§ Mr. DonohoeTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on the initiatives the Scottish Office is pursuing to tackle the problem of homelessness amongst young people in Scotland, with particular reference to Ayrshire.
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonHousing authorities have the statutory re sponsibility for dealing with homelessness. On 1 December I announced £4.35 million extra resources for expenditure on 36 homelessness projects by housing authorities in 1993–94, including £0.456 million for authorities in Ayrshire. Nearly £23 million had already been made available in financial years 1991–92 and 1992–93, including almost £1.83 million for Ayrshire authorities. Many projects supported by those extra resources are for young single homeless.
These extra allocations are in addition to the substantial resources already allocated to housing authorities for investment in public and private housing—£513 million in 1993–94. All local housing authorities have been asked in their housing plans and housing capital programmes to set out strategies and targets for tackling homelessness in their areas.