Chamber and committees

The information requested is not held centrally. Although some properties are built or adapted specifically for use as hostel type accommodation, it is not possible to distinguish how many other houses in any housing sector will be used for multiple occupation, since this is not necessarily determined by the design of the house.

The use of houses for multiple occupation is mainly driven by market forces. In that connection the Scottish Executive's role is to ensure as far as possible that the physical condition and management of such houses is to acceptable standards, giving protection to the tenants involved and to neighbours. The Executive introduced mandatory licensing for houses in multiple occupation in October 2000, and is currently reviewing the first year of operation of the licensing scheme. Some particular types of residential accommodation in multiple occupation are separately regulated under the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001. The Housing (Scotland) Act 1987 gives local authorities powers to provide discretionary grants for improvements by private owners including owners of houses in multiple occupation. Grants may also be paid specifically for the provision of fire escapes in houses in multiple occupation, and this will be extended to other means of escape from fire when Part 6 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 is commenced.The development funding for new housing provided by the Executive, through Communities Scotland, to Registered Social Landlords, funds a number of group homes where the occupants share facilities, usually with a care element. A small proportion of other housing provided with public funding is also likely to be occupied on a shared tenancy basis, in response to specific requests from prospective tenants.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:In addition to the obligations of the respective parties to the contract, details of which were published on the SPS website on 8 March 2002, SPS also incur costs associated with HMP Kilmarnock in relation to the Assisted Prison Visit Scheme (for prisoners' families); addiction transitional care service (in respect of prisoners released from Kilmarnock); prisoners' discharge grants, and the cost of the controller function.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:(a) £107,584 excluding VAT and (b) none.

I have asked Mr Bob Millar, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. His response is as follows:Sheltered housing is now classified as supported residential accommodation on an individual or group basis. The number of unit approval rehabilitations by Registered Social Landlords in the period 1999-2000 to 2001-02 were:

1999-2000	Rehabilitation
Supported Residential	27
2000-01	Rehabilitation
Supported Residential	17
2001-02	Rehabilitation
Supported Residential	3

No information is held on provision by private developers.

I have asked Mr Bob Millar, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. His response is as follows:Sheltered housing is now classified as supported residential accommodation on an individual or group basis. The number of new build unit approvals by Registered Social Landlords in the period 1999-2000 to 2001-02 are:

1999-2000	New Build
Supported Residential	148
2000-01	New Build
Supported Residential	173
2001-02	New Build
Supported Residential	78

No information is held on provision by private developers.

The Executive will commission an independent research project into the impact of fixed payments in the course of this year.

The Scottish Legal Aid Board is by statute an independent body. It is not for Scottish ministers to speak for the board on its opinions. This question should be raised with the board. However, I await proposals from the Law Society of Scotland on fees for civil legal aid work.

The numbers of dwellings converted into sheltered housing in the years 1999-2000 to 2001-02 are shown in the following table.

	1999-2000		2000-01		2001-02
Conversions	Very sheltered	Sheltered	Very sheltered	Sheltered	Very sheltered	Sheltered
Aberdeen City	0	0	0	0	0	0
Aberdeenshire	0	72	0	88	0	0
Angus	0	0	0	0	0	0
Argyll and Bute	0	0	0	0	0	0
Clackmannanshire	0	20	0	15	0	17
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar	0	0	0	0	0	0
Dumfries and Galloway	0	0	0	0	N/A	N/A
Dundee City	0	0	0	0	0	154
East Ayrshire	0	0	0	0	0	0
E. Dunbartonshire	0	0	0	0	0	0
East Lothian	0	0	0	0	0	0
East Renfrewshire	0	0	0	0	0	0
City of Edinburgh	0	0	0	285	0	0
Falkirk	0	0	0	0	0	0
Fife	0	1,320	0	85	0	2
Glasgow City	64	0	60	0	60	0
Highland	0	0	1	0	0	29
Inverclyde	0	0	0	0	N/A	N/A
Midlothian	0	0	0	0	0	0
Moray	0	0	0	0	0	0
North Ayrshire	0	0	0	0	0	0
North Lanarkshire	0	30	0	20	0	0
Orkney Islands	0	0	0	0	0	0
Perth and Kinross	0	31	0	0	0	0
Renfrewshire	0	0	0	0	0	0
Scottish Borders	0	0	0	0	0	0
Shetland	0	0	0	0	N/A	N/A
South Ayrshire	0	0	0	0	0	0
South Lanarkshire	0	0	0	0	N/A	N/A
Stirling	0	0	0	0	N/A	N/A
W. Dunbartonshire	0	7	0	2	0	0
West Lothian	0	0	0	0	0	0
Scotland	64	1,480	61	495	60	202

Source: Housing Capital Programme 1999-2000 to 2001-02.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:The categories omitted were detailed in the response to question S1W-24120. These were omitted on the grounds of security, commercial in confidence and unnecessary detail in the case of lengthy lists of fixtures, fittings, etc.