§ Mr. McMasterTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the most recent estimate of the number of Scottish houses owned by(a) local authorities, (b) Scottish Homes, (c) housing associations, (d) private landlords, (e) co-operatives and (f) other tenure types which are affected by rising and penetrating damp, and rising and penetrating dampness and condensation; how long, at current rates of expenditure, it will take to eliminate these problems; and if he will make a statement.
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonInformation about the condition of the housing stock in Scotland is contained in the report of the first Scottish house condition survey, produced by Scottish Homes and published in 1993. It gives details of the number of houses affected by rising or penetrating damp and suffering from dampness and condensation. A copy of the report is available in the Library.
It is not possible to determine how long it will take to deal with those problems. The responsibility for improving houses in the private sector rests with their owners and improvement grant is available to assist them. Local authorities, Scottish Homes, housing associations and other agencies have responsibility for their own stock and must deal with these problems within the resources available to them.
Condensation and dampness have been identified as national priorities for the use of resources and local authorities have been asked to prepare strategies for dealing with these problems and to set output targets against which to measure their performance.