Whether the proposals on the right to buy for housing association tenants will affect all current housing association tenants.

In my answer to Karen Whitefield on 15 June (question S1W-7983) I set out the conclusions reached by the Executive following consultation on the paper A New Single Tenancy for Scotland: Rights, Obligations and Opportunities. This confirmed that the Executive plans to legislate to introduce a common set of enhanced statutory rights for all tenants of social landlords.Specifically in relation to the right to buy for current housing association tenants, our conclusion is that those tenants who currently have this right should continue to be able to exercise it on existing terms and conditions. Similarly the current provisions for exemption from the right to buy for housing associations with charitable status will continue and accommodation within sheltered housing and other group housing schemes for persons with particular needs will also be exempt.We have given careful consideration to the representations made by housing associations in relation to those houses let since 1989 on assured tenancies which do not give tenants a right to buy. To ensure that the new tenancy arrangements do not create financial difficulties for housing associations, these houses will be exempt from the right to buy for a period of 10 years unless housing associations themselves decide to allow relevant tenants to have the new "modernised" right to buy (details of which were set out in my recent answer to Karen Whitefield).We have also concluded that in some areas, to be designated by local authorities with the approval of Scottish Ministers as "pressured" because of the difficulties in meeting the demand for new socially rented houses, the right to buy could be suspended for all new and re-let housing association and council housing for a specific period.Further details of our proposals will be set out in the forthcoming Consultation Paper on the Housing Bill which I plan to issue shortly.