Scottish local authorities will be given a £25 million package to build new council houses over the next three years, Deputy First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon has announced during her address the SNP spring conference.

She said, with homelessness on the rise, housing was one of the biggest challenges facing Scotland. As her party prepared to enter a second year of power at Holyrood, Ms Sturgeon said the government had so far built a solid record of achievement.

Ms Sturgeon also said ministers were working on a pilot programme of free health screening for amateur athletes, following the death of Motherwell captain Phil O'Donnell from heart failure during a match in December.

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She told a packed conference hall in Edinburgh that the Scottish Government's goal to build 35,000 new houses every year by 2015 would need "all hands on deck" to be met.

She said: "As we move into our second year of government, it is vital that we take on the big challenges that face our country. There's no doubt that one of the biggest of these challenges is housing.

"In the last ten years, homelessness in Scotland has been on the rise. That's why we've set a new target of 35,000 new houses to be built each year by the middle of the next decade.

"Housing associations and private developers will continue to make the biggest contribution. But local councils have a big role to play too. That is why we will introduce new incentives to councils to build new homes across Scotland.

The SNP also confirmed they will introduce legislation to end the right to buy for new build social houses.

(GK/JM)