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The £40 millionwas a supplementary payment in recognition of costs associated with the shiftin timing of the Less Favoured Area Support Scheme payments.

There issufficient funding to cover the cost of all existing agri-environmentagreements and for new agreements. We are currently unable to enter into newagri-environment agreements due to delays in the approval of the Scottish Rural DevelopmentPlan and the consequentabsence of a legal basis for new agreements. My officials have asked the Commission to advise whetherthey can envisage any exceptional mechanism for approval of a one yearextension of agri-environment agreements expiring in 2007 and I await theCommission’s response.

The £40 millionwas met out of the resources voted by the Parliament for the Less Favoured AreaSupport Scheme Level 3 of the Rural Development Level 2 in the 2006-2007Budget. Of the £61 million shown in the Budget, £48.5 million was the nationalfunding DEL element, from which the £40 million payment was made.

Scotland’s cities will benefit from the newarrangements announced as part of the Strategic Spending Review on 14 November2007. The package of measures jointly agreed with COSLA marks a fundamentalshift in the relationship between the Scottish Government and local government.

One element of the package is a fair cash settlementfor local government. Other elements include the introduction of a Single OutcomeAgreement, a significant reduction in ring-fencing of separate capital andrevenue grants, streamlining bureaucracy and reporting requirements, and the retentionof efficiency savings.

These newarrangements, and the freedoms and flexibilities that they afford, will givecity-based local authorities greater scope to maintain their investment in cityinfrastructure as part of their vital role in supporting the economy.

The ScottishGovernment analysed the amount of Housing Association Grant (HAG) thatCommunities Scotland paid out between 2002-03 and 2006-07 to support theconstruction of new houses for social rent. The analysis showed that theaverage amount of grant per house rose from £52,000 in 2002-03 to £79,000 in2006-07: equivalent to an annual increase of 8% in real terms over the period.

Factors that mayhave contributed to the increase include land and construction costs. In FirmFoundations: the Future of Housing in Scotland, the Scottish Governmentproposes to address these and other contributory factors, and ensure thatpublic expenditure supports the largest possible programme of new socialhousing, through the introduction of arrangements for awarding HAG on acompetitive basis.

Our housingdiscussion document, Firm Foundations: The Future of Housing in Scotland, setsout our proposals to challenge local authorities, developers and builders toincrease the rate of new housing supply to at least 35,000 per year by themiddle of the next decade. This increase in supply would apply to all tenures,both market and affordable housing and would require all new homes to be builtby the high environmental standards set by the relevant planning requirementsand building standards applicable at that time.

Revised energystandards were introduced on 1 May 2007, for all new buildingsand those which are converted, extended or altered. These measures are the bestin the UK and are expected to save around 6,000 tonnes of carbon per year, onthe basis of 35,000 new houses per year, which is an 18-25% saving comparedwith 2005. The energystandards required to be met by new houses are the functional standards for Section6: Energy in the Building (Scotland)Regulations 2004 asamended in 2006 and 2007.

Scottish ministers appointed an Expert Panel whichmet in September 2007 to advise on a Low Carbon Buildings Standards Strategyfor Scotland. The report of the panel is likely to set out anumber of workstreams on a wide range of energy efficiency and performancemeasures specific to buildings, including the use of low carbon equipment. Thepanel’s report is due before the end of the year.

The requirementsof Scottish Planning Policy 6: Renewable Energy for the use of onsitezero and low carbon equipment to contribute to a reduction in carbon emissionswill operate alongside, and in addition to, the requirements set out inbuilding standards.

I refer themember to the answer to question S3W-6028 on 14 November 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions areavailable on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can befound at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

I refer themember to the answer to question S3W-6028 on 14 November 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions areavailable on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can befound at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

The LIFTinitiative – our Low-cost Initiative for First-Time buyers – is a key part of the package of measures to revitalise Scotland’s housingset out in the Firm Foundations discussion document published on 31 October 2007.

LIFT currently includes a mix of government grantsand shared equity schemes. However, through the Firm Foundations consultationprocess, we are seeking views on other potential measures which could beincorporated within LIFT. The number of households who will be eligible toapply for support through LIFT will therefore depend on LIFT’s futurecomposition.

Through LIFT weaim to assist at least 1,800 households into home ownership this year. Asignificant number of these households is expected to be located in the Edinburgh area.

The City of Edinburgh Council, as strategic housing authority for Edinburgh, is responsible for determining housing needs withinthe City of Edinburgh area.

The figure of12,000 new affordable houses required to be built over the next ten years wasderived from evidence contained in the Lothian Housing Needs and Market Studyundertaken in 2005.

In our discussiondocument Firm Foundations: the Future of Housing in Scotland, the Scottish Government has set out our proposals for improving the supply andchoice of affordable housing nationally. These include challenging Scotland’slocal authorities, developers and builders to increase the rate of new housingsupply to at least 35,000 houses a year by the middle of the next decade;increasing the role of local authorities as landlords by offering themfinancial incentives to build new council houses; ending the right to buy onnew social housing, and reforming the regime for subsidising social housing, sothat it support the largest possible programme of new social housing.