funding for refugeprovision will be raised with this group.

No meetings have been held withwomen’s organisations to specifically discuss the funding for places in refugesfor women suffering from domestic abuse. However, as chair of the National Groupto Address Violence Against Women I get a report on progress from the Domestic AbuseAccommodation and Provision Working Group. This group last met on 12 June 2007 andprovided an update report to the last National Group meeting held on 26 November2007. The next meeting of the Domestic Abuse Accommodation and Provision WorkingGroup is due to take place at the end of February 2008.

I have asked James Hynd, ActingChief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. His response is as follows:

Dumfries and Galloway Council and Shetland Islands Council haveboth indicated that pressure of work has prevented the submission of their StrategicHousing Investment Plans.

I have asked James Hynd, ActingChief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. His response is as follows:

Dumfries and Galloway Council and Shetland Islands Council havenot yet submitted Strategic Housing Investment Plans.

I have asked James Hynd, ActingChief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. His response is as follows:

Revised submission dates of 18 January 2008 and8 February 2008 have been agreed with Dumfries and Galloway Council andShetland Islands Council respectively.

The provision of supportto help individuals to leave prostitution is the responsibility of individual localauthorities. The Scottish Government last year published guidance for local authoritiesand their community planning partners to assist them in developing comprehensivelocal strategies to address street prostitution in their area. The guidance highlightedthe importance of providing support and assistance to enable individuals to leaveprostitution.

The Scottish Governmentwill be providing local government in Scotland with recordlevels of funding over the period covered by the spending review 2008-11. The vastmajority of the funding will be provided by means of a block grant. It is the responsibilityof each local authority to allocate the total financial resources available to iton the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled its statutoryobligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

A combined enforcementand publicity campaign is launched on 14 January. The campaign is targeted aroundthe four main cities and will highlight the consequences of being convicted underthe new legislation. This advertising campaign will also be supported by a fullPR campaign. The budget for this campaign is £105,000.

Scottish Governmentofficials are in regular contact with representatives of Strathclyde, Lothian andBorders, Tayside and Grampian Police regarding the implementation of the act. Convictionsunder the act will be monitored in the usual way, through the collection of statisticson criminal offences.

Figures for the number of peoplein fuel poverty are estimated from the results of the Scottish House Condition Survey.Figures for the individual years requested are unavailable, except for 2002. Surveysafter 2002 were conducted on an annual but not calendar year basis for 2003-04,2004-05 and 2005-06. From 2007 the survey moved to a calendar year basis. Figuresfor 2007 will be available in late 2008. The figures which are available are:

Year	People in Fuel Poverty	95% Confidence Interval
2002	508,000	+/- 28,000
2003-04	614,000	+/- 71,000
2004-05	743,000	+/- 77,000
2005-06	959,000	+/- 83,000

 

Because the figures are estimates,the 95% confidence interval is also shown.

Policy teams within the ScottishGovernment routinely meet with such organisations so that their interests can berepresented in the development of national policy and priorities. I would expectthese discussions will have a significant impact on the formulation of single outcome agreements between the Scottish Governmentand local authorities.

I would also expect each localauthority to continue its duty to engage with such organisations and community bodiesas it thinks fit when setting priorities and planning services as part of the newarrangements.