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The Scottish Executive: Draft Budget 2004-05 Summary

Chapter 8 Communities

To make Scotland a country where everyone can enjoy a decent quality of life.

OBJECTIVES AND TARGETS

Objective 1: Delivering good quality, sustainable and affordable housing for everyone.

• 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.
• Target 2: By 2006 reduce the number of houses with poor energy efficiency by 20%.
• Target 3: Improve the quality of Scotland's housing, through the setting of a new Scottish Social Housing Standard by the end of 2003 and through measures to encourage owners, including private landlords, to ensure their properties are in good condition.

Objective 2: Regenerating our communities.

• Target 4: 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.
• Target 5: By 2006, return to productive use (i.e. for housing, economic or leisure purposes) an additional 100 hectares of vacant or derelict land.
• Target 6: 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.
• Target 7: In 2004, we will publish proposals for improvements to the planning system to strengthen involvement of communities, speed up decisions, reflect local views better, and allow quicker investment decisions.

Objective 3: Building safer communities by tackling anti-social behaviour.

• Target 8: To develop and roll-out a coherent cross-cutting strategy to tackle anti-social behaviour in all communities in Scotland including the introduction of a bill in autumn 2003.
• Target 9: By 2005, establish a network of community warden schemes across Scotland.

Objective 4: Tackling poverty and helping vulnerable people.

• Target 10: By 2006, substantially reduce the number of households becoming homeless more than once in a year.
• Target 11: All private sector houses occupied by elderly people and all housing associations and local authority houses to have central heating by 2006.
• Target 12: By 2006 reduce by 30% the number of households in fuel poverty.
• Target 13: Provide free debt advice for those who need it by 2006.
• Target 14: Reduce substantially by 2006 the number of people in disadvantaged areas and groups who find childcare a barrier to employment or training.

Objective 5: Promoting equal opportunities and active citizenship.

• Target 15: Increase the opportunities for people to get involved in volunteering.
• Target 16: Promote equality mainstreaming within the Scottish Executive and across the public sector.
• Target 17: By 2004 bring forward proposals to modernise the regulation of charities in Scotland and the legal framework in which they operate.

Table 8.01 Spending plans 2003-06 (level 2)

What the budget does

The Communities portfolio is central to achieving the Executive's ambition of tackling poverty and disadvantage, building safe strong communities and creating a fair, equal Scotland, with rights for all. The budget is wide-ranging. It includes resources to improve housing quality, to regenerate communities, and to make neighbourhoods safe, attractive and clean. It tackles the social, educational and economic barriers that create inequality and works to end child poverty by tackling deprivation and social need. It also supports those who make a valuable contribution to the people and communities of Scotland through their work in the voluntary sector and through volunteering, and provides resources for decisive action to confront the evils of racism and sectarianism.

Portfolio priorities

In 2004-05 we will focus our resources on:

Building safe, strong communities through

• measures, such as community wardens, that tackle anti-social behaviour and new approaches to make the local environment secure and attractive;
• our approval of 5,350 new and improved homes for social rent and low-cost home ownership;
• improving the quality of affordable housing by introducing the new Scottish Social Housing Standard;
• support for communities to enable them to play a full role in planning and delivering services; and
• improvements to local public services through targeted investments to meet the needs of communities.

Tackling poverty through

• working towards our target that by 2012 every homeless person will be offered permanent accommodation;
• meeting the housing support needs of elderly people, the homeless, refugees and other vulnerable groups through the Supporting People programme;
• making sure that no one lives in fuel poverty after 2016 through our investment in the Central Heating Programme and other housing improvements;
• providing free money advice to help those burdened with multiple debt; and
• enabling more people in the most disadvantaged communities to access work and training.

New resources

15 million has been transferred into the budget in 2003-04 for community ownership. 30 million of funding over two years for tackling anti-social behaviour will be allocated at a later date. These resources will establish a network of community warden schemes across Scotland, and also support other initiatives, such as the preparation of anti-social behaviour strategies and the establishment of specialist anti social behaviour teams. This 30 million forms part of a package of 65 million of new funding across the Executive to support the implementation of the anti-social behaviour strategy. Further details of the remaining 35 million of funding will be provided later.

Closing the opportunity gap

Across the Executive, we are closing the opportunity gap by improving public services for all, tackling the social, educational and economic barriers that create inequality and working to end child poverty and discrimination. The Communities Minister has the key role in ensuring that all the Executive is doing supports the commitment to closing the opportunity gap, both for deprived areas and disadvantaged groups, and the commitment to mainstream equality across the Scottish Executive and the public sector in Scotland.

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.

Sustainable development

The budget will contribute to sustainable development in a number of ways. For example, new social housing will be assessed for grant funding against energy cost indicators, use of brownfield land and the adoption of sustainable development policies. Planning policy and advice emphasise the importance of promoting development that is sustainable. Energy efficiency is a key aspect of our policies on housing quality, building standards and fuel poverty.

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