HC Deb 05 July 1990 vol 175 cc681-2W
Mr. Malcolm Bruce

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will publish(a) the identity of each care and repair project sponsored by his Department, (b) the total annual revenue budget for each year of such projects, (c) the amount of annual contributions to each of these projects made by (i) the Scottish Office and (ii) local authorities, (d) the identity of individuals or organisations appointed by his Department to evaluate the projects, (e) in each case the cost or estimated or tender costs of such evaluations, and (f) the basis on which the persons or organisations appointed to evaluate the projects were selected.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

The care and repair initiative in Scotland is funded jointly by the Scottish Development Department and Shelter (Scotland) and is managed by Shelter (Scotland). Eight local schemes have been set up under the initiative. Their locations and starting dates are shown in the table:

Location Starting date
Skye and Lochalsh October 1987
Aberdeen November 1987
Renfrew November 1987
East Lothian December 1987
Falkirk January 1988
Orkney February 1988
Glasgow March 1988
Clydesdale September 1988

On the basis of information supplied to the Scottish Development Department by Shelter (Scotland) the total annual revenue budgets for the projects and for the national co-ordinator's office were as follows:

£
1987–88 83,400
1988–89 201,000
1989–90 220,400

The Scottish Office's contribution to these budgets was as follows:

1987–88 £ 1988–89 £ 1989–90 £
Skye and Lochalsh 4,000 9,500 14,000
East Lothian 5,000 7,000 13,500
Aberdeen 3,500 8,500 11,500
Renfrew 4,500 8,000 9,000
Falkirk 3,500 8,500 10,000
Orkney 2,000 9,500 10,500
Glasgow Nil 8,000 8,500
Clydesdale Nil 4,000 8,500
National co-ordinator's office 15,000 27,500 24,000
Total 37,500 90,500 109,500

Details of the amounts contributed by individual local authorities are not held centrally by the Scottish Office.

The current evaluation of the initiative has been sponsored jointly by the Scottish Development Department and Scottish Homes. The work is being carried out by the consultants Price Waterhouse, and is being supervised by an evaluation steering group chaired by Professor Duncan MacLennan of the centre for housing research at Glasgow university. The steering group is made up of representatives from the Scottish Development Department, Scottish Homes, Shelter (Scotland), Age Concern Scotland, COSLA and the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations. The steering group members were appointed by the care and repair initiative national advisory committee. The evaluation is being carried out at a cost of £101,976, funded equally by the Scottish Development Department and Scottish Homes, and the contract was awarded to Price Waterhouse following competitive tendering.