Chamber and committees

Firm Foundations proposes that local authorities, developers,housing associations and other stakeholders should aim to increase the rate at whichnew houses are built from 25,000 a year at present to 35,000 a year by the middleof the next decade. Given the long-term nature of the goal, the document does notmake any assumption about how many of the 35,000 houses will be for social rentand how many for other tenures.

In the period 2008-11,the Scottish Government plans to spend £1.47 billion on affordable housing, includingnew housing for social rent. This represents an increase of £130 million over provisionfor 2005-08.

Used efficiently,this expenditure is sufficient to ensure, as a minimum, that completion of new affordablehouses in 2008-11 exceeds the rate of completions in 2005-08. The Scottish Governmentwishes to ensure that the expenditure achieves a better outcome than that. Its proposalin Firm Foundations to award Housing Association Grant on a competitive basisis intended to achieve that objective by requiring new social housing to be builtmuch more efficiently than at present. The number of new houses built under thisapproach will reflect housing associations’ ability to become more efficient.

The primarypurpose of the Housing Supply Task Force is to tackle blockages that arepreventing the construction of housing of all types across Scotland. The Task Force is taking evidence from a range ofstakeholders on the issues to be addressed to support delivery of more housingin the short term and will form its work programme accordingly. I also referthe member to the question S3W-6037 answered on 12 November 2007, in respect of PAN74.All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the searchfacility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Firm Foundationssets out the Scottish Government’s proposals to make the housing system in Scotland offer an improved supply and choice across alltenures. A central aspiration in the discussion document is to see a stepchange in the numbers of homes of all types built in Scotland in order to meet requirements for housing. Firm Foundations also notesa number of actions already underway that will strengthen the housing andplanning delivery framework. One of these actions is the current review of ScottishPlanning Policy 3 on housing, which will strengthen national policy onhousing to ensure the provision of sufficient land for housing and support thecreation of quality residential environments. The revised SPP3 willcontinue to link with the guidance on the delivery of affordable housing (PAN74) that has now been in place for over two years.

The government’s spendingplans for the period 2008-11 were announced on 14 November 2007. Within the tightest settlement for Scotland since devolution, our plans set out how we will fulfil our purpose, achieve our strategicobjectives and deliver for the people of Scotland across all our expenditure programmes, including low cost homeownership.

The government’s spendingplans for the period 2008-11 were announced on 14 November 2007. Within the tightest settlement for Scotland since devolution, our plans set out how we will fulfil our purpose, achieve our strategicobjectives and deliver for the people of Scotland across all our expenditure programmes, including housing andregeneration.

The government’s spendingplans for the period 2008-11 were announced on 14 November 2007. Within the tightest settlement for Scotland since devolution, our plans set out how we will fulfil our purpose, achieve our strategicobjectives and deliver for the people of Scotland across all our expenditure programmes, including affordable housing.

The government’s spendingplans for the period 2008-11 were announced on 14 November 2007. Within the tightest settlement for Scotland since devolution, our plans set out how we will fulfil our purpose, achieve our strategicobjectives and deliver for the people of Scotland across all our expenditure programmes.

The announcementincluded details of our plans for regeneration, where we are supportinglarge-scale projects to achieve the comprehensive regeneration of targetedareas through a range of initiatives to improve their physical, economic,environmental and social circumstances. We will also work with local governmentand community planning partnerships to provide targeted regeneration action totackle poverty in the most disadvantaged communities.

The Scottish Governmenthas previously stated, and would take the opportunity to re-affirm, that the outcomeof the review will be made taking into account the view of stakeholders, ensuringthe needs of sport are central to this process.

The consultation processis being carried out through a combination of written correspondence and discussionswith key stakeholders. The Scottish Government will take account of feedback fromwritten responses, meetings and discussions before we announce our considered strategicdecision on the future of sportscotland. The Scottish Government is very conscious that the finaldecision on the future of sportscotland will have an enormous impact on the livesand future of the staff at sportscotland. We have therefore made a commitment toannouncing the outcome before the end of the year.

All consultees wereinvited in September to submit their views. Many responses have already been receivedand will be taken into account in our consideration of strategic options, the outcomeof which we will announce before the end of the year. Consultation with key stakeholdersis an on-going process that will extend beyond the planned announcement, as detailedproposals are prepared. Accordingly, all responses will be given the fullest considerationthat is possible at the time they are received.

The following bodieshave been formally invited to submit their views:

Sportscotland

Scottish Instituteof Sport

Scottish Cycling

Scottish Gymnastics

Scottish Swimming

Badminton Scotland

Judo Scotland

COSLA

VOCAL

Scottish Athletics

Scottish Sport Association

Scottish Instituteof Sport Foundation

Scottish Golf Union

Scottish Rugby Union

Scottish FootballAssociation

Scottish University of Sport

The Health and SportCommittee of the Scottish Parliament.

The HousingSupply Task Force is charged with tackling the impediments to increasinghousing supply in Scotland and as a consequence has no current plansto meet representatives from disability organisations.