Seòmar agus comataidhean

Only points one and two on the 56 point Agenda for Change salary scale are below £7 per hour and are currently £6.76 and £6.94 respectively. Both of these rates are already substantially more than the minimum wage of £5.73 per hour. It should also be noted that all Agenda for Change staff receive incremental progression as well as cost of living increases. These are, therefore, the bottom points on scales which staff move up as their experience increases. From modelling data available centrally, it is estimated that some 8,000 staff in NHSScotland are currently on these two pay points.

It is not possible from the information held centrally to break this number down according to NHS board.

NHS Health Scotland recently distributed 36,000 copies of Facing Dementia (Bib. number 47926) and also widely publicised its availability. This included, amongst others, copies to GP practices, Old Age psychiatrists and psychologists and lead contacts in each NHS board area.

NHS Health Scotland is considering an evaluation of its dissemination strategy with NHS Quality Improvement Scotland to establish whether the publication has reached the target audience of people with dementia and those who care for them.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-24353 on 10 June 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-24422 on 11 June 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.

The forecasts for future growth in UK Total Managed Expenditure (TME) made at the Finance Committee on the 19 May were derived from the projections contained in the UK Budget 2009.

TME consists of current expenditure and gross investment. The UK Budget 2009 contained projections for current expenditure and gross investment from 2009-10 to 2013-14 (Table C4, UK Budget 2009). Using these projections and the GDP deflators (which are estimates for the years from 2009-10) provided in the Budget document (Table C1, UK Budget 2009), it is possible to estimate the expected change in TME for this period. On this basis it is estimated that TME at the UK level will decline by 0.1% a year in real terms on average between 2011-12 and 2013-14.

This information is available on the Scottish Government website “ Housing Statistics for Scotland “ Private Sector Housing Improvement and Repair Grants:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Housing-Regeneration/HSfS/Improvements.

From 2005-06 to 2009-10, the Scottish Government has made available the amounts shown in the following table to each local authority by means of Private Sector Housing Grant, for investment in private sector housing within their area. The funding is available, not only for home improvements, but also for other assistance such as repairs and disabled adaptations and non-grant investment such as providing information and advice and funding local Care and Repair organisations. The proportion of funding spent on each form of assistance is at the discretion of local authorities in line with local and national priorities.

Local Authority	2005-06 (£ Million)	2006-07 (£ Million)	2007-08 (£ Million)	2008-09 (£ Million)	2009-10 (£ Million)
Aberdeen City	2.857	2.775	3.404	2.784	2.788
Aberdeenshire	1.574	2.562	1.583	1.220	1.331
Angus	1.047	1.500	1.301	1.047	1.056
Argyll and Bute	3.549	3.826	3.997	3.182	3.066
Clackmannan	0.560	0.576	0.716	0.537	0.517
Dumfries Galloway	3.555	4.459	2.808	2.200	2.165
Dundee	2.386	2.532	2.701	2.190	2.171
East Ayrshire	1.895	1.414	1.217	0.961	0.981
East Dunbarton	0.797	1.003	1.009	0.787	0.839
East Lothian	1.196	1.810	1.857	1.363	1.328
East Renfrew	0.887	0.863	0.795	0.555	0.594
Edinburgh	7.806	7.633	8.789	6.996	7.173
Eilean Siar	4.377	4.303	4.539	3.326	3.155
Falkirk	0.761	1.258	1.380	1.008	1.022
Fife	1.775	2.374	1.813	1.415	1.611
Glasgow	11.461	11.874	13.075	10.664	10.609
Highland	5.226	5.737	5.484	4.354	4.253
Inverclyde	1.277	1.367	1.599	1.199	1.178
Midlothian	0.296	0.711	0.649	0.514	0.522
Moray	1.119	1.541	1.588	1.280	1.248
North Ayrshire	1.711	2.034	1.501	1.216	1.224
North Lanark	5.017	3.574	3.940	2.561	2.620
Orkney	1.396	1.445	1.427	1.124	1.072
Perth and Kinross	1.917	2.310	2.181	1.760	1.750
Renfrewshire	2.149	2.065	2.218	1.704	1.759
Scottish Borders	1.893	1.713	1.551	1.262	1.253
Shetland	0.956	1.978	1.469	0.981	0.926
South Ayrshire	1.107	1.676	1.475	1.166	1.195
South Lanark	5.193	8.642	6.344	4.775	4.771
Stirling	1.205	1.129	1.426	1.168	1.131
West Dunbarton	1.656	1.357	1.246	0.818	0.808
West Lothian	1.224	1.592	1.552	1.218	1.219
Total	79.825	89.633	86.634	67.335	67.335

 

This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. Local authorities are not required to record this information.

Private Sector Housing Grant (PSHG) is allocated to local authorities on the basis of a formula, made up of two distinct parts. The first is calculated on the basis of a five-year rolling average of past years'' expenditure data. The second is based on a statistical needs-based formula. The formula was updated by agreement with COSLA to put greater emphasis on the needs-based element and to move from a previous historic needs-based split of 70:30 to a 50:50 weighting respectively over a five year phasing-in period starting in 2009-10.

The needs-based element is based on a primary factor and several secondary factors are listed.

Primary Factor	Stock numbers failing the Scottish Housing Quality Standard
Secondary Factors	Average cost of repairs, % of flatted accommodation, number of households with person over 75, number of households with person sick or disabled, and ability to pay based on % of mortgage debt and number of households on low income

 

The ring fencing around PSHG will be removed from 2010-11 but the funding stream will continue to be separately identifiable within the overall funding stream to local authorities until the end of the five year phasing-in period.

In terms of section 72 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006, each local authority must decide and publish its criteria for assisting home owners, and in some cases tenants, with the repair, maintenance and improvement of houses and with adaptations to houses to suit the needs of disabled occupants. The powers that support this ˜scheme of assistance'' approach came into force in April 2009 and will run in parallel with the previous system of improvement and repair grants until 31 March 2010 when the latter will be repealed.

Under the new regime, local authorities will be able to provide a wider range of assistance from information, advice, and practical assistance to loans and grants. For adaptations, grant is mandatory in most cases where there is a priority need linked to a disability. For other works, statutory guidance makes it clear that grant is still an option although we encourage local authorities to design their criteria so that, in general, other forms of assistance are provided unless grant is needed in order to ensure that priority works are carried out. Where a local authority issues a work notice to enforce necessary works, the authority will be obliged to offer assistance, but it retains discretion over the exact form of help offered.