An annual report examined the performance of the Scottish Executive in 2004-05 against its environmental targets.
Source: Scottish Executive Environmental Performance Annual Report 2004/05, Scottish Executive, available from Blackwell's Bookshop (0131 622 8283)
Links: Report | SE press release
Date: 2005-Dec
A report set out action which would be taken by the Scottish Executive to implement the shared priorities set out in the United Kingdom framework for sustainable development.
Source: Choosing Our Future: Scotland's sustainable development strategy, Scottish Executive, available from Blackwell's Bookshop (0131 622 8283)
Links: Report
Date: 2005-Dec
A report described progress in Scotland towards eradicating the distinction between 'priority' and 'non-priority' homeless households by the end of 2012. (This would mean that all unintentionally homeless people were entitled to permanent accommodation from that date.)
Source: Helping Homeless People - Homelessness Statement: Ministerial statement on abolition of priority need by 2012, Scottish Executive, available from Blackwell's Bookshop (0131 622 8283)
Links: Report | SE press release | Shelter Scotland press release | CIH Scotland press release
Date: 2005-Dec
A report examined the progress which the Scottish Executive and its partners had made in delivering a wide range of work that was helping to secure environmental justice.
Source: Review of Progress on Environmental Justice, Scottish Executive (0131 556 8400)
Links: Report
Date: 2005-Dec
A report examined the increasingly important role played by financial services and housing-related activities in Scotland's economy.
Source: Moira Munro and Noah Kofi Karley, Housing, Financial Services and the Scottish Economy, Council of Mortgage Lenders (020 7437 0075)
Links: Report
Date: 2005-Nov
A report examined accessibility of transport, and accessibility by transport, in Scotland in the the light of policy concern with social inclusion.
Source: S. Stradling et al., Scottish Household Survey Analytical Topic Report: Accessibility and Transport, Scottish Executive, available from Blackwell's Bookshop (0131 622 8283)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2005-Oct
A discussion paper said that the policy of giving people the right to buy their council or housing association home was not fully understood in Scotland, due to the lack of a proper evidence base.
Source: Right to Buy in Scotland: Impacts of the current policy framework and options for reform, Chartered Institute of Housing in Scotland (0131 225 4544)
Links: Report (pdf) | Summary (pdf)
Date: 2005-Oct
A report said that local councils across Scotland feared they would be unable to meet their duties to homeless people under new legislation, because of cuts in the Supporting People funding programme. (The programme funds a wide variety of services, helping people in particular circumstances - such as families experiencing homelessness, or people with mental health problems - trying to live independently.)
Source: Supporting People?: The impact of changes to Supporting People funding on services to homeless people, Shelter Scotland (0131 473 7170)
Links: Summary | Shelter press release
Date: 2005-Aug
The Scottish Executive published an updated policy for integrating land use and transport planning.
Source: Scottish Planning Policy SPP 17: Planning for transport, Scottish Executive, available from Blackwell's Bookshop (0131 622 8283)
Links: Policy statement (pdf) | SE press release
Date: 2005-Aug
A report recorded progress against 24 indicators of sustainable development for Scotland in 2004. There were mixed results compared to the previous year.
Source: Indicators of Sustainable Development for Scotland: Progress report 2005, Scottish Executive, available from Blackwell's Bookshop (0131 622 8283)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2005-Aug
The Scottish Executive published a White Paper aimed at modernizing the planning system in Scotland.
Source: Modernising the Planning System, Scottish Executive, available from Blackwell's Bookshop (0131 622 8283)
Links: White Paper (pdf) | SE press release | COSLA press release
Date: 2005-Jun
A research report examined the impact of negative and positive environmental features on communities. The most deprived populations were three times more likely to be living near to industrial pollution sites; and people in the most deprived areas were almost five times more likely to be living near to derelict land than people who lived in the least deprived areas. But there was no direct consistent correlation between deprivation and proximity to landfill, quarries and open-cast sites.
Source: John Fairburn, Gordon Walker and Graham Smith, Investigating Environmental Justice in Scotland: Links between measures of environmental quality and social deprivation, Scottish and Northern Ireland Forum for Environmental Research (0131 557 2140)
Links: Report (pdf link) | SE press release
Date: 2005-May
A report by a committee of MSPs called for urgent action on climate change.
Source: Report on Inquiry into Climate Change, 5th Report 2005, SP Paper 342, Scottish ParliamentEnvironment and Rural Development Committee Committee, available from Blackwell's Bookshop (0131 622 8283)
Links: Report
Date: 2005-May
A research report sought to identify how to improve the consultation process in planning, to facilitate more community involvement.
Source: PPS Local and Regional Ltd, Effective Community Involvement in Planning, Scottish Executive (web publication only)
Links: Report
Date: 2005-Apr
A report said that "significant progress" was being made in preventing and tackling homelessness across Scotland.
Source: Helping Homeless People: Homelessness Monitoring Group second report, Scottish Executive, available from Blackwell's Bookshop (0131 622 8283)
Links: Report (pdf) | SE press release
Date: 2005-Apr
A report said that there had been an improvement in services available to rough sleepers in Scotland, and a significant reduction in the numbers of rough sleepers.
Source: Suzanne Fitzpatrick, Nicholas Pleace and Mark Bevan, Final Evaluation of Rough Sleepers Initiative, Scottish Executive (web publication only)
Links: Report (pdf) | SE press release
Date: 2005-Mar
The Scottish Executive published a Bill designed to improve the condition and quality of private sector housing, together with an associated policy statement. Campaigners said that the Bill missed an opportunity to tackle the worst practices in private renting.
Source: Housing (Scotland) Bill, Scottish Executive, available from Blackwell's Bookshop (0131 622 8283) | Homes for Scotland's People: A housing policy statement, Scottish Executive, available from Blackwell's Bookshop | Press release 8 March 2005, Shelter Scotland (0131 473 7170)
Links: Text of Bill (pdf) | Explanatory notes (pdf) | Policy statement | SE press release (1) | SE press release (2) | Shelter press release
Date: 2005-Mar