Chamber and committees

Information on rough sleeping is collected by local authorities at the point that a homeless application is made. Homeless applicants are asked whether any member of the household has slept rough at any point in the previous 3 months, and also if they have slept rough on the night preceding the application. The Scottish Government collects this information from local authorities as part of the Homeless Applications HL1 Dataset, and headline figures are published on a bi-annual basis in the Scottish Government statistical publication ‘Homelessness in Scotland’.

Whilst the information collected on this basis will reflect the experiences of rough sleeping of those people approaching local authorities for a homeless application, it will not necessarily capture all instances of rough sleeping, for example people who are rough sleeping but who have not made a homeless application.

The following two tables provide figures on a local authority and Scotland basis for the years 2011-12 to 2016-17 on the number of homeless applications where a household member had reported sleeping rough in the three months prior to the application, and the number of applications where a household member had reported sleeping rough on the night preceding the application.

Number of homeless applications where a household member reported sleeping rough in the three months previous to the application, by local authority area,
2011-12 to 2016-17

Source: Scottish Government HL1 Dataset as at 23 May 2017

Note: All figures in the table have been rounded to 5 for disclosure control purposes

Number of homelessness applications where a household member reported sleeping rough on the night preceding the
application, by local authority area, 2011-12 to 2016-17

Source: Scottish Government HL1 Dataset as at 23 May 2017

Note: All figures in the table have been rounded to 5 for disclosure control purposes

The work that has been undertaken to date has been carried out by existing members of staff as part of their normal duties. In line with usual practice, no record has been taken of the number staff who have been involved in this work or the number of hours spent on individual tasks, as there is no business need to do this.

Ministers meet regularly with a wide range of businesses, to inform policy development and to take forward the Government’s programme for Scotland.

The members of the Scottish Expert Advisory Panel on the Collaborative Economy were chosen to represent a wide range of knowledge and expertise on the benefits and challenges of the collaborative economy. This necessarily includes members drawn from collaborative platforms, both in recognition of their practical experiences and of the fact that the most pragmatic international responses in this area have been developed when they were part of the process. The panel’s membership strikes a balance with a range of interests being represented, including STUC and Social Value Lab.

The Scottish Government recognises that the world of work is rapidly changing and that employment practices and the legislative framework need to adapt at a similar pace to ensure workers’ rights are protected and enhanced. Workers’ rights is one of the key areas that is being considered by the Panel and was the focus of their meeting on 26 July at which a wide range of organisations including Closing the Gap and GMB Union were invited to give evidence.

The Scottish Expert Advisory Panel on the Collaborative Economy met for the first time in May 2017 and will meet monthly until November. The panel will present its report to Scottish Ministers in December 2017.

The Panel’s purpose is to provide advice, expertise and experience for policy development on the collaborative economy and to make recommendations to Scottish Ministers on how Scotland can position itself to take advantage of the opportunities and overcome any regulatory, economic and social challenges. The members were chosen to represent traditional business models and collaborative platforms and have a wide range of knowledge and expertise. Full details on its remit and membership can be found here.

The Scottish Government expects health boards to take all appropriate action to comply with their legal obligation to ensure patients are treated in accordance with the treatment time guarantee. If a patient has not received their treatment within the 12 week maximum waiting time period they should immediately contact their health boards so that an appointment can be made to treat them as quickly as possible.

Section 10 of the Patient Rights (Scotland) Act 2011 sets out the actions a health board must take where it has not complied with the treatment time guarantee. These are make such arrangement as necessary to ensure the agreed treatment starts at the next available opportunity, provide an explanation as to why the treatment did not start within the maximum waiting time, provide the patient with details of the patient advice and support available and on how to give feedback or raise a concern or complaint.

The Ministerial Working Group on Building and Fire Safety have developed a website that includes the information requested by the member. This can be found at https://beta.gov.scot/groups/building-and-fire-safety-working-group/.

As stated in response to the member's previous question (S5T-00595) the Ministerial Working Group want to be in the business of providing transparency and reassurance, and we will use this website to publish relevant information and papers.

The background information will be published on the Building Standards pages of the Scottish Government website in the week commencing 10 July 2017.

A series of sector specific guides published by Scottish Government provide practical fire safety guidance for those with responsibilities for fire safety in non-domestic premises under Part 3 of the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005. Where possible, the guides do not set down prescriptive standards but provide recommendations regarding the Fire Risk Assessment process, the reduction of risk, and fire safety measures that can be implemented to mitigate risk.

The guidance does not stipulate the frequency of assessments but confirms that dutyholders are legally required to review the Fire Risk Assessment and its outcome regularly and to revise it where necessary.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-09852 on 29 June 2017. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx