The Scottish Government

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COMMUNITIES

To make Scotland a country where everyone has the opportunity to enjoy a decent quality of life through affordable housing, strong communities, access to employment and freedom from poverty, inequality and discrimination.

OBJECTIVES AND TARGETS

Spending Plans 2002-08

Table 7.01 Categories of spending (Level 2)

Notes:
1. The portfolio was restructured in the course of the 2004 Spending Review ( SR04), which resulted in changes to the Level 2s. As a consequence, while there has been no change to the portfolio totals, the Level 2 and Level 3 figures do not match those in publications prior to SR04.
2. The introduction of the Prudential Borrowing Regime on 1st April 2004 meant that the Housing Revenue Account borrowing consents were no longer required from that date. The 2002-03 and 2003-04 figures have been reduced by the amounts of the borrowing consents in these years (£180/130m respectively) to provide a comparable basis across years.

Table 7.02 Categories of spending (Level 2 real terms)at 2005-06 prices

What the budget does

The Communities Portfolio is a portfolio of people and places. The portfolio's fundamental aim is to make Scotland a country where everyone has the opportunity to enjoy a decent quality of life. The portfolio seeks to achieve that aim by ensuring a sufficient supply of good quality affordable housing; building strong, safe communities; helping individuals escape from poverty; improving access to employment; and tackling inequality and all forms of discrimination and prejudice. In everything we do, we are committed to ensuring that we work to grow the economy, to promote equality and close the opportunity gap and to ensure that our activities are sustainable.

Statement of priorities

In 2006-07 and 2007-08, we will focus our resources on:

• Affordable housing, where we will continue to increase investment in improving the supply of affordable housing for rent and sale;

• Tackling homelessness, including through the abolition of 'priority need', which means that by 2012 every unintentionally homeless person will be entitled to permanent accommodation;

• Building stronger, safer communities through regeneration, including through the recently established Community Regeneration Fund to tackle poverty and inequality in our most disadvantaged communities;

• Tackling poverty by, for example, supporting people into employment or training through increasing our investment in childcare and improving access to bank accounts, savings and affordable credit, for those in disadvantaged groups or areas; and

• Tackling inequality and discrimination by, for example, making provision for older people, and improving services for women and children experiencing domestic abuse.

We shall also continue to work across the range of policy areas to mainstream equality, promote equal opportunities and promote the voluntary sector.

New resources and transfers

Our spending plans include the following changes made since the publication of Draft Budget 2005-06:

Modernising Private Sector
Increase of £1.0/0/0m for Landlords Registration.

Supporting People
Increase of £5.1/5.1/5.1m - resources that previously were going out under Revenue Support Grant in the Local Government budget.

Affordable Housing Investment Programme
Decrease of £6.0/0/0m resources transferred to the Central Unallocated Provision.

Anti Social Behaviour
Decrease of £32.3/33.4/34.2m due to transfer of responsibility to Justice Department.

Community Regeneration Fund
Decrease of £20.0/0/0m resources transferred to the Central Unallocated Provision.

Promoting Social Inclusion
Decrease of £2.0/2.0/2.0m in respect of Money Advice resources going out under Revenue Support Grant in the Local Government budget.

Promoting Equality
Increase of £2.8/2.8/2.8m resources transferred in from Justice Department for Violence Against Women.

Growing the Economy

The vision outlined in The Framework for Economic Development in Scotland is 'to raise the quality of life of the Scottish people through increasing the economic opportunities for all on a socially and environmentally sustainable basis'. The Communities portfolio has a clear role to play in working towards this vision, through the provision of quality homes for everyone, whatever the tenure, through regenerating our communities, and by providing routes out of poverty. As examples, we are:

• providing £345/347/389m for new supply and replacement of affordable housing for rent and support for low cost home ownership. The figures rise to £378/376/418m when estimated receipts and funding from council tax on second homes are taken into account;

• working to improve the planning system, through implementation of the proposals in the July 2005 White Paper, "Modernising the Planning System." This will involve close co-operation with local authorities and others;

• supporting innovative approaches to regeneration, such as providing £11/11/11m for Urban Regeneration Companies;

• ensuring availability of childcare is not a barrier to work by, for example, spending £10/15/15m on the Working for Families Fund; and

• supporting the voluntary sector and social economy.

Closing the Opportunity Gap/Promoting Equality

Closing the Opportunity Gap

We will close the opportunity gap by:

• reducing the vulnerability of low income families to financial exclusion and multiple debts (£11.5m each year from 2006-07);

• establishing a new Closing the Opportunity Gap Fund from 2006-07;

• regenerating the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods through, for example, the Community Regeneration Fund (£104/106/108m);

• preventing and alleviating homelessness (£35/35/36m); and

• giving vulnerable people the support they need to remain in their own homes (£407/399/401m).

Promoting Equality

We will promote equality in 2006-07 by:

• Tackling gender inequality, raising awareness of the gender pay gap, and supporting women facing multiple discrimination (£1m);

• tackling violence against women; (£6.7m);

• increasing access to public services for disabled people and supporting engagement with the Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender ( LGBT) sector on a wide range of policy areas (£1.75m);

• tackling racism, promoting race equality and tackling religious intolerance and sectarianism (£1.8m);

• providing support for the integration of refugees and asylum seekers (£1.2m);

• supporting older people and tackling age discrimination (£0.750m); and

• mainstreaming equality across the Scottish Executive and the wider public sector (£0.600m).

Sustainable Development

We will enhance sustainable development by:

• dealing with vacant and derelict land (£12/12/12m);

• improving the energy efficiency of domestic housing and driving forward sustainability issues through the use of building standards and through our investment in central heating and insulation; and

• improving the capacity of deprived communities to take forward local environmental issues and to adopt a strategic and sustainable approach to community regeneration activities supported by the Community Regeneration Fund.

DELIVERING GOOD QUALITY, SUSTAINABLE AND AFFORDABLE HOUSING

Spending Plans 2002-08

Table 7.03 More detailed categories of spending (Level 3)

Notes:
1. The Affordable Housing Investment Programme ( AHIP) includes Communities Scotland Development Programme, expenditure on community ownership and the Housing Estates Regeneration Fund. Spending on community ownership has been profiled to reflect expected timing of transfers.
2. Total Supporting People expenditure in 2005-08 will be £407/399/401m. Planned underspends will make up the difference between this and the provision shown above. The assessed expenditure made by the Department for Work and Pensions on Supporting People through transitional Housing Benefit as at the beginning of 2002-03 was £180m.
3. This excludes provision of £9.27m per year of RSI funding which is allocated through the Local Government budget.

What the budget does

The Delivering Good Quality, Sustainable and Affordable Housing Level 2 provides the resources to improve the quality and supply of Scotland's housing stock.

In 2006-07 we will focus our resources on:

• committing the necessary funding to achieve our target of 21,500 new and improved homes for social rent and low cost home ownership over the 3 years 2005-08;

• continuing to work with social landlords to ensure that firm, realistic plans are in train to bring all stock up to the Scottish Housing Quality Standard by 2015;

• ensuring that funding is available to support the transfer of 70,000 houses into community ownership;

• continuing to work towards our long term target that, by 2012, every unintentionally homeless person will be entitled to permanent accommodation;

• continuing to work towards our long term target to eradicate fuel poverty in Scotland, as far as reasonably practicable, by 2016; and

• delivering a more effective, responsive planning system by helping planning authorities to address professional training needs and skills gaps, to support better engagement between planning and communities and to improve awareness and understanding of the needs of business.

BUILDING STRONGER, SAFER COMMUNITIES THROUGH REGENERATION

Spending Plans 2002-08

Table 7.04 More detailed categories of spending (Level 3)

What the budget does

The Building stronger, safer communities through regeneration Level 2 provides the resources to work with our most disadvantaged communities to improve the quality of life in some of our most blighted neighbourhoods.

In 2006-07 we will we will focus our resources on:

• continuing to invest in services in our most disadvantaged communities to tackle poverty and inequality and work with those communities to find solutions to the problems they face; and

• continuing to work with Urban Regeneration Companies and through the Vacant and Derelict Land Fund to improve the liveability and desirability of some of our most blighted neighbourhoods.

CLOSING THE OPPORTUNITY GAP BY PROVIDING ROUTES OUT OF POVERTY, ENSURING EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES AND SUPPORTING ACTIVE CITIZENSHIP

Spending Plans 2002-08

Table 7.05 More detailed categories of spending (Level 3)

What the budget does

The Level 2 budget Closing the Opportunity Gap by providing routes out of poverty, ensuring equal opportunities and supporting active citizenship provides resources to: help individuals and families escape from poverty; improve access to opportunities for education and employment; tackle all forms of discrimination and prejudice; and develop volunteering and the social economy.

In 2006-07 we will focus our resources on:

• reducing the vulnerability of low income families to financial exclusion and multiple debts;

• establishing a new Closing the Opportunity Gap Fund;

• tackling gender inequality, raising awareness of the gender pay gap, and supporting women facing multiple discrimination;

• tackling violence against women;

• increasing access to public services for disabled people and supporting engagement with the Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender ( LGBT) sector on a wide range of policy areas;

• tackling racism, promoting race equality and tackling religious intolerance and sectarianism;

• providing support for the integration of refugees and asylum seekers;

• supporting older people and tackling age discrimination;

• mainstreaming equality across the Scottish Executive and the wider public sector; and

• recruiting 585 young people into Project Scotland, our flagship initiative of the new volunteering strategy.

OTHER COMMUNITIES RELATED LOCAL AUTHORITY FUNDING

Spending Plans 2002-08

Table 7.06 More detailed categories of spending (Level 3)

What the budget does

The Communities Grant Aided Expenditure ( GAE) figures relate to the level of local authority net revenue expenditure on these services that the Executive is supporting through grant. GAEs are not budgets, but more a basis for the distribution of grant through Aggregate External Finance ( AEF). Local authorities are, however, free to allocate their available resources to each service, including Communities-related services, on the basis of local need. The figures in this table are included in the GAE summary table (Table 10.04) contained within the Finance and Public Service Reform chapter of this document.

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