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The grant allocation at the beginning of each financial year is a single figure which includes provision for all relevant elements of the Affordable Housing Investment Programme (AHIP). In addition to the provision of affordable housing for rent this includes an allocation for grant mechanisms providing low cost home ownership (LIFT) and Grants for the Physical and Social Environment. The allocation for affordable housing for rent is not recorded separately.

The grant allocation for the Affordable Housing Investment Programme for each year since 2003-04 for the local authorities requested is in table 1 below. This shows the allocation in constant terms. Table 2 provides details of the total homes approved for development over the same period for all tenures.

Planned expenditure for 2008-09 by local authority area is set out in the answer to question S3W-13606 on 30 May 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Over the period 2008-11 the government will be providing investment of over  £1.5 billion for affordable housing across Scotland. £493 million in 2008-09, £566 million in 2009-10 and £591 million in 2010-11. Taking into account the local government settlement this is 19% more than planned by the previous administration for 2005-08. Over the period 2008-11 the government aims to deliver more than 21,500 new affordable homes nationally which is in line with levels of approvals achieved for 2005-08 despite increasing costs. These will be split 6,000 in 2008-09, 7,100 in 2009-10 and 8,400 in 2010-11.

Details of the programme split by local authority for 2009-10 will be available nearer the time.

Table 1, Investment

Local Authority	2003-04 Planned Total	2003-04 Planned Real Terms	2004-05 Planned Total	2004-05 Planned Real Terms	2005-06 Planned Total
Highland	11.220	12.868	12.037	13.435	25.615
Orkney	1.850	2.122	1.897	2.117	5.100
Shetland	0.905	1.038	0.948	1.058	2.255
Western Isles	2.380	2.730	2.826	3.154	4.030
Moray	1.755	2.013	1.667	1.861	3.600
Argyll and Bute	4.715	5.408	6.565	7.327	12.027

 

Local Authority	2005-06 Planned Real Terms	2006-07 Planned Total	2006-07 Planned Real Terms	2007-08 Planned Total	2007-08 Planned Real Terms
Highland	27.987	31.500	33.499	36.325	37.415
Orkney	5.572	5.500	5.849	6.000	6.180
Shetland	2.464	2.500	2.659	3.800	3.914
Western Isles	4.403	4.200	4.467	6.500	6.695
Moray	3.933	6.000	6.381	9.525	9.811
Argyll and Bute	13.141	15.550	16.537	17.675	18.205

 

Table 2

Unit Approvals	2003-04 Total	2004-05 Total	2005-06 Total	2006-07 Total	2007-08 Total	2008-09 Planned
Local Authority
Highland	268	267	682	552	536	352
Orkney	72	42	56	120	94	83
Shetland	38	59	18	94	45	30
Western Isles	60	48	56	80	35	38
Moray	92	159	222	90	250	146
Argyll and Bute	89	307	198	217	183	128

 

The number of deaths and the death rates per 100,000, both crude and age-sex standardised, from coronary heart disease for NHS Highland in people aged under 75 during the years 2000-06 are set out in the following table:

Year	Number of Deaths	Crude	Standardised	Crude as % 2000 Rate	Standardised as % 2000 Rate
2000	339	122.1	96.5	100.0	100.0
2001	289	104.3	81.2	85.4	84.1
2002	276	100.1	76.3	81.9	79.0
2003	253	91.5	67.4	74.9	69.8
2004	246	88.4	65.5	72.4	67.9
2005	207	74.0	53.4	60.6	55.3
2006	205	72.9	52.1	59.7	53.9

Source: GRO Scotland Death Registrations and Populations.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-14165 on 20 June 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

All householders who were eligible for the Central Heating Programme before my announcement of 22 May 2008 remain eligible. Amongst new applicants received after 22 May 2008, priority will be given to those most likely to be fuel poor. For this year, priority is being given to those without a central heating system, along with those who either receive the guarantee element of pension credit or are aged over 80 and have a central heating system that has broken down. Within these priority groups, the position on prioritising applicants on health or social grounds has not changed. Those applicants who do not fall into one of these priority groups can reapply next financial year, when the Scottish Fuel Poverty Forum has reached its conclusions and the future shape of the programme is clear.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-14165 on 20 June 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-14165 on 20 June 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-14165 on 20 June 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

The official source of statistics on smoking prevalence amongst adults is the Scottish Household Survey. This survey is not designed to be representative at NHS board level, so smoking prevalence figures at this level of geography should be interpreted with caution. Based on the most recent two years of results available from this survey, adult smoking prevalence in the NHS Highland area was 21% in 2007 and 25% in 2006.

Estimates of smoking prevalence in the Community Health Partnership areas within NHS Highland are only available for the two year sample 2003-04. These figures, and other supporting information, are published in An Atlas of Tobacco Smoking in Scotland at:

http://www.scotpho.org.uk/home/Publications/scotphoreports/pub_tobaccoatlas.asp.

While the actions outlined by the Cabinet Secretary on 4 June do not include examination of the recruitment and retention of volunteer car drivers, the Scottish Ambulance Service will be reviewing their Patient Transport Strategy over the coming months and this will include the Volunteer Car Service.

The development of the action plan to eliminate the rostered single manning of traditional double crewed accident and emergency ambulances will include consideration of shift patterns and on-call periods.