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The Scottish Executive Draft Budget 2003-04

SOCIAL JUSTICE

Aim: To make Scotland a good place to live in for everyone

INTRODUCTION

Social justice is an investment in the people of Scotland and is the foundation of our prosperity. We are delivering social justice by improving public services for all, by tackling the social, educational and economic barriers that create inequality and by working to end child poverty and discrimination. We are investing to make every community a safe, attractive place to live, where everyone has the opportunity to make the most of their potential.

Social justice is delivered both through the Social Justice Portfolio and through the activities of other portfolios set out elsewhere in this document. More details of this cross-cutting approach are given in "Closing the Opportunity Gap: Scottish Budget for 2003-06", published by the Minister for Social Justice on 8 October 2002.

The Social Justice Minister has the key role in working across the Executive to ensure that all we are doing supports our commitment to closing the opportunity gap, both for deprived areas and disadvantaged groups, and our commitment to mainstream equality across the Scottish Executive and the public sector in Scotland. Within the Social Justice budget, a major portion of the resources is dedicated to improving the quality and supply of affordable housing and regenerating communities, whilst also specifically tackling homelessness and fuel poverty.

Table 7.01 Broad categories of spending (Level 2)

Note 1 Includes 45/50m non-HRA transferred from local government capital baselines in 2002-03/2003-04

OBJECTIVES AND TARGETS

Objective: Delivering Good Quality, Sustainable and Affordable Housing

Target 1: By 2006, increase the supply and quality of Scotland's housing stock by approving 18,000 new and improved homes for social rent and low-cost home ownership.

Communities Scotland's Development Programme, which funds the improvement and replacement of existing social rented stock, and also meets the needs of homeless people and others squeezed out of housing markets. In doing so, the Programme seeks to achieve a balance of urban and rural provision. It also supports sustainable development and offers new opportunities for local employment. The programme is presently administered by Communities Scotland, but in future local authorities may take on this role. In 2002-03, the Development Programme is expected to attract private finance of 120 million. In addition to the Development Programme, Regeneration and Development projects approved under the New Housing Partnerships (NHP) programme are expected to deliver some 5,500 new or improved homes.

Target 2: By 2006 reduce the number of houses with poor energy efficiency by 20%.

The Executive will tackle poor energy efficiency across all tenure through a combination of the programmes, together with the investment unlocked by supporting transfers of council housing to community ownership and the expenditure under the Fuel Poverty programmes.

Objective: Regenerating Our Communities

Target 3: We will demonstrate that we are closing the opportunity gap for disadvantaged communities in respect of key outcomes for education, health, justice, transport, housing and jobs*

*(We will measure whether we are closing the opportunity gap using a series of indicators based on portfolio targets. In each case, we will compare the outcome in the most disadvantaged areas with the national average to establish the extent of the gap and measure change over time. The baseline year will be 2003/04 and the indicators that we intend to use are:

Target 4: By 2006, return to productive use (i.e. for housing, economic or leisure purposes) an additional 100 hectares of vacant or derelict land

Target 5: By 2006, support local authorities to develop or implement proposals for transferring 70,000 houses to community ownership, subject to the wishes of councils and tenants.

In three council areas - Glasgow, Scottish Borders and Dumfries and Galloway - tenants have already voted in favour of whole transfers to not for profit community housing organisations. These three transfers will mean the transfer of some 100,000 council houses (nearly 20% of all council houses in Scotland) to community ownership. This will give tenants more involvement in decisions affecting their homes, and, by unlocking private investment, the benefits of a warm, damp-free and structurally sound home. The resources provided in the period 2003-06 will allow, subject to the wishes of councils and tenants, the same benefits to be brought to an additional 70,000 households.

Objective: Tackling Homelessness

Target 6: By 2006, substantially reduce the number of households becoming homeless more than once in a year.

The Scottish Executive is implementing the Homelessness Task Force's 59 recommendations for action to prevent and alleviate homelessness. Implementation will be overseen by a monitoring group with wide statutory, voluntary and other sector representation. A combination of legislative and administrative action is proposed to reduce the number of people becoming homeless, to ensure more successful outcomes for those who are housed after a period of homelessness and to improve the speed and effectiveness of responses to homeless crises. The programme of support associated with the closure of the Glasgow hostels should also contribute to breaking the cycle of homelessness.

Objective: Ending fuel poverty by 2016

Target 7: All private sector houses occupied by elderly people and all housing associations and local authority houses to have central heating by 2006

We are committed to providing all local authority and housing association tenants, and all pensioners in both public and private housing, with warm and dry homes by installing central heating and insulation by 2006. Our Central Heating Programme will also offer advice on heating use to all recipients. The programme:

• will be completed in 5 years from April 2001 delivering warmth and security to the most vulnerable
• will reduce average fuel bills to about 500 a year
• should help to reduce average carbon dioxide emissions by about 0.8 tonnes for each house each year through efficient heating and effective insulation

Target 8: By 2006 reduce by 30% the number of households in fuel poverty.

The Scottish Executive Fuel Poverty Statement (published in June 2002) sets out how the Executive, working together with key parties in the public, private and voluntary sectors, will work to end Fuel Poverty in Scotland by November 2016. The overall target and the interim target will be achieved through delivery of key energy efficiency programmes, control of energy prices and action to raise and maintain incomes.

Objective: Promoting equal opportunities and active citizenship

Target 9: Increase the opportunities for people to get involved in volunteering and promote equality mainstreaming within the Scottish Executive and across the public sector

Objective: Providing good quality housing management and support services

DELIVERING GOOD QUALITY, SUSTAINABLE AND AFFORDABLE HOUSING

Table 7.02 More detailed categories of spending (Level 3)

Note 1: HRA lower in 2003-04 onwards as a result of whole stock transfers, especially Glasgow

Budget 2003-06

The budget provided 20/20/20 million to increase the supply and quality of Scotland's housing stock

What we will do

We want to bring all Scotland's houses up to acceptable standards and see good quality, affordable homes at the heart of all our communities.

The Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 strengthened the strategic role of local authorities by giving them responsibility for local housing strategies and wide ranging powers to implement these strategies. The strategies will take into account the different needs of Scotland's different communities, recognising the wide variations in local circumstances across Scotland.

Community Ownership remains an effective means of meeting investment needs in the local authority housing sector. We are taking steps to improve the whole-stock transfer process and to look at ways to integrate it better with wider regeneration efforts.

Additional activities

We will also provide resources to local authorities to improve the quality of privately owned housing. These resources will be available to provide assistance to private owners to improve houses below the tolerable standard housing, to provide disability adaptations and, in certain cases, to provide help with essential repairs. Some of the resources may also be required to implement recommendations of the Housing Improvement Task Force.

REGENERATING OUR COMMUNITIES

Table 7.03 More detailed categories of spending (Level 3)

Budget 2003-06

The budget provided 0/44/68 million of additional resources to used in "closing the gap" for deprived communities. O this total the Executive has committed 0/20/40 million to support housing transfers to improve housing stock; 0/16/16 million to tackle anti social behaviour including youth crime; and 0/8/12 million for land reclamation.

The new provision of 8 million and 12 million is targeted on Glasgow, North Lanarkshire and Dundee to accelerate the reclamation of vacant and derelict land, which is blighting the quality of life of residents and constraining economic development. Further details will be announced in the cities review which will be published shortly.

What we will do

Through our proposals for community ownership, the Social Inclusion Partnership network, our empowering communities programme the new arrangements for tenant participation and the Better Neighbourhood Services Fund (paid for through the Local Government budget), we are putting tenants at the heart of rebuilding their communities. By attracting large-scale private investment, community ownership will transform neighbourhoods and communities. In addition, new resources have been made available to tackle anti-social behaviour through funding the development of neighbourhood wardens and other initiatives.

Closing the Gap will be achieved both through the investment in services made by key portfolios such as health and education, and also through the gap and top up services funded through Social Inclusion Partnerships and the Better Neighbourhood Services Fund.

Additional activities

• We are making substantial additional resources available to improve local services. In particular, we will address the problems of anti-social behaviour, youth crime and the poor quality of the environment through policies that we know make a difference, such as neighbourhood management, wardens and other local initiatives. In taking these forward we are working with communities by putting community engagement at the heart of the regeneration and community planning processes and by delivering services in partnership with other organisations and sectors, including the voluntary sector.

TACKLING HOMELESSNESS

Table 7.04 More detailed categories of spending (Level 3)

Budget 2003-06

As a result of the budget there is 0/8/8 million to support further action to tackle homelessness including decommissioning Glasgow's outdated hostels.

What we will do

Preventing homelessness is one of our top priorities. Homelessness is the most acute form of housing need and brings with it the most extreme form of social exclusion. People who are homeless lose access to services we take for granted, their physical and mental health suffer, and they are excluded from support networks that are so fundamental most of us do not notice they are there.

Additional activities

The resources will also help us to:

end the need for anyone to sleep rough by 2003, by providing new accommodation and better support services
provide targeted support to projects through the Rough Sleepers Initiative
continue to contribute to the reprovisioning of large hostels in Glasgow

ENDING FUEL POVERTY BY 2016

Table 7.05 More detailed categories of spending (Level 3)

Budget 2003-06

The Budget provided 0/5/5 million of new money targeted at providing central heating for the over 80s.

What we will do

Fuel poverty - elderly people, families with children and sick and disabled people being unable to afford to heat their homes - wears people down, increases their chance of ill health, contributes to the winter death toll among pensioners, increases the incidence of childhood asthma and reduces the educational attainment of our children. It places burdens on our health and community care services. It forces people to choose between being cold and being able to eat or being warm and going hungry. We are committed to ending the blight of fuel poverty for all vulnerable households by 2016.

Additional activities

The Warm Deal, introduced on 1 July 1999, provides a grant worth up to 500 for a package of home insulation measures for low-income households and pensioners. About 25,000 low-income households in Scotland benefit each year under the scheme. The Programme for Government pledged that 100,000 houses would be insulated between 1999 and 2003. The target was comfortably exceeded and by end March 2002, 140,000 households benefited from the Warm Deal.

PROMOTING EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES AND ACTIVE CITIZENSHIP

Table 7.06 More detailed categories of spending (Level 3)

Budget 2003-06

The Executive will spend 0/10/10 million of additional resources to tackle unemployment in deprived areas, to help access to employment in such areas especially through child care provision.

What we will do

This budget supports the development of initiatives across the Scottish Executive to tackle the root causes of poverty, inequality and injustice, promoting social inclusion and equal opportunities in urban and rural communities. These resources also strengthen the voluntary sector, promote volunteering and increase the capacity of communities to influence local services and decision-making. The budget also includes new resources for childcare provision in disadvantaged areas to help close the employment opportunity gap.

The voluntary sector is a key partner. Our spending plans will enable us to:

• encourage more people to get involved in volunteering and community action

• further strengthen and develop the infrastructure of the voluntary sector at both national and local level.

Our work in these areas will make it easier for people to volunteer by removing the obstacles to volunteering and providing better advice on volunteering opportunities. It will also allow the voluntary sector to make a more effective input into policy making at both national and local levels.

• We will continue to promote equal opportunities through the implementation of our Equality Strategy. By strengthening our support for equal opportunities we will expand our work on public awareness raising and further develop our engagement with equality groups and communities. Through our spending plans we will:
• strengthen systems and support for mainstreaming equality within the Scottish Executive and across the public sector
• look to build on our anti-racism campaign and to tackle discrimination including multiple and institutional discrimination
• develop awareness raising activity for other equality groups, for example by using the opportunities provided by the European Year of Disabled People in 2003 and developing new work on gender equality
• support refugee integration and the development of responsive services
• engage with all equality groups to improve communicationa and promote stakeholder involvement in policy making
• support communities to work together and to engage with each other through our work on race equality and with asylum seekers and refugees.

Additional activities

We will:

• help people in deprived areas into work through our new 20 million package to fund a package of intensive employment support, the main part being childcare. Assisting parents into employment and training will contribute to our long-term target to defeat child poverty
• promote financial inclusion by extending provision of money advice in Scotland and supporting the development of the credit union movement. This will improve people's capacity to use financial services to manage their resources better, including any debts they have
• through community budgeting, support the development of new tools to assist in integrated service delivery which is responsive to the needs of communities.

PROVIDING GOOD QUALITY HOUSING MANAGEMENT AND SUPPORT SERVICES

Table 7.07 More detailed categories of spending (Level 3)

What we will do

Housing is about more than bricks and mortar. Some households may need help living a full and independent life. We must make sure that:

good quality housing support services are tailored to the needs of individuals
housing support complements community care services and that other particular needs are supported to allow as many households as possible to live independently in the community
households have the opportunity to move easily between tenures to meet their individual needs

Additional activities

With these resources we will:

• through Supporting People enable vulnerable people to live independently in the community
• implement the Scottish Secure Tenancy and tenant participation provisions set out in the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001
• implement a mortgage-to rent-scheme to assist households with mortgage difficulties to change tenure and become tenants in their homes
• continue to support voluntary organisations contributing to the delivery of housing services

• support the Rent Assessment Panel which helps tenants and landlords reach agreements on tenancy conditions and rents.

SCOTTISH HOMES

Table 7.08 More detailed categories of spending (Level 3)

What we will do

With the establishment on 1 November 2001 of Communities Scotland as an Executive Agency of the Scottish Executive, some residual functions were left with Scottish Homes. These include the management, maintenance and transfer of the residual Scottish Homes housing stock (2,986 houses as at 1 October 2002), the management and eventual disposal of non-housing assets and the administration of the Scottish Homes Pension Fund. The support costs to meet these functions of Scottish Homes will be partly met from grant in aid from the Social Justice Budget and partly from income generated by Communities Scotland.

The resources will be used to:

• meet loan charges on Scottish Homes debt
• meet Scottish Homes' obligations as public landlord to maintain the remaining houses and to provide a satisfactory level of service to tenants
• administer the Scottish Homes Pension Fund

HOUSING SUPPORT GRANT

Table 7.09 More detailed categories of spending (Level 3)

What we will do

This programme is demand-led and is, therefore categorised as Annually Managed Expenditure, outside the Departmental Expenditure Limit. The estimated provision will:

provide mainstream housing support grant to eligible councils to assist them in setting affordable rents. In 2002-03, Shetland Islands Council and Comhairlie nan Eilean Siar are in receipt of mainstream HSG, amounting to 5.76 million;

support local authorities with deficit funding to help meet the cost of hostel provision for homeless people. In 2002-03, 19 local authorities are in receipt of hostels deficit funding, amounting to 3.46 million.

Mainstreaming Equality

Housing is one of two areas of the Scottish Executive that are piloting approaches to mainstreaming equality. Phase 1 of the pilot focused on the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001, which contains a duty on Ministers (and others) to exercise their functions under the Act in a way which encourages equal opportunities. This duty will apply to a wide range of the Executive's activities, including funding allocated under powers in the Act. Examples of equality-related expenditure planned for 2003-04, whether or not under the Act itself, include:

• 5m will be targeted at houses occupied by people from minority ethnic communities, with particular emphasis on Glasgow where the problem of poor house condition is particularly acute;
• Our Sociable Neighbourhood Initiative will help create stable, inclusive communities where all residents can enjoy their homes and surroundings and live with their families without fear of harassment, vandalism, drug dealing or other forms of anti-social behaviour;
• Communities Scotland will register and regulate all social landlords to ensure that they provide an acceptable service for the benefit of all their tenants. As part of this regulatory framework, social landlords will be required to demonstrate a commitment to equal opportunities by embracing diversity, promoting equal opportunities for all and by eliminating unlawful discrimination in all their work;
• 6m will be spent on providing more refuges to women and children escaping domestic violence;
• 40m will be spent installing 16,000 central heating systems for the over 60s in the private sector and tenants of local authorities and housing associations who currently have to live without central heating, to ensure that no vulnerable household need risk ill health due to a cold home; and
• Local authorities will be producing by March 2003 strategies for preventing and alleviating homelessness in their areas, and setting out how these will be implemented in a way that demonstrates equal opportunities. Guidance on producing strategies emphasises the importance of recognising the particular needs of all parts of the community.

Table 7.10 Broad categories of spending (Level 2) Real Terms

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