§ Mr. McAllionTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many tenants have applied to join the rents-to-mortgages scheme; what has been the cost of the counselling arrangements for them; and who is paying for those arrangements.
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonMore than 20,000 tenants have expressed an interest in Scottish Homes' pilot rent-to-mortgage scheme. From the introduction of the limited pilot scheme in October 1989 until 31 March 1991 a total of 228 formal applications have been submitted by tenants of Scottish Homes and the new town development corporations. Since the extension of the pilot scheme to local authority tenants from 1 April 1991, a total of 119 formal applications have already been made. In the first instance, more than 1,400 tenants have received or will shortly receive counselling to help them to decide whether to proceed to make a formal application. The responsibility for the counselling arrangements and their cost rests with Scottish Homes.