§ Mr. WatsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) how he has defined(a) homelessness and (b) rooflessness for the purposes of current research into rooflessness in Scotland; and what distinction he draws between the two definitions; [26587]
(2) what policy options he had developed in preparing a response to the current Scottish Office research into rooflessness in Scotland; and what additional resources he has earmarked to tackle rough sleeping in preparing his expenditure plans for 1996–97; [26590]
(3) what is the total cost of the Scottish Office research project into rooflessness in Scotland; what proportion is being met by Scottish Homes and what proportion by the Scottish Office; and what proportion of the Scottish Office research budget for housing is taken up by the Scottish Office share of costs for the rooflessness research. [26589]
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonThe total planned cost of the rooflessness project is £91,666. The Scottish office and Scottish Homes will contribute 28 per cent. each of the cost, and the European Commission 44 per cent. The Scottish Office contributions account for 5 per cent. of its 1994–95 housing research budget, and an estimated 6 per cent. of the 1995–96 budget.
Homelessness is a wider category than rooflessness and the Department publishes annual homelessness statistics based on the definition in the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987. However this research is confined to rooflessness which is generally equated with sleeping rough, but the research includes the development of an instrument to allow consistent measurement of rooflessness across a range of statutory voluntary agencies, covering such aspects as the time spent roofless and the number of continuous periods of rooflessness.
The study's figures on the prevalence of rooflessness in Scotland will be taken into account in policy and expenditure decisions, together with other sources on the needs of roofless people.