Scotland's Communities Minister today called on the housing sector to embrace Scottish Government plans to deliver more houses for the thousands of Scots in need of a home.

Mr Maxwell, speaking at the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) Conference in Aberdeen, said it was essential to see greater numbers of homes for the significant amount of money invested in social housing in particular.

Mr Maxwell welcomed the large number of responses to the Scottish Government's discussion paper on the future of housing, Firm Foundations, and called on delegates to engage with the Government's National Conversation, to consider how greater powers could help Scotland achieve even more.

Nearly 400 organisations and individuals have responded to Firm Foundations and he said the feedback would be analysed to produce a report by the end of March. He announced his intention to outline the Scottish Government's housing policy direction by the end of June.

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Mr Maxwell said: "Firm Foundations recognised that housing is absolutely crucial to many of the Scottish Government's overarching aims - because giving people access to a decent home in a sustainable community provides the foundations for stable and fulfilling lives.

"But it also acknowledged that to realise our very ambitious plans to build at least 35,000 new homes every year by the middle of the next decade, we need to make the system work more efficiently."

The Minister also pointed to recent successes in the private rented housing sector designed to improve the image of the sector.

"In tandem with our proposals for social renting, we've also been focussing on the private rented sector and I'm very pleased to say that significant progress is now being made in the mandatory private landlord registration scheme, with approval rates now up to 62%.

"In addition, with the introduction of the new Repairing Standard and the Private Rented Housing Panel last September, tenants now have an independent body to enforce national standards for the condition of the properties they rent.

"Together, these measures give tenants the reassurance they need to make informed choices and a point of redress when needed. Of course, the great majority of private landlords already operate to acceptable standards and these measures are good for them too, as they help to improve the image of the sector as a whole."

The Firm Foundations consultation ended on January 25. The Scottish Governmnet hopes to publish an analysis of the responses by the end of March 2008.

A National Conversation on Scotland's constitutional future was launched by the First Minister on August 14, 2007, alongside the publication of a paper outlining different options for public debate and proposals for a referendum.

(JM)