Updates from the Scottish Government

The Housing Support Team in the Scottish Government is keen to keep in touch with providers of housing support services. This section contains news from the Scottish Government Team.

• Scottish Government Update April 2008
• Guidance on end of the Supporting People programme
• Scottish Government Update April 2008

Scottish Government Update April 2008

The Housing Support Team has been working on a number of issues, including the role of housing support in Local Housing Strategies, which you can read about in more detail elsewhere in this Bulletin.

Single Outcome Agreements

All 32 local authorities in Scotland have now finalised Single Outcome Agreements (SOAs), setting out how they will take advantage of greater flexibility to deliver services focused on national and local priorities. These SOAs have been agreed with the Scottish Government and will be formally signed off by members of the Cabinet and Council Leaders over the coming weeks. This is a great step forward in the new relationship between central and local government, and we also expect to see a strengthened relationship between local government and Community Planning Partnerships (CPPs) in future, when all SOAs have to be formally developed and agreed with local CPPs.

Housing Support Outcomes Framework

The Scottish Government has accepted the conclusions of the evaluation into the Housing Support Outcomes Framework, which was piloted in 7 local authorities areas and involved 33 providers. The evaluation found that in the new world of SOAs and no separate funding stream for housing support, the tool may be less suited to national reporting. However, it should still be useful at the local level in helping both providers and those commissioning services to gather evidence and assess the value of continued investment in housing support. The Scottish Government therefore wishes to develop the tool further and promote its use as a way of evidencing the effectiveness of services in contributing to some of the higher level outcomes set out in the SOAs. We have asked the Housing Support Enabling Unit to work with us to improve the tool and the accompanying guidance, training and IT platform

Housing statement

On other housing issues, the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing made a statement to Parliament on 25 June, setting out the Government's plans to build on support for the proposals in Firm Foundations the discussion paper on the future direction of housing policy in Scotland which was published in October 2007. She emphasised the importance of partnership working with local government and registered social landlords. The main points of the statement included:

Confirmation of the proposed target to:

• increase the rate of house building to 35,000 new houses a year by the middle of the next decade;
• Measures to help homeowners at risk of repossession, including a £25m Homeowners' Support Fund to help those who cannot obtain help from elsewhere to stay in their homes;
• A commitment to help first time buyers with an investment of £250m over the next three years to expand shared equity schemes through LIFT (the Low-cost Initiative for First Time Buyers); and
• A note of the launch of a consultation to give local authorities more scope to use the private rented sector to house homeless households where appropriate.

Guidance On End Of The Supporting People Programme

The Scottish Government has produced guidance on the end of the Supporitng People programme. The guidance has information on a number of topics including:

• the value of housing support
• local government settlement
• charging
• cross boundary issues
• single outcome agreement
• service review

The guidance can be seen here.

Scottish Government Update April 2008

The Scottish Government's Housing and Regeneration Directorate has been restructured to accommodate staff transferring from Communities Scotland.  The Housing Support team is now part of the new Housing Access and Support Division, headed by Shona Stephen, formerly Director of Community Regeneration in Communities Scotland.  Other teams in this Division are Homelessness, Homepoint, and Fuel Poverty and Central Heating.

Stephen Sandham remains Head of the Housing Support team, but will in future also have oversight of the Homelessness team. On the Housing Support side he is still supported by Norrie Murray, Katherine Hudson, Jackie Walder, Ben McClory, Tracy Duncan, Lindsey Gray and Roddy McDougall, although Norrie will be taking a well earned early retirement in September.  Joining the team from Communities Scotland are Yvonne Harris and Judi Reid to lead on Homepoint.

Over the next year the Team will be focusing on a number of areas of work on housing support following the end of Supporting People.  These include:

• Working with the Housing Support Enabling Unit to promote the importance of housing support, monitor the impact of removing the ring fence, and consider the future of the outcomes matrix in the light of the evaluation report on the pilots
• Auditing the final SP accounts for 2007-08 and collating client statistics
• Contributing to work on Single Outcome Agreements and reviewing the extent to which the needs of vulnerable people are being appropriately reflected
• Reviewing policy on commissioning of housing support services
• Revising and updating the Scottish Government's Framework Code of Practice on Owner Occupied Sheltered Housing
• Undertaking a Review of the Housing Voluntary Sector Grant scheme and homelessness grant schemes
• Monitoring follow-up to the Review of Older People's Housing
• Development of the Housekey website
• Contributing to a review of Care and Repair
• Working with the Joint Improvement Team on the promotion of telecare, older people housing demonstrator projects and other initiatives to promote effective partnership working across the Housing / Social Care and Health spectrums.  

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